ST. LOUIS -- In urgent need of a glove that can help stabilize a position in flux, the St. Louis Cardinals landed veteran Pedro Feliz in trade with the Houston Astros on Thursday morning.
The Cardinals had been trawling for infield help since before the non-waiver trading deadline and, according to several officials with the team, had ramped up their efforts in recent days. The club found the available third basemen limited, and by grabbing Feliz in exchange for a minor-league pitcher the Cardinals sided with an available player who has a strong defensive reputation and is late in a disappointing offensive season.
Feliz, in his first season with the Astros, is batting .221 with a .243 on-base percentage and a career-low .311 slugging percentage. In 97 games with Houston, Feliz has four homers and as many RBIs as strikeouts (31).
While with San Francisco and Philadelphia, Feliz earned a reputation as one of the best defensive players at third base in the league.
To make room on the 40-man roster for Feliz the Cardinals placed catcher Jason LaRue on the 60-day disabled list. As reported in Thursday morning's Post-Dispatch, LaRue's post-concussion symptoms have persisted and the team was concerned that the backup catcher would not be able to play again this season.
The move to the 60-day DL all but ends LaRue's season.
The Cardinals will have to make a move to add Feliz to the 25-man roster before Friday's game against San Francisco. In exchange for Feliz, the Cardinals sent reliever David Carpenter. A former catcher, Carpenter has risen steadily through the system as a pitcher and spent this season as High-A Palm Beach's closer. He had 20 saves for the Florida State League club.
The Cardinals were handcuffed by their obvious need and baseball's tricky waivers. After July 31, all players must first clear waivers before they can be dealt. Ty Wigginton, one of the best third baseman believed to be available via trade, did not clear waivers and because he was claimed by several teams was pulled back by the Baltimore Orioles, according to reports. That assures that he could not be traded. The Cardinals had eyes for Brandon Inge, but the Detroit Tigers third baseman was not guaranteed to clear waivers -- and it wasn't clear if he would be floated through waivers any time soon.
On Wednesday, several Cardinals officials said that the team's need for a third baseman was such that they were less likely to wait on the waiver process for specific players.
They're attention had been shifted to players who had cleared.
That left the team to consider players such as Toronto's Edwin Encarnacion or Houston's Geoff Blum, or his glove-toting teammate Feliz.
Feliz, 35, signed a one-year deal with Houston after being a part of NL championship teams in Philadelphia. The Phillies replaced him with Placido Polanco this season. Feliz has yet to find offensive traction this season, and he's seen a steady decline in power over the previous four seasons, slipping from 20 homers in 2007 to 12 last year and four this season. The third baseman's OPS+ -- a measure of how his ability to get on base and hit for extra bases compares against the league average -- is 49. The league average is set at 100 for the sake of easy comparison.
The infielder has appeared at both third base and first base for Houston this season, but it's as a third baseman where Feliz has been most effective.
In 2007, Feliz led the majors with a plus-27 at third base. That is a measure available at Bill James Online of how many plays Feliz makes outside of a prescribed zone (a plus) vs. how many plays he mishandles within the prescribed zone for his position (a minus). Feliz has been a plus third baseman every season of his career -- expect for this season, when he's a minus-10, according to the rankings at Bill James Online.
The Cardinals' need for a third baseman has become more pronounced as Felipe Lopez has struggled with extended exposure at a position outside of his resume. Lopez, a solid middle infielder and a starter at second base in each of the past two seasons, has shown signs of wear since taking over the position full time in David Freese's absence. The rookie Freese has not played since late June, and he was lost for the season when an injury sustained during his first rehab-assignment game led to surgery that rebuilt his ankle.
Lopez has hit .137 and slugged .176 in his previous 13 games, including 12 starts at third base. The Cardinals have sought ways to give him a break -- even starting rookie Allen Craig at the position and assigning shortstop Tyler Greene to receive playing time at third during his current stint with Class AAA Memphis.
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