The Cardinals just acquired Ryan Theriot from Dodgers in exchange for righty Blake Hawksworth.
On one the one hand: sure. The Cardinals need some help on the infield, as Brendan Ryan was just atrocious this year.
On the other hand: Theriot ain’t exactly an All-Star himself, and his OPS was only marginally higher than Ryan’s this year: .606 to .573.
Theriot, once upon a time, had some decent on base skills, but he hasn’t flashed that for a while now. He’s versatile in that he can play multiple positions. At the same time, he was a non-tender candidate for the Dodgers and now the Cardinals are going to have to give him a raise from the $2.6 million he was making, no? This couldn’t have waited a week?
Hawksworth will be 28 next season. A swingman with two seasons under his belt, the most recent of which was nothing special (4.98 ERA in 45 appearances with blah peripherals).
I guess the ultimate verdict on this trade will come when we see how many starts Theriot gets. If he’s a utility guy who is used all over the field, great, he has some value. If La Russa sees him as some sort of veteran savior and gives him 500+ plate appearances, well, I can’t see that going well for St. Louis.
Cubs fans ought to get a pretty big kick out of it though.
