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The Angels just acquired David Freese from the Cardinals to fill the hole they have at 3B - this hole is there because they traded Alberto Callaspo in July.
David Freese and Alberto Callaspo were both born in April of 1983 (April 28 and 19, respectively).
David Freese batted .262 with a .721 OPS last season with the Cardinals. His OPS+ was 101. He hit 26 doubles and 9 HR and has some injury concerns.
Alberto Callaspo batted .258 with a .702 OPS last season (with the Angels and Athletics). His OPS+ was 100. He hit 20 doubles and 10 HR and had no injury concerns.
In 521 Plate Appearances in 2013, David Freese accrued 1.4 offensive Wins Above Replacement and NEGATIVE 1.5 defensive WAR.
In 516 Plate Appearances in 2013, Alberto Callaspo accrued 1.7 offensive Wins Above Replacement and NEGATIVE 1.2 defensive WAR.
David Freese is arbitration eligible this offseason and is under club control thru 2015. Callaspo is a free agent right now.
The Angels traded Alberto Callaspo for Grant Green last July. The Angels acquired David Freese for Peter Bourjos today. Assume the trade of Randall Grichuk for Fernando Salas stands on its own and consider that what the Angels really have done, organizationally, is to maintain Callaspo's production at 3B (it remains to be seen what the 2014 salaries of Callaspo and Freese will be).
Therefore the Angels have traded Peter Bourjos for Grant Green. Considering that the known worth of Bourjos far outweighs the potential of Green, not only was the trading of Bourjos terrible for the organization, it underscores a scary hypotheses: If Jerry Dipoto created a hole in the lineup last Summer only to make his first big trade of the offseason a move to fill that hole... well the theory now is the man has absolutely no plan, no structured vision.
Jerry is wandering in the desert and taking us along for the ride. He is acquiring used spare parts at the cost of precious talent and organizational depth.
Let's hope the promised land is not 40 years off like other desert-wanderings are known to have taken.