[Xero]

Xero makes two huge trades.


GM Chris Xero did not wait long before making his mark on the Cleveland Indians. On the day of his hiring, he announced two blockbuster trades involving no less than 14 players and 12 players, respectively, to change teams. This also marked the first time Xero has made a public appearance. The fact that the trade was announced during the day of the hiring caused suspension that the dealings were done by the owner and not the GM.

This first trade massive 14-player trade had the Indians deal to the Atlanta Braves 26-year old shortstop Hector Luna, 42-year old reliever Roberto Hernandez, 23-year old starting pitcher Jeremy Sowers, 35-year old reliever Joe Borowski, 30-year old left fielder Jason Michaels and 30-year old third baseman Keith Ginter in exchange for 31-year old shortstop Edger Renteria, 31-year old starting pitcher Tim Hudson, 27-year old second baseman Pete Orr, 24-year old reliever Macay McBride, 26-year old minor league reliever Phil Stockman, minor league second baseman Eric Campbell and $2 000 000 in cash.

The other 12-player deal had the Tribe trading with the Marlins. Going to Florida are 36-year old starting pitcher Paul Byrd, 26-year old catcher Kelly Shoppach, 29-year old starting pitcher Jake Westbrook, 26-year old first baseman Ryan Garko, 27-year old left fielder Jonathan Van Every and a pair of 24-year old minor league right fielders Brad Snyder and Ryan Goleski. Coming to Jacobs field are 24-year old starting pitcher Dontrelle “D-Train” Willis, 22-year old starting pitcher Scott Olsen, 26-year old first baseman Mike Jacobs, 30-year old catcher Matt Treanor and a trio of minor leaguers: 24-year old third baseman Grant Psomas, 22-year old starting pitcher Brett Sinkball and 20-year old starting pitcher Sean West.

Trade Breakdowns:

Leaving Cleveland:

Hector Luna (.274, 10, 78, .327)*
Hect was going to be our starting shortstop had we not have done this trade. I felt that Hector was very overrated. He’s playing second base instead of shortstop at Atlanta since he is a much better defender at second. Hector has good speed, but his lack batting skills meant he was going to be our ninth hitter. I guess Atlanta really needed

Roberto Hernandez (65-68, 3.33, 1.35, .295) and Joe Borowski (17-26, 3.90, 1.35, .282)
These are two veteran relieves that I felt were overpaid. I could get relieves that we just as good or even better in the free agent for much less. These two will bolster the Brave’s bullpen for the stretch drive.

Jeremy Sowers (7-4, 3.57, 1.19, .257)
We defiantly did not want to include Sowers in any trade. He was going to be our fifth starter and could possible move turn into a third or fourth starter in a few years. However Atlanta was adamant that we had to include this guy in the deal so now he’s pitching for the Braves.

Jason Michaels (.282, 30, 155, .360)
J-mike is another decent veteran player that was on our roster. The problem is that he is making 2 million a year for warming the bench. Guess Atlanta felt that their left field situation was not secure and needed to bring him in.

Keith Ginter (.243, 38, 140, .329)
Ginterwas going to come off the bench for us this year. He is a great defensive player who could field both second and third and has a decent bat. Atlanta asked for him to be included in the trade so I put him in there.

Paul Byrd (82-73, 4.34, 1.32, .283)
Paul Byrd was going to be our fourth starter. But the fact that he is 36 and in the twilight of his career combined with his two year 14 million dollars contract that made him a must trade. Thankfully the Marlins took him and now he is Florida’s problem.

Kelly Shoppach (.221, 3, 16, .269)
Kelly is a great defensive catch, but I think he is overrated offensively. Plus with Victor Martinez as our starting catcher, Shopach wasn’t going to get a chance at the starter’s role anytime soon.

Jake Westbrook (56-53, 4.37, 1.39, .302)
Jake Westbrook was going our third starter and he has good command and sink. Even with a 5.6 million dollars contract I still felt that he was part of our team. But because his contract goes up to 10 million next year, we had to deal him at some time this season for our financial future. He will become the new Marlin’s Ace.

Ryan Garko (.284, 7, 45, .351)
The fact that Garko was going to be our starting first baseman really scared me. This guy is not ready to start at the major league level and his defense is even worse than his bat. However, he scouts to be a very good starting 1B/DH in the future. He’ll probably be part of the Marlins ongoing rebuilding process.

Jonathan Van Every (No stat)
Jonathan was another back up hitter on our roster. Florida wanted him in the trade for some reason. Van Every has 20 home run potential, but he simply loves to rack up the Ks, which isn’t good if you’re not a pitcher.

Brad Snyder (No stat) and Ryan Goleski (No stat)
Two great minor league defensive left fielders. If they can figure it out offensively, they’ll be major league starters. It’s the fact that they are 24 and haven’t shown offensive talent that tells me that they’ll probably be bench players if they make it to the bigs.

Coming to Cleveland:

Edger Renteria (.288, 105, 705, .346)
We needed to upgrade our shortstop situation and Edgar provided the solution. Being a nature shortstop and having a much better bat, Edgar was much better than Hector in most aspect of the sport. We were also willing to take Edgar’s two year contract with 9 million dollars per season. Eddy will be bat second in our line up providing a right much needed right handed batter. Edgar hits for a good average, but lacks the power that I always love. Thanks to the weird rating done by OOTP, Edgar is as slow as a catcher, but can steal bases like Grady Sizemore.

Tim Hudson (119-60, 3.53, 1.27, .294)
Since we gave up Sowers, we needed to get another starting pitcher back in the trade and the only decent option available was Tim Hudson. This is probably what the Braves loved most about the deal since they are able to unload an overpaid veteran. Timmy would be paid 6 million a year as our new fifth starter. Still he is a former 20 game winner and two-time all-star, though him being able to achieve either milestones this season is very unlikely. What even worse is that his contract will go up to 13 million a year next season so Hudson shouldn’t expect to be in an Indian’s uniform for long.

Pete Orr (.276, 2, 16, .304)
An add-in from the Byrd trade. I feel that Pete Orr is a very underrated player and we kinda need him on the bench since we got rid of all of our bench players. Pete has some decent pop, good speed, can field second and third, a great work rate and is only paid $400 000 a year. Plus our scouts say that Pete still has some room to improve which is an added bonus. Also did I mention that he is a Canadian!

Macay McBride (No stat) and Phil Stockman (0-0, 2.25, 1.75, .333, 4.0 IP)
Two minor league relievers that are almost or already major league ready. We got these guys to fill the end of the bullpen or to replace injured players. Plus they have some room to improve.

Eric Campbell (No stat)
My scouts are really loving this guy! According to them this 21-year old has all-star capabilities with the ability to hit for average, gap and power. However, this guy needs to improve on his defense, but he has a lot of time to do it.

Dontrelle “D-Train” Willis (58-39, 3.49, 1.31, .302)
Is this guy really the Marlin’s ace? Since we got rid of Jake Westbrook and his contract, we needed to find a replacement starting pitcher and Dontrelle is our man. Despite earning 6 million this year, which is more than Westbrook, the D-Train is up for arbitration and we expect that he will earn less next season. He’ll be our new their starter.

Scott Olsen (13-11, 3.99, 1.33, .308)
We also needed a starter to replace Paul Byrd and we aquired Marlin’s second starter Scott Olsen. He has some good stuff, but should really be a back of the rotation starter. He’s only 22, but scouts say that he already reached his peak. Well at least he is really cheap option as our fourth starter.

Mike Jacobs (.271, 31, 100, .332)
Yes, you heard right! We have brought Mike Jacobs to Jacobs field. This guy is a much better option than Ryan Garko. With MJ you know your going to get a lot of extra base hits and 20+ homer seasons. Our scouts say that this guy actually has 30 home run power. Like Garko, MJ is a horrific defender. Will fill the role of the number 5 batter behind Travis Hafner.

Matt Treanor (.220, 2, 28, .315)
The wife of Misty May now takes his act to Cleveland. He’s here just to back up Victor Martinez until a prospect can take over.

Grant Psomas (No stat)
Grant scouts as a future starting third baseman with an offensive upside and plays solid defense. He still needs a year or two in AA or AAA to be major league ready. However, with Andy Marte sitting in AAA pretty much major league ready, Psomas will have to battle for the starting role should we decide to let Casey Blake go.

Brett Sinkball (No stat) and Sean West (No stat)
Two young starting pitchers with high ceilings. Both of them are very raw and will need time in the minors to reach their potential. Also both need to get their velocity up.

Overall summary of the trade: We were able to dump a couple of overpaid veterans on other teams and gave up some starters, bench players and prospects. We are now over 5 million under the budget and I feel that we improve the current roster and brought in player that could help a few years down the road. The most important thing is that we able to free up salary room next season so that we can resign C.C. Sabathia and Travis Hafner.



* In the brackets are the player’s career ML average, home runs, RBIs and OBPs for batters and wins-loses, ERA, whip and BABIP.