The Cleveland Indians today announced the club has acquired CA CARLOS SANTANA & RHP JON MELOAN from the Los Angeles Dodgers in exchange for INF CASEY BLAKE & cash.
Santana, 22, has spent the entire 2008 season with the Inland Empire 66ers of the A California League. The switch-hitting catcher is batting .323 (113-350) with 88 runs scored, 34 doubles, 4 triples, 14HR and 96 RBI in 99 games so far this season. He currently leads the California League in RBI (96), on-base percentage (.431) and runs scored (88), is 2nd in doubles (34), 3rd in extra-base hits (52), 4th in slugging percentage (.563) and 6th in batting average (.323). In the 2nd half of play, which began on June 26, he is hitting .393 (42-107) w/9 2B, 6HR & 30RBI in 28 games (30BB, 20K, 1.167OPS).
Santana, who was named to the California League mid-season All-Star team, was originally signed by the Dodgers in 2004 out of the Dominican Republic as a third baseman/ outfielder and he is in just his second full season of catching. His 96 RBI this year are 9 more than any other player in ALL of Minor League Baseball while his 88 runs scored also lead the minors (his 34 doubles are tied for 6th in MiLB). The disciplined hitter has 10 more walks (69) than strikeouts (59) at Inland Empire and has an on-base+ slugging % (OPS) of .993. He will report to A Kinston in the coming days.
Meloan, 24, was the Dodgers 5th round selection out of the University of Arizona in the 2005 MLB First-Year Player Draft. The 6-3, 225 pound right-hander made his Major League debut with the Dodgers just last season, appearing in 5 games in September (7.1IP, 8H, 9R/ER, 8BB, 7K). He began 2007 at AA Jacksonville where he went 5-2 with 19 saves and a 2.18 ERA (45.1IP, 24H, 11ER, 18BB, 70K, .155avg against) in 35 appearances out of the bullpen while being named to the Southern League All-Star team and top reliever in the SL by Baseball America. He was later promoted to AAA Las Vegas where he went 2-0 w/a 1.69 ERA (21.1IP, 12H, 4ER, 9BB, 21K, .158avg against) in 14 appearances before his call-up by LA. Prior to the 2008 season, he was named the 8th best prospect in the Dodgers organization by Baseball America.
He was converted by the Dodgers to a starting pitcher this season and has spent the entire campaign with the AAA Las Vegas 51’s, going 5-10 with a 4.97 ERA (105.0IP, 119H, 72R/58ER, 60BB, 99K) in 21 games/20 starts this season. His option has been transferred to AAA Buffalo and he will again be converted back to a relief role. In his minor league career he has allowed 212 hits in 262.2 innings of work with 335 strikeouts (11.5 SO per 9.0IP, 3.43ERA).
Saturday, July 26, 2008
Indians Trade Blake, Acquire Two Prospects
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6 comments:
Santana is very interesting, a real up and down performer. Last year his BA was awful, about .220, but he had a lot of doubles (for his ABs) and an excellent BB/K ratio. This year he has really turned it on, but his inconsistency is something to keep an eye on for the time being.
This is a good gamble of a trade. Remember, Blake could be worth a supplemental first round pick or two picks if we kept him. Nevertheless he got us SOMETHING back that may resemble the quality we would get with that pick or picks.
This is an outstanding trade for the Indians. Shapiro should be lauded for negotiating this level of return for two months of Casey Blake. I thought he did very well in the C.C. deal considering the market and the most prominent needs of the Cleveland organization, but this one is fantastic. Meloan may be a closer by 2010 and Santana is one of the most exciting catching prospects in baseball. The Dodgers have had very good luck converting infielders to catchers (e.g., Russ Martin) and I thought they struck gold with this cannon-armed switch-hitter. Great job, Mark. What a haul!
Boy kevin, you said a real mouthful. This trade was brilliant. We could be happy with either of these guys who were very good prospects with both being in the top 10 Dodger prospects in some evaluators opinions. Seems like Tribe management isn't nearly as incompetent as ame posters maintain.
Hey, I like this trade, but remember:
Paul Shuey trade - Rodriguez and Cruceta
Milton Bradley trade - Brown and Gutierrez
Especially the latter trade had people saying exactly what Kevin was saying now, given that we were in a hole with a player who had issues (Blake - FA status, Bradley - attitude)
So, while I like the trade, we DID give up at least one draft pick in this deal AND we are dealing with the Dodgers who are history of trading with says we may be overvaluing what we got back.
So I don't see this as an outstanding trade, but a good one for a journeyman and CERTAINLY better than what I expected for him in terms of getting potential near present and future value.
But not outstanding. Not close.
Gonna have a writeup on this here in the next hour or two, but Santana is intriguing. Almost like the Indians got Max Ramirez back. I really like Meloan's potential as a backend guy, and he may have been identified as a closer-to-be.
The two guys obtained in this trade are more than anything we could hope for in comp picks for Blake. The better part is we get them further along in their development curves where they can help in 1-2 years versus 2009 picks that could be 3-4 years from helping at least.
Right now, this is a very good trade. Hindsight has the potential to make this a stinker of course, but also one that impacts this org in a huge way.
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