Reactions to the Podsednik Trade

So as has been the talk of the town, the Dodgers followed up a very good Angels trade (does Piniero going down make this even better? Well, at least more timely.) for a piece they believe they also needed.

The Dodgers sent Lucas May, a AAA catcher, and Elisaul Pimentel, a 22 year old A ball hurler, to the Royals for Mr Scott Podsednik. And though I applaud them for doing their best to make the Dodgers roster look like that of Tommy and my MLB 2004 Fantasy Draft Brewers (Mike Sweeney absolutely raked for us), reactions around the web are split.

The people who like the trade think that neither of these guys will amount to anything - citing May not having capable defense to catch every day in the bigs and Pimentel being a long way away, if that day is even slated, so it's not really anything to give up. Another very good point is that this theoretically reduces Garrett Anderson at bats, which would be great.

The detractors' best point is probably that we are sacrificing depth at catcher while also giving up an improving pitching prospect - and it's hard to really prognosticate on his future.

Even if neither of these two minor leaguers amount to anything in the bigs, it might not be the smartest trade at this time. I know, our left field spot is barren, so the GA thing is beneficial (plus Xavier Paul has not been good, though much more serviceable than Anderson), but the major worry is catcher.

Russell Martin was injured at the end of spring training and some believe that he's never fully recovered. Don't look to his numbers for any proof opposite, he's been bad. Maybe not catcher bad, but production (especially considering his price tag) and for his career bad. Plus, I'm just never confident when he is batting.

Should he get injured, or it comes out he's been injured for a while, we're back to the A. J. Ellis experiment (there's no way they start Ausmus every day, right?) with no backup. Maybe it's a small point to pick, but it could get even scarier behind the plate.

Nevertheless, Podsednik came cheap (both what they gave up and how much he costs) and is not a bad piece off the bench (though he will likely start a bunch with Manny still down). Though I did like the title on Truebluela's initial trade piece, he has to be at least a little better than JP, right?