Ronnie Belliard, Eh?

August 30, 2009 at 5:19 pm | Posted in Ronnie Belliard | 5 Comments

Chico Harlan of The Washington Post reports that the Nationals traded infielder Ronnie Belliard to the Dodgers following today’s game. Washington will receive A-ball pitcher Luis Garcia and a player to be named in the deal.

Well… I guess? I suppose this is related to Ken Gurnick’s report that the Dodgers were looking for a run-producing bat off the bench, but I’m not exactly sure that this qualifies. Though Belliard’s had a few roughly league-average seasons, he’s hitting a brutal .247/.297/.376 this season, almost exclusively as a second baseman and pinch-hitter. To be fair, since his OPS cratered at .459 (!!) on July 1, Belliard’s hit a nice .323/.380/.475 in 35 games (20 starts).

Bellliard is by all accounts a lousy fielder, so he’s not going to be getting much time at second base in place of Orlando Hudson or Juan Castro. Really, the success of this deal depends on what his role is going to be. Is Joe Torre really going to use him in place of Mark Loretta off the bench? Loretta’s been absolutely abysmal in what has to be his final major-league season, so if Belliard can keep up his hot streak and Torre’s willing to give him a shot, then this could be slightly useful. As for what was given up, this is no horrifying Carlos Santana-for-Casey Blake deal - Garcia didn’t even make Baseball America‘s top 30 Dodger prospects this year.

On the other hand, Nationals bloggers are thrilled to get something, anything, for Belliard. So I’m giving this a solid “meh” – it’s probably not going to make much of a difference either way.

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I don’t think this trade means very much. Adding Belliard could mean the end of Loretta, but it doesn’t really fix the pinch hitting situation. Ned must be hoping for the next Marlon Anderson, but can he forget Mark Sweeney? I remember a play by Belliard in which he made a diving stop and no look toss to second in the same motion! However that was when he was playing for Cleveland, a good 4 or 5 years ago. Looking at his defensive stats, he was good as recently as 07, not so much the last two years under decreased playing time.

Comment by Table— August 30, 2009 #

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I don’t think this trade means very much. Adding Belliard could mean the end of Loretta, but it doesn’t really fix the pinch hitting situation. Ned must be hoping for the next Marlon Anderson, but can he forget Mark Sweeney? I remember a play by Belliard in which he made a diving stop and no look toss to second in the same motion! However that was when he was playing for Cleveland, a good 4 or 5 years ago. Looking at his defensive stats, he was good as recently as 07, not so much the last two years under decreased playing time.

Comment by Table— August 30, 2009 #

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The best Colletti can do, good grief. This sucks
train
ps should have brought up luna, dewitt,or abreu and one of them a better deal tha belliard. What really really scares me is the PTNL (unless its one of those guys we got from the Pirates in the Young fiasco.

Comment by bluetrain— August 30, 2009 #

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We get this guy and Mitch Jones continues to marinade in Albuquerque. I don’t sweat losing Garcia, he is just another strong right arm in a farm system loaded with them, but Jones actually has some pop, while Belliard is a known cancer and can’t tie his own shoes.

Comment by grabarkewitz— August 31, 2009 #

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i’m still a little confused by this trade but i guess it will all dependon which Billiard we get!
door A-.247/.297/.376
door B-.323/.380/.475
and is he as bad in the field as his last couple of years appear,or ami misreading the situation. Would appreciate some help here.thanks
train

Comment by bluetrain— September 2, 2009 #

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