This trade occurred a couple days ago, however it is still worth mentioning.
On July 28, the Cleveland Indians shipped infielder Jhonny Peralta to the Detroit Tigers for minor league pitcher Giovanni (as opposed to Cubs catcher Geovany) Soto.
Prior to the transaction, Peralta had been hitting .246 with seven home runs and 43 RBI for the Tribe. In his first game with Detroit, he went 3-for-4 with two home runs and three RBI.
19-year-old Soto is still green—he is in only his second professional season, pitching at the Single-A level. In 2009, he went 4-0 with a 1.18 ERA and this season he is 6-6 with a 2.61 ERA.
In receiving Peralta, the Tigers gained a solid, though not stellar, player with some good pop in his bat—from 2005 to 2009, he averaged 18 home runs and 78 RBI a season. Though he is in his eighth major league season, he is only 28 years old.
The big knocks against Peralta are his inconsistency and his penchant for the strikeout (he averaged 137 fans a year from 2005 to 2009). Inconsistent he is—both in-season and on a year-by-year basis. In the full seasons he has played, he has hit as high as .292, as many as 24 home runs and driven in as many as 89 runs. On the flipside, he has batted as low as .254, with only 11 home runs and 68 RBI.
Soto is a solid prospect, but with any greenhorn it is difficult to say what he will become. He could be a boon or a bust for the Indians—he needs a few more years under his belt before a real solid evaluation can be made.
