The Jelly Rolls No More

The Tribe, unable to parlay Friday night’s exciting win into a series win, dropped the final 2 to the Mariners.

It’s true that there are going to be growing pains as these young players mature and find their way in the Majors, but the inclusion of Boone and Hollandsworth in these games continues to baffle.

After the game, the team moved their short RF Ronnie Belliard to the Cardinals for… middle infielder Hector Luna?!?

For those unaware of who Luna is, let’s do a little bit of player association:
The Cardinals’ starting 2B Aaron Miles proved to be an inadequate starting 2B in the Majors. The Cardinals acquire Belliard to replace Miles in the lineup. In return, the Indians get the player incapable of displacing Miles at 2B for the Cardinals (remember that whole Miles being an inadequate starting 2B?).

Where does Luna fit in this whole thing? Is he going to take AB’s away from Joe Inglett this year? Is he going to enter 2007 as the starting 2B? I hope not.

Luna, by the way, was originally in the Tribe farm system, but exposed in the Rule V draft, where he was plucked away by the Cardinals. In the years that followed, he's done nothing to distinguish himself as more than a utility IF.

This is a tremendous disappointment as Belliard seemed to be the Indians’ biggest bargaining chip who didn’t fit into their 2007 plans. With multiple teams looking for a 2B, or even a 3B, you would think that the Tribe would be able to get a decent return for Jelly.

Unfortunately, the team netted more for Broussard and, arguably, Perez.

How does this not look like a pure salary dump?

Maybe Luna proves that he’s a decent 2B when given regular time, but isn’t that what we’re trying to determine with Inglett?

Why wouldn’t the Indians just hang onto Belliard for the compensatory draft pick if they were going to get no more than a utility IF for him?

The Front Office will say that moving Belliard to another team allows them a bigger window to sign him in the off-season (remember how Kevin Millwood needed to be signed before a certain date, or the Indians were unable to negotiate with him). I don’t think that the argument holds much water, though, as Belliard will likely command a 3-year deal on the open market for about $4M to $5M annually. At that price, I don’t think that Belliard was in the plans, regardless, and somewhat rightfully so (money can be better spent elsewhere).

That all being said, Luna gives some insurance in case Inglett is not capable of manning 2B next year. The amount of insurance that it gives the club, though, is not much.

This just doesn’t seem like a very good fit. It seems like the dearth of MI’s in the system could suddenly become a glut of middling middle infielders (pun intended).

After having seen the logic to all of the moves made thus far, even the Wickman one, this one (if this is it) is a big letdown.