The St. Louis Cardinals acquired Mark DeRosa from the Cleveland Indians for reliever Chris Perez and a player to be named later.  DeRosa will help fill some offensive holes on the Cards, for sure.  With an injured Troy Glaus, the Redbirds have tried Khalil Greene and Joe Thurston at third – which hasn’t worked out.  Thurston is hitting .230, while Greene is at .205.  DeRosa will likely spend most of his time there.  However, DeRosa can play four other positions, including corner outfield spots that have been manned by the disappointing Rick Ankiel and Ryan Ludwick.

Since the Cards have gotten solid starting pitching from four rotation spots and have three or four decent relief options, including converting Ryan Franklin from a failed starter (12 – 31 with Seattle in 2004 and 2005) to a stunning closer (18 for 19 in saves with an 0.93 ERA), Chris Perez – a future closer – was expendable.  This seems like a very good move for St. Louis.

For the Indians, it looks like stage one in what surely will be a sell-off.  Could Kerry Wood be for sale?  Perez has closer stuff – his major league numbers show 72Ks in 65.1 innings – though he could improve his control and hasn’t been consistent as a closer when given save opportunities.  At a minimum, he’s going to be an eighth inning option and could be groomed for closing in 2011 or sooner.

On the Crime Watch…

FoxSports is reporting that Dodgers relief pitcher Ronald Belisario was arrested on suspicion of a DUI.

J.C. Romero was apparently heckled for his steroids use, and so he allegedly grabbed and shoved a fan.  Robert Eaton was brushed off by other Phillies players when he asked for autographs, so he asked Romero to “get him some steroids.”  After a second steroid comment, Romero went after Eaton.  Sounds like two idiots hooking up for an intelligent conversation.  Anyway, Romero’s outburst does little to dissuade people that those on the juice have anger issues.

Is Ken Rosenthal a Journalist?  Or Just a Well-Paid Blogger?

Just a couple of weeks ago, the fine professional journalists of FoxSports went after a blogger for trying to disprove that Raul Ibanez’s hot start for Philadelphia was tied to PEDs.  In short, the blogger said he didn’t have enough data to suggest that it COULDN’T be PEDs, but didn’t say that Ibanez was using.  “Unprofessional!” the smart people on TV called him.

Now, Jeff Pearlman writes for Sports Illustrated that A-ROD’s poor performance now that he’s done using steroids suggests that he wasn’t all that good without them, that Manny may return to hitting like a middling 37 year old outfielder.

I’m not arguing about the premise, but merely asking the question that many people wonder about with the democratization of information provided by internet access.  Is the only difference between a real journalist and a pretend journalist merely who pays his salary?

Welcome Back!  Houston activated Geoff Blum from the DL, Eric Milton returned to the Dodgers.

Hurry Back!  Toronto optioned reliever Brad Mills to AAA Las Vegas.  He’ll be back soon enough.  Seattle’s Adrian Beltre heads to surgery to remove bone spurs from an achy left shoulder.  He’s expected to miss six weeks.