Last night during the Royals-Yankees game, David DeJesus sprained his right thumb after running into the fence (video). The complete extent of the injury is not known, but reports are saying that he could be back in two weeks or out for the entire season. This injury could not have come at a worse time for the Royals.

David was having a career year this season hitting .318/.384/.443. The batting average and on-base percentage were each career highs. Among all right fielders, he is 8th this season in WAR with 2.5. After Billy Butler, David was the second best hitter on the Royals.

The real value for the Royals wasn’t the production they expected to get from David on the field. Instead it was his trade value. David currently has 1.5 years left on his contract with less then $2.3 million owed to him this season and $6 million owed to him next season. David projects to be around a 3 WAR player, so his salary is team friendly.

Some of the of the teams interested in trading for David are the Giants and Nationals, though some other teams, Red Sox, A’s, Braves and Padres, may have been possibilities because of holes in their outfields .

With David’s earliest DL return date being after the trade deadline, the Royals lost one of their best trading chips to help build a team for a run at the division in 2012. Now the Royals must decided if they are going to trade him this offseason or keep him until the end of his contract.

Alex Gordon was called up from AAA Omaha to take David’s place. To say that Gordon’s career has been a disappointment would be an understatement. After missing most of last season with a hip injury and having a bad start to this season, he was demoted to AAA and moved to right field.

Gordon’s stats are not exactly what teams are looking for from a right fielder. With so few outfield prospects currently in the Royals system, he would not have much competition from the minors. The major league club should not give him much competition either, but we are dealing with the Royals. Just yesterday Rick AnKKKKKKiel was taken off the DL. Rick has been close to horrible in his minor league rehab starts by striking out 19 times while taking only one walk in 68 plate appearances. He did not let the Royal faithful down last night by going 0-3 with 3 Ks when he replaced David DeJesus.

So looking at the current roster, it seems like the following players will be splitting time in the outfield: Scott Podsednik, Mitch Maier, Willie Bloomquist, Rick Ankiel, Alex Gordon and Jose Guillen. Personally I would like to see Posednick in LF, Maier in CF and Gordon in RF. I would like to watch a younger player get a chance, versus watching a declining veteran struggle. Knowing Ned Yost, we will probably be seeing Podsednik in LF, Ankiel in CF and Bloomquist in RF.

Truthfully, I have no idea what is going to happen with the Royals outfield. One thing I will say with 100% confidence is that Alex Gordon will not see any regular playing time unless someone else gets hurt or traded. In that case, the Royals are already looking into another outfielder. Just when I thought it couldn’t get worse as a Royals fan, it seems it might.

This edition of One Night Only features hella special effects.

You’re welcome in advance, is what I mean by that.

Friday, July 23 | Cincinnati at Houston | 8:05pm ET
Starting Pitchers
The Pantone 185s: Travis Wood (NERD: 7)
26.2 IP, 7.76 K/9, 3.04 BB/9, .161 BABIP, 34.3% GB, 6.5% HR/FB, 4.21 xFIP

Space Team: Bud Norris (9)
68.0 IP, 9.66 K/9, 4.37 BB/9, .377 BABIP, 41.3% GB, 9.7% HR/FB, 4.00 xFIP

Why Travis Wood Is Worth Your Time
• In only the third start of his career — July 10th at Philadelphia — he flirted with perfection. (Maybe he flirted with some other things, too. All we know about is the perfection.)
• He followed that performance up with another fine start, home versus Colorado on July 18th: 6.0 IP, 26 TBF, 6 K, 4 BB, 7 GB on 15 BIP (46.7%). Not dominant, but certainly good.
• He’s just a tiny little super guy. (By which I mean to say, he’s only 23 years old.)

Why Bud Norris Is Worth Your Time
• His xFIP (4.00) is far below his ERA (6.09). In other words: Regression in the hizouse, players!
• Per StatCorner’s nerd scouting system, Norris’s slider rates above average in swing-and-misses (70 on the 20-80 scale), zone percentage (60), and ground balls (75). Also, he throws it 35% of the time. So watch it now, ‘fore his arm falls off.
• Those are two pretty good reasons, actually.

A Startling Discovery
The Reds are only 1.5 games out of first.

That Same Startling Discovery Written in Comic Sans
The Reds are only 1.5 games out of first.

Batter Bullets
• Michael Bourn (10) and Drew Stubbs (9) both did quite well via Baserunning NERD. Bourn attempts a stolen base a full quarter of the time he’s on first or second without a runner ahead of him. He takes the extra base on a hit two-thirds of the time (where league average is around 40%).
• One word: Joey Votto. Boom, stats: .305/.413/.574, .424 wOBA, 163 wRC+, 4.1 WAR.

If I Had My Druthers
• Travis Wood would once again flirt with perfection.
• This time, Perfection would be like, “You wanna come up to my place for a cup of coffee?”
• Travis Wood would be like, “Awww yeah. Cup of coffee.”

If, before the season, you said that the Indians’ staff would have a 4.48 ERA, 24th in the majors, I might not have believed you. The 2009 Indians finished with a 5.07 ERA, 29th in baseball, and that was with the benefit of 22 Cliff Lee starts. The 2010 staff would get back Jake Westbrook and had a maturing Justin Masterson, but that hardly seemed like enough to compensate for the loss of Lee. The Indians, it seemed, were in for another rough year.

While 2010 hasn’t been exactly pretty, it hasn’t been quite as bad as 2009. Fausto Carmona has realized a rebound year, Rafael Perez hasn’t been atrocious out of the pen, and Mitch Talbot has been a welcome surprise. Even Masterson has been death to righties. That doesn’t add up to much of a staff, but it’s certainly one better than the 2009 version. Yet this unit could be quite better if the Indians surrounded it with more compatible players.

The Indians lead the league in groundball percentage and have the lowest flyball percentage in the league. That’s good news for a staff that ranks last in the league in strikeouts and second to last in walk rate. The ground balls might lead to more hits, but not more hits for extra bases. To that end, the Indians have the sixth highest batting average against in the majors, but just the 19th worst ISO. To that extent, the plan is working.

At the shortstop position the Indians rank dead last, by no small margin, in UZR. They also rank dead last in DRS. They rank 26th with a -5.2 UZR at third base and rank 21st with a -4.2 UZR at second. The team outfield also ranks worst in the majors, though that’s not as big a problem because of the low flyball rate (though clearly still isn’t preferable). So while Masterson, Carmona, and Westbrook — who rank second, fifth, and 13th in the majors in groundball rate — serve up potential outs, the infield cannot convert them.

The Indians are no one’s idea of a good team. They’re 40-55, last in the AL Central and things don’t appear to be getting much better. Sure, they stormed out of the gate after the All-Star break and beat up on the Tigers and won the first two in a series with the Twins, but that’s hardly indicative of their long-term outlook. They face Tampa Bay and New York for their next six games, and we’ll likely see them knocked back down to earth. Chances are they’ll finish the season in last. Yet they can still take away something positive.

Like most small-market, rebuilding clubs, the Indians are placing their hopes on the strength of their farm system. While they wait for their lower-level prospects to develop, though, they can limit the damage by employing those groundball pitchers. They might even find a few mid-rotation starters for when they’re really ready to contend. The problem is that they don’t have the defense to make that scheme work. It’s baffling, really, because their infielders have all hit for below average numbers. If they’re already getting that low level of production, is it that hard to find similar offensive producers who can actually play defense?

One of my biggest pet peeves in all of baseball is that you cannot construct trades involving draft picks. Draft picks are commodities that teams own and which clearly have market value. Baseball’s paternalism in limiting the trading of this commodity goes well overboard, and damages the league overall.

I am going to make the case for trading draft picks not on any objective level, but rather from the subjective viewpoint of Major League Baseball. MLB should only make changes which benefit itself as an organization, so if there are legitimate reasons not to allow the trading of draft picks which outweigh any potential benefits, then I’ll back down. However, if we go over the typical laundry list of reasons given not to enact the change, I don’t see anything all too promising. In an article discussing the subject, the great Joe Posnanski details some of the reasons usually given. Here’s #1:

Owners are worried that if teams are allowed to trade draft choices that all the best young players will go to rich teams like the Yankees and Red Sox.

There are so many problems with this I don’t know where to begin. Joe makes the point that we don’t empirically see an overhaul of the best prospects going to the best teams via international free agency despite the lack of restrictions. However, I think the better point is this: why are we worried about teams being able to sell their own commodities for what they believe to be above the actual value of said commodity? If the Pirates feel that the first draft pick next year is worth $30 million to them, but the Yankees come in and offer two prospects they believe have an expected value of well over that, then why should MLB tie the Pirates’ hands and say, “No, we know better than you?” Besides the fact that most teams aren’t going to be selling their first overall draft picks (it’ll probably be 2nd and 3rd rounders), it’ll probably be the smaller market teams that buy the most of them! The big market teams will be looking to buy at the trade deadline and happily throw away some 3rd round pick for a decent bullpen arm, or a 1st round pick for the corner bat they need. Also, it’s funny MLB doesn’t care about restrictions on big money clubs when it comes to every other facet of baseball, but now we do here; I’m sorry, isn’t this the point of not having a salary cap? Joe’s Reason #2:

Owners are worried that small-market teams will go all Ted Stepien on us and start trading their draft choices like crazy so that they don’t have to spend money on signing bonuses.

Same answer to #1. Here’s #3:

Owners have this nostalgic belief that the best young players should go to the worst teams.

They still can, but why would you force a team to have one if they don’t want it? Really terrible logic there. However, Joe has a reason he thinks makes sense:

They’re scared to death that this will give Scott Boras and the other agents even MORE power over the draft…So, Danny suggests — and I can see this — that the big fear is that if teams are allowed to trade draft picks, suddenly Boras and his ilk become even more powerful. Suddenly they have yet another hammer. They can demand trades. They can bully small-market teams with even bigger demands. Yes, I can see why the owners are afraid … these people are not exactly known for their self control. They’re like the people who refuse to take the mini-bar key when they go to hotels because they know, just know, that at 2 a.m. they will not be able to stop themselves.

Joe seems to eat this up; I’m really not buying it. First off, this will happen for just about ten draft picks in the entire draft. Those are the ones that you can predict with any sort of decent accuracy (maybe even the top five only), and Joe goes on only to give examples regarding Strasburg, Boras, and the first overall pick. So I won’t throw away the idea just because there’s this one potential problem regarding a small number of picks.

More importantly, however, is the fact that this only gives more options to teams, and that’s not a bad thing. What do I mean by this? Scott Boras calls up Mike Rizzo the day before the MLB draft and says, “I hear you’re thinking of taking our Strasburg kid. I wouldn’t do it. He doesn’t want to sign with you. Trade the pick.” First off, this can already happen in the status quo, where instead of Boras saying “trade the pick,” he just says, “pick someone else.” Secondly, however, the teams can just draft the player anyway, and then you are completely back to the status quo with no real changes! The only way that a team would “be duped” by Boras is if they believe him and trade the pick, but they can still “be duped” in the status quo and take someone else. The minute they draft Boras’ guy, then negotiations are back to whatever they would be.

Moreover, this ignores the possibility that some guys might actually hold out or demand so much that a team really doesn’t want them. Rick Porcello dropped all the way to the end of the first round because of his price tag. Now, don’t you think someone with the 15th pick should be able to call the Tigers and say, “Listen, you’re not scared to give this kid what he wants. Give us your 1st and 2nd round picks and you can nab him right here before here falls any farther.” This is something that could actually happen, and it’d be better for baseball and everyone making roster managerial decisions throughout the game.

The reasons for not making the change are far outweighed by the inherent benefits of making it. It’s time baseball followed along the same lines of almost every other professional sports league and allowed teams to trade draft picks.

Last night, the Rangers beat the Angels 3-2 to push their lead in the AL West to six games. They did so, in large part, because Anaheim’s outfield defense is atrocious. Even Jered Weaver couldn’t hide his frustration with the fielding ability of the guys playing behind him, saying the following:

“Some things didn’t go my way there in the sixth inning or it could have been a little different game. We could be playing right now.”

“Obviously, (Vladimir Guerrero) hustled out there and turned what I thought was a single into a double.”

On Josh Hamilton’s double, Weaver stated that he “popped a changeup up.” Torii Hunter was a bit more direct, saying “Some balls dropped that probably shouldn’t have dropped.”

The misplays in the outfield isn’t a new problem for the Angels. On any given night, they have two of Juan Rivera, Bobby Abreu, and Hideki Matsui in the outfield, and none of them are exactly range monsters. Matsui can barely move at this point in his career, and as Guerrero showed last night, Abreu’s arm doesn’t scare anyone anymore either. Anaheim’s outfield defense is a big problem.

If they want to give themselves a chance to run down Texas, they should consider a drastic move – call up Peter Bourjos from Triple-A and play him everyday. Ideally, he would get to run around center field, but I’m sure that Hunter wouldn’t take that well, so they would have to settle for putting him in in a corner. Even there, Bourjos would still be such a huge defensive upgrade for the Angels that it’s worth trying.

Whether Bourjos will hit in the majors is still a question mark. He doesn’t have much power or a great approach at the plate, but he’s extremely fast and a pretty decent bunter. His upside is probably that of Juan Pierre, but right now, the Angels could use a guy like that.

Rivera and Abreu could split time between one OF spot and DH, limiting the damage the three statues can do to the pitching staff. And, at the same time, the Angels would get a chance to look at part of their future, since there’s a pretty decent chance that they’re not catching the Rangers this year anyway. Instead of trading for a first baseman, the best move the Angels can make is probably an internal one. I know Mr. Weaver would certainly appreciate the help.

At 55-39, the San Diego Padres unexpectedly sit atop the NL West division. Possessing the second-best record in the Senior Circuit, the Friars have a better than seven-in-ten chance of playing postseason baseball, according to CoolStandings.com. The Padres’ bats have been about average, once Petco Park’s hatred toward all things offense is considered. Moreover, the club has a combined -2.2 Park Adjusted Batting Runs, sixth in the NL. But the major reasons for San Diego’s success are excellent defense (first in the NL in UZR), an electric bullpen (1st in xFIP and WPA) and a starting rotation that ranks third in the NL in ERA.

Those starters have a 3.53 ERA, but a more run-of-the-mill 4.15 xFIP, which places eighth in the NL. Given the Padres’ defensive adeptness, it’s not surprising that those starters are faring better than their fielding independent components would indicate. But that 0.62 ERA/xFIP split is also due in part to good fortune in terms of stranding base runners; the Padres starters have a collective 77.7% left on base rate, highest in the majors.

A couple of days ago, Dave Cameron discussed Ricky Nolasco, who has posted a lower strand rate than we would expect given his fielding independent stats. Today, I’d like to introduce you to the anti-Nolasco — Wade LeBlanc.

In 2009, the lefty struck out 5.83 batters per nine innings, issued 3.69 BB/9, and had a 36.2 ground ball rate in 46.1 innings pitched. LeBlanc’s xFIP (5.21) was blasé, but a combination of a low BABIP (.224) and high strand rate (78.6%) allowed him to post a 3.69 ERA.

This season, LeBlanc owns a 6.2 K/9, 3.56 BB/9, and a 37.7 GB% in 98.2 innings, with his BABIP regressing to an even .300. Yet the split between his ERA and xFIP remains humongous. Wade owns a 3.28 ERA, which is no doubt aided by pitching in a park that severely depresses doubles and HR production. But that still doesn’t explain the ERA/xFIP divergence. According to Baseball-Reference, LeBlanc’s ERA in a neutral park with 2010’s NL run-scoring level is 3.79, but his xFIP is 4.71. The major explanation for that dichotomy is that the 25-year-old has been the game’s greatest escape artist.

LeBlanc has stranded 85.7% of the runners that he has put on base, which is the highest mark among qualified major league starters. Has he pitched exceptionally well once runners reach base? Nope:

The difference was even more pronounced last season (albeit in a smaller sample) — a 4.85 xFIP with nobody on, and a 5.91 xFIP with men on base.

Most pitchers perform worse with runners on. LeBlanc’s walk rate with runners on base versus bases empty situations has increased somewhat less than the NL average, but his K rate in situations with men on base has fallen more than most. Here are LeBlanc’s strikeout/PA and walk/PA numbers with the bases empty and men on this season. The “Men On/Bases Empty” column is LeBlanc’s figures with men on divided by his figures with the bases empty.

Overall, LeBlanc’s K/PA and BB/PA figures are below-average as compared to the average NL pitcher.

LeBlanc’s walk rate with men on base has increased 27 percent compared to bases empty situations (the average NL increase is 34 percent). His K rate, on the other hand, has fallen nearly 19 percent with men on compared to when the bases are empty (the average NL decrease is 6.3 percent).

According to this formula developed by Dave Studeman, LeBlanc’s LOB rate should have been around 68.8% in 2009 and should be closer to 70.5% in 2010.

Wade LeBlanc is in a fantastic situation as a result of pitching in a cavernous park behind quality fielders. But eventually, he’s going to get himself into some jams from which he won’t be able to escape.

The Angels entered play yesterday with a .262 wOBA from their third baseman, the worst mark in the major leagues, largely thanks to the terrible play of Brandon Wood. In order to rectify the situation, which they have previously attempted to patch with the utility men Kevin Frandsen and Maicer Izturis, the Angels have acquired Kansas City Royals third baseman Alberto Callaspo in exchange for starters Sean O’Sullivan and Will Smith.

Callaspo’s offensive game has taken a major step down from last season, as the walks are down and his BABIP has dropped from .312 to .278. ZiPS projects a slightly above average .329 wOBA going forward. At this point, Callaspo’s only real hitting skill is his ability to make contact, as his 8.6% career strikeout rate is well below the league average, which is enough to make Callaspo an above average hitter at a premium position.

The question is if his glove can play there. Callaspo has recorded a meager 99 games started at 3B and about 900 innings, making his +5 UZR essentially meaningless. The Fans Scouting Report had Callaspo as one of the league’s worst fielding second basemen last season, for reasons which likely prompted this move to third base. One of the reason’s Callaspo was rated so poorly were his “Hands/Catching,” which along with mediocre “Reactions/Instincts” doesn’t exactly project well at the hot corner. It’s certainly possible that, for some reason, Callaspo is simply much better at third, but I’m not buying it until I see a significant sample, and the underlying opinion of Callaspo’s defense around the league seems to be that it’s poor.

That said, if “poor” means something like -5 runs per 150 games, that still makes Callaspo a decently valuable, roughly league average player. A 2.0 WAR player like that would be a blistering 6.9 wins above Brandon Wood’s terrifically abysmal -1.5 WAR in 185 PAs this season, so this should be a significant pickup for Los Angeles. If Callaspo’s defense isn’t what they hoped for – in the -10 to -15 zone, then Callaspo turns from a legitimate starter into more of a role player in the grand scheme, but short term he still represents an improvement. If his defense turns out to be better than average or even great for some reason – just some sort of deep, inner zen with third base, or something like that – then Callaspo could be a key, 3.0 WAR+ player, but I wouldn’t wager any sort of significant sum on that kind of outcome.

Callaspo’s contract status is favorable, as he will enter his first season of arbitration in 2011. The raises that he looks to get in arbitration may not have been the best way for the Royals to use their limited funds in the upcoming seasons, but it’s a small price for the large-market Angels, and Callaspo certainly hasn’t put up the kinds of seasons worthy of a huge arbitration reward, nor does his skillset suggest that he will be overvalued by the system.

The pitcher leaving Los Angeles, O’Sullivan (21) and Smith (20), are both young starters with slight promise, but they aren’t system toppers by any means. There is a good chance that each of them turns out to be organizational depth, which certainly isn’t worthless, but given the chance to improve the big league club at a position of extreme need, it’s not a steep price to pay. Callaspo should fit right in with the Angels, and although this certainly doesn’t make them a contender with Texas in the AL West yet, this move improves the club for this year and ostensibly the next three as well.

Jack Cust’s path to big league regularity is most unusual. He was always the former top prospect shunned with a skill set too uncool and too untrue to the expectancies of major league teams. Cust’s eHarmony page read that he liked 90-foot walks down the first base line, jogs around the bases, and hangdog expressions following strike threes on journeys back to the dugout. Just like a real dating profile, nobody reading Cust’s believed a word of it. Not until Billy Beane took him out on a second date.

What a horrible fall from grace, as Cust was traded for Mike Myers and Chris Richard in separate deals before becoming a free agent following the 2004 season. He signed with Oakland, but a year later repeated the process, this time signing with San Diego. In May 2007, Beane purchased Cust, who would jump into the Athletics lineup days later and hit a home run in his first game. He would hit 25 more, and finish the year with a .393 wOBA. In 2008 Cust’s performance would come back to earth. His BABIP would drop from .355 to .306. He still posted a wOBA over .370.

Last year, though, things went sour. The 30-year-old’s ISO slipped to .177 despite a slight raise in his BABIP and a decrease in strikeouts. That .342 wOBA got him designated for assignment from the A’s. Cust stayed with the A’s, of course, and he’s racked up more than 180 plate appearances this season. At first glance, the .381 wOBA posted this year suggests he is back to fulfilling his previous role: the pretty girl with glasses that obstructs her comeliness. But no, this isn’t the same Cust. Sure, he still walks a lot, and despite once more cutting down on the whiffs, he’s still sitting down after a strikeout nearly one-third of the time, but the power … it’s just not there. His ISO is down to .171. Even with a BABIP over .380 he’s just not generating the power he once did.

Cust’s BABIP on flyballs is .194 which means that he is getting hits on flyballs 5% more of the time than the league average. And yet, Cust is hitting more infield flies – which turn into outs something like 98% of the time – and fewer home runs – which never turn into outs – leaving one a bit curious as to whether Cust’s new found ability to get hits isn’t just a proxy of some fortuitous drops.

The reality of the situation is that Cust might be nearing the end of his usefulness as a major league designated hitter if the power is truly gone and if the strikeouts remain. It’s too bad because he got started in this league far too late for it to end so soon.

It has been reported that Alberto Callaspo of the Royals has been traded to the Angels for pitchers Sean O’Sullivan and Will Smith. This could be the first of several trades the Royals make this year.

What the Royals lose in the trade:

The Royals traded off their starting third baseman this season since Alex Gordon was sent to the AAA team in Omaha to begin a move to the outfield. Callaspo has been hitting .275/.308/.410 with a wOBA of 0.312 this season. These numbers are similar to his career numbers of .283/.333/.406 wOBA of 0.323 making him an average to below average major league hitter over his career.

His defensive stats are better at his current position, 3rd base, compared to when he played 2nd base. His lifetime UZR/150 in 216 games at second base is -6.7, but has a 9.4 UZR/150 at third base in 111 games. Having seen most of the Royals games this year, Callaspo has looked smoother at third base vice second base.

The Royals will probably fill the void at third base with Wilson Betemit. I am sure that some people will be calling for Alex Gordon to move back to third. Alex and the team are happy with his move to the outfield. We are dealing with the Royals, so anything can happen, but I don’t see him moving back.

Wilson Betemit will be a stop gap at third base until prospect Mike Moustakas makes it to the majors. Betemit’s lifetime batting line of .263/.329/.444 is comparable to Callaspo’s line, but with a little more power. His defense though is a little worse with a -10.7 UZR/150 in 250 games at third base.

What the Royals get in the trade:

The Royals receive some much need needed pitching help. Currently two starters for the Royals are on the DL, Gil Meche and Luke Hochevar, with another, Anthony Lerew, rumored to be headed to the DL also. The Royals minors are loaded with some pitching talent, but all of it is in AA and lower.

Neither player gained is considered to be a top Angel prospect. Sullivan (age 21) has had a K/9 of 4.9 and BB/9 of 2.8 in 17 major league games. In the minors he averaged 6.6 K/9 and 2.4 BB/9. Smith (age 20) has average 7.6 K/9 and 2.2 BB/9 while in the minors. Both were pitching for the Angels AAA team at the time of the trade. Smith began the season at high A and has been promoted to the AAA team.

Neither pitcher seems ready to make an immediate impact on the major league team, but they may be called to help because of the injuries to the Royals starters. I wouldn’t be surprised to see Sullivan pitch this weekend. They will allow the Royals highly touted prospects to stay in the minors and progress to the majors without a jumping a level.

That Boston has encountered numerous injuries this season is no revelation. That Boston just acquired yet another utility player isn’t either. Nevertheless, Fenway faithful should prepare to welcome Jack Hannahan to the illustrious family.

Acquired today from the Seattle Mariners for cash or a player to be named later, Hannahan is a 30-year-old who started the year with an injury that pushed him out of the utility infielder job with the Mariners. Instead, he’s spent his entire season in the minors with Tacoma while hitting .228/.331/.331. Boston is not acquiring Hannahan for his bat, although his career numbers (.224/.311/.347 in 981 plate appearances) may inflate from playing his home games in Fenway instead of Safeco Field or McAfee Coliseum. Of course, he also has to face the pitching staffs of the Yankees and Rays more often, so maybe not.

Where Hannahan shines is in his defense prowess. Just at Tacoma this season he’s played third and second base as well as shortstop. He is a legitimate plus defender, giving Boston a versatile player who writes love letters to his fielding glove. Ultimately, that seems to be the only function of his presence. He’s not a good enough baserunner to pinch run for anyone other than David Ortiz.

The cost is nothing. At most, the Sox are giving up a piece of Triple-A or Double-A depth, and for a cheap utility player who can help much in the same way Alex Cora did for the Sox from 2005 to 2008.This also opens up the possibility of moving Jed Lowrie in another deal. It’s not a gamechanger by any means, just a decent exercise in bench-building on the cheap. No vesting options required.