DET-CHI Trade: Omar Infante is the New Neifi Perez
Today, the Chicago Cubs traded outfielder Jacque Jones to the Detroit Tigers for infielder Omar Infante. It’s not a bad deal for either team, I think.
For one, Detroit can now platoon the lefty Jones with righty Marcus Thames in left field. If you take the three-year splits for both players (Thames vs. lefties and Jones vs. righties), you end up with a player who hits .281 with a .344 OBP and .476 SLG. Of course, this does not calculate things such as park factor, switching leagues, and age projections for Jones, but you get the idea.
The Cubs end up with Omar Infante, who will no doubt end up filling the Neifi Perez Memorial Utility Role within Lou Pinella’s squad as the player who will end up getting far more ABs than he deserves. The spot has been sadly vacant since Cesar Izturis was traded for 25 cents and a pop tart in July.
But there is a silver lining for the Cubbies here - this all but assures that Matt Murton will get more ABs. I don’t believe that “Big Red” will end up being a star, but he still has a good chance to be an above-average corner outfielder given the chance. He has been criminally underused in Sweet Lou’s regime but now should have the chance to prove himself as a more than viable candidate.
November 12th, 2007 at 11:32 pm
Aha! But there’s one writer out there who thinks the Tigers got the best of this deal. For more, check out this post on Fire Joe Morgan:
http://www.firejoemorgan.com/search?q=jacque jones
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November 13th, 2007 at 2:08 am
There is rejoicing in the streets of Wrigleyville, Halle-effin-lujah! This is absolute addition by subtraction. I wouldn’t expect it to be making way for Murton though. It’s probably more likely that Felix Pie and Sam Fuld will be given opportunities in center and a free agent will be picked up for right. Murton looks like a guy that will hit for average but he lacks the power you would like in a corner outfielder and has average speed at best. His fielding has also left a lot to be desired with a below average arm. Over the last 2 seasons he has not shown that he’s capable of being an every day player. Piniella was justified in not using him any more than he did because he didn’t show much when given the chance.
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November 13th, 2007 at 2:58 am
I think the Cubs are clearly the winners in this deal. Jacque Jones is a horrible, horrible player, who is overpaid at any cost and a black hole on your 25 man roster. It was idiotic of the Cubs to sign him in the first place when so many of their cheapest major-league ready players were outfielders.
The Tigers now inherit the contract of this complete waste of at-bats. But while Infante is probably not an everyday player, he’s a pretty useful spare part to have around when one of your guys goes down for a few weeks with an injury.
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