Indians - Acquired Carroll

Cleveland Indians - Acquired IF Jamey Carroll from the Colorado Rockies for a player to be named.

Even the best GMs in baseball don’t always crap rainbows.  Carroll’s making $2.15 million in 2008 (with a $150,000 buyout for 2009) mainly on the strength of having his career year in Coors Field, which while now observing the gravitational constant of the universe, is still a really good hitter’s park.  I can see paying retail for a utility guy if he’s a really good defensive shortstop and you need a defensive replacement, but while Carroll’s quite good at second, but he’s a stretch at short and kind of weak-armed, so I really don’t see the point.  $2 million won’t kill anyone these days, but if it’s just going to waste, teams might as well just give it to me.

Old Indian fans don’t get excited about the Avila comp (or the Bluege comp).  Carroll is being compared to a done Avila and a done Bluege - Carroll’s going to be 34 in a few months, older than one would think on first glance at his fairly small resume.

2008 ZiPS Projection - Jamey Carroll
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              AB   R    H  2B 3B  HR RBI  BB  SO  SB    BA   OBP   SLG 
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Projection   285  49   70  11  2   1  25  34  48   5  .246  .333  .309   
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Opt. (15%)   334  66   88  16  3   3  37  44  53  10  .263  .356  .356 

Pes. (15%)   264  38   57   8  1   0  19  29  53   3  .216  .297  .254
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Top Comps:  Bobby Avila, Ossie Bluege