Mark DeRosa is a Cardinal, and now two questions need to be addressed. First of all, the non-sentimental, practical one: how does this affect the Cubs chances of catching and eventually overtaking St. Louis?
As we all know, DeRo was turning in a solid year with the Indians at .270-13-50-.342, so that is a plus for the Cardinals, negative for the Cubs. They are certainly getting a very valuable piece, again as we all know. However, as much as I love DeRo, he is not a world changing player. He isn't the type of player that can protect Albert, which he can be reasonably expected to do being that he is now the second best offensive option on that team.
He shouldn't hit cleanup and I don't think he will, but despite Tony's brilliance he can be an oddball sometimes so who knows. He should hit second, where Colby Rasmus has been lately. Rasmus has been improving all year but DeRo is just a better hitter right now and being that whoever hits in front of Albert will get some great opportunities, that is where he should hit.
DeRo is a solid defensive third baseman, which is much more than can be said for the guys they've been trotting out there all year long. Joe Thurston and Brian Barden (who have gotten the bulk of the playing time) have a combined 11 errors this season. DeRo will definetly make that situation better, but is he Brooks Robinson over there? No way.
All in all, it is a good move for them because as of now giving up Chris Perez to get DeRo is brilliant on a value level. He makes them a better team, but not a far superior team that the Cubs can't catch. Obviously that hinges on the Cubs themselves playing better too, which muddies things a little.
Now to deal with the sentimental side of this deal. It is not going to be fun to see a fan favorite on the Cardinals. However, Rick Morrisey of the Tribune wrote an article after the Indians series on how mystified he was over all the love DeRo got that weekend. He brought up the point of how the guy only played here for 2 years, and though his numbers were solid, they weren't all-world. I don't think you can rationalize it any better than that, not to pimp his point.
Think of it this way too: last year Cards fans had to deal with the Jim Edmonds situation. DeRo is not one of the greatest Cubs of all time. He arguably could not have his number retired like Edmonds probably deserves in St. Louis. He didn't win a World Series with the team like Jimmy did in St. Louis. Hell he didn't even win a playoff GAME with the team!
DeRo was one of my favorites while he was with the Cubs so maybe I'm just trying to detach myself as a defensive mechanism. Who knows. All I know is that it would be a lot worse if it were D-Lee or Aramis or Z. And certainly was a lot worse for Cardinal fans last year.
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