Tribe Trades with Cubs; Acquire DeRosa

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Cleveland Indians general manager Mark Shapiro made yet another move to bolster his infield this off season as he pulled the trigger on a trade with the Chicago Cubs to bring right handed hitter Mark DeRosa to Cleveland.

In exchange for the infielder, the Indians gave up three of their highly regarded minor league pitchers. The Tribe handed over right handers Jeff Stevens and Chris Archer along with left hander John Gaub in order to acquire DeRosa on Wednesday.

Last season, DeRosa played in 149 games with the Cubs and hit .285 with 30 doubles, 21 homeruns and 87 RBIs. 2008 was by far DeRosa’s best offensive season to date as he posted four personal bests and ranked second in the National League in hitting with runners in scoring position as he posted a .322 average in these situations.

DeRosa played most of his games at second base last season, which will create an interesting situation for the Indians with Asdrubal Cabrera and Josh Barfield both already vying for that position. There have been some grumblings from the Indians organization about moving traditional shortstop Jhonny Peralta to third and having Cabrera move to short, which would leave second open for DeRosa and allow Barfield to be his backup.

The former Cub has just one year left on a three-year deal and is slotted to make $5.5 million in 2009.