According to a report in the NY Post, the Indians were ready to trade infielder/outfielder Mark DeRosa to the Mets in exchange for reliever Bobby Parnell, but the Mets felt the asking price was too high.
Instead as we know the Indians sent DeRosa to the Cardinals in exchange for relief pitcher Chris Perez and PTBNL.
As I said yesterday, I don't believe Omar Minaya will allow injuries to be an acceptable excuse for this teams failure. He knows this roster needs upgrades, injuries or not, and all indications are he is planning on doing it.
However, I must admit if in fact these reports are true, I think Minaya may have made a big mistake. I understand DeRosa is 34 and may be slightly overvalued based on the weak market, but he certainly can bring more to this team then Bobby Parnell.
Just for fun lets look at how John Sickels, of Minor League Ball compares the two players.
Bobby Parnell, RHP, Grade C+: Stats don't match scouting reports, but he has a good sinker and could be an effective setup man.
Chris Perez, RHP, Grade B+: Outstanding closer-quality stuff, just needs to throw strikes.
So as you can see Sickels certainly has Perez rated much higher than Parnell, and rightly so. This isn't even mentioning the fact that the PTBNL is by all accounts not going to be a "throw in". So why would the Cardinals make this deal and not the Mets? Who knows. Now I must say because the Mets deal never came to fruition we have no way of knowing if more players were involved, but either way it appears the Cardinals offered more.
DeRosa could have been a perfect addition for the Mets. He provides quality character and more importantly leadership, something the Mets are clearly lacking. His ability to play several positions would have given the Mets great flexibility. As their roster steadily got healthy they could have moved DeRosa around to fill in the missing pieces.
Now in the end Minaya may prove us all wrong and go out and acquire an even bigger bat, say Matt Holliday. If that's the case then I'll keep my mouth shut, however, if he fails to get a bat before the July 31 deadline because he was unwilling to part with Bobby Parnell, then I "reckon" he's going to have to a lot of Met fans to answer to.