The day after the San Diego Padres acquired veteran bat Ryan Ludwick, he went 1 for 2 with a run scored. It’s a great start.
But who came out victorious after the Padres, St. Louis Cardinals, and the Cleveland Indians made the three team trade was a question.
Here’s what each team got:
Padres: OF Ryan Ludwick
Cardinals: RHP Jake Westbrook, LHP Nick Greenwood
Indians: RHP Corey Kluber
The Padres gave up the two minor league pitchers for Ludwick.
The Cardinals got a veteran and prospect pitcher in exchange for Ludwick.
The Indians lost Jake Westbrook and got Double A pitcher Kluber, who is 6-6, and has an ERA of 3.45. They are certainly not the winners of this trade.
That leaves us with the two division leading teams.
The Padres could use more offense, and they got a guy that can fill in the batting order in the 3,4,5 spot. Ryan Ludwick has had a 37 HR 113 RBI season just two seasons ago. Last year, he drove in 97 runs. Now, he is hitting .281 with 43 RBIs.
Kluber isn’t the greatest prospect, and so he isn’t the big part of the deal. On the other hand, Nick Greenwood is a 22 year old pitcher for Single A. It seems that he won’t reach the big leagues soon with his 4.15 ERA.
The Cardinals got Jake Westbrook, who is 6-7 with an ERA of 4.65. His last season with an ERA under 4 was back in 2004, before his injuries limited him. Even though he will fill in the back end of the rotation, there really wasn’t a need as Jeff Suppan seemed to be turning things around lately. Not only that, the Cards are leading the division by a handful of games, so there really wasn’t a need to get him, giving up a good bat in Ryan Ludwick.
San Diego seems to have pulled out a big one this time.
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