The Tribe hasn't traded away the big name tandem of Cliff Lee and Victor Martinez (at least not yet -- at the time of this post).
They did however, trade Ryan Garko to the San Francisco Giants for Class A minor league pitcher Scott Barnes.
In parts of four major league seasons with the Indians (he batted once in 2005), he hit .283, with an on-base percentage of .355, a slugging percentage of .450, and an OPS of .805. Not great, not terrible, but, at 28 years old, "Gark" was a serviceable player. In fact, in getting Garko, SF GM Brian Sabean called him a "professional hitter."
Now, the Indians have about a million first basemen in the system. In fact, I bet we could field an entire team made up of guys whose primary position is first base.
So, my beef isn't so much that we traded him; my beef is what we got in return. I'm sure Scott Barnes is a swell guy, but the fact of the matter is he's pitching in A-ball. He's nowhere near major league ready and the odds of him making it are pretty slim. (Can you say Adam Miller?)
As ESPN.com's Rob Neyer wrote:
Just for the record, Barnes was ranked by Baseball America last winter as a top-10 prospect in the Giants' system (No. 9, to be precise). Of course, you know the perils that await a Class A pitcher, no matter how talented; the odds are against Barnes ever becoming more than a bit player in the majors (though of course we'll be pulling for him).I know you can never have too much pitching, but the Indians need either major league or major league-ready pitching in order to compete next year. (Even with the Tribe's recent five game winning streak, this season is over.)
Between this and the Mark DeRosa deal earlier in the season, it's hard to believe that Mark Shapiro is the same guy who got Grady Sizemore, Brandon Phillips, and Cliff Lee for Bartolo Colón.
Gee, what are we going to get for Cliff Lee or Victor Martinez this year? A box of bats and a bucket of balls?
