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Trade Bait: Peralta the Tiger
The Detroit Tigers have been riddled by injuries recently and their hopes of chasing down the Twins and the White Sox seem to be fading. At four games back of the AL Central lead, Dave Dombrowski felt it was time to make a move. He acquired infielder Jhonny Peralta from the Indians in exchange for pitcher Giovanni Soto.
No, not Geovany Soto, the catcher for the Cubs, Giovanni Soto.
Peralta, who switched to third base a year ago, is hitting .246/.308/.389 on the season. It’s not exactly the type of offensive contributor that the Tigers need, but at least it’s better than counting on the .204/.283/.283 hitting Scott Sizemore (.188 in July) at third base until Brandon Inge returns in mid-to-late August. When he does return, Peralta may be able to shift to another position on the infield as the rest of the infield (outside of Cabrera and Santiago) is inexperienced and not exactly ripping the cover off the ball (outside of Cabrera).
The 19-year-old Soto has pitched the entire season at Class-A West Michigan. He’s pitched 82.2 innings, giving up only 75 hits, while striking out 76. Soto has a high-80s fastball, a decent curve as well as a change-up as his bread and butter pitches. But Giovanni’s catcher says his arsenal is deeper than that, adding a sinker and a cutter to the repertoire of what he can deliver off of his basic fastball. He has good command for a 19-year-old and should rise relatively fast through the system. At 6′-3″, 155 lbs. Soto is bound to fill out some more as he gets older. The Indians are hoping this will help get a few more MPH on his fastball, allowing him to remain a starter.
Although the Indians are picking up much Peralta’s remaining salary for the season, they received a pretty decent looking prospect for a third baseman with a sub-.400 slugging percentage.
I’ll have to go with ESPN’s Rob Neyer on this trade, “This will not go down as the greatest trade in Tigers history.”
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