Orlando Cabrera traded for Jon Garland

The Los Angeles Angels traded Gold Glove winner Orlando Cabrera to the Chicago Whitesox for starting pitcher Jon Garland. An interesting move, I guess this paves the way for Brandon Wood to finally become a regular. The Angels could do worse for a 4th starter, but its odd that they had to kick in cash.

I suppose this makes Joe Saunders the 5th starter for the Angels, and could signal the end of Ervin Santana's inconsistent days for them. Santana is worth taking a look at for some teams, as he turns 25 in January, and did manage to win 16 games, while posting a 4.26 ERA and 1.23 WHIP in 2006. Maybe as part of a Miguel Cabrera package?

For the White Sox, this is an odd move. Garland was their #3 starter, after Mark Buerhle and Javier Vazquez. Considering the way Jose Contreras pitched last year, its a big risk on their part. Cabrera should be better than Juan Uribe, considering how poor Uribe played last year. The move adds a decent on base guy to the top of their lineup who can steal a base, and play excellent defense. I'm guessing that Uribe is moved to 2B, or traded, though I dont see the market for a player who failed to slug over .400 or post an OBP over .300 being all that great, even if he is only making 4.5 million.