Before we get to the wine, some baseball...

Hola, kids.

I'll explain my mood.  I'm gloomy, not because I'm listening to Thom Yorke's solo album and thinking that I'll be popping in Hail to the Thief soon or because it's overcast and slightly chilly today, but because the Tigers traded for Neifi Perez yesterday.  Neifi Perez!  One of the most useless players in Major League Baseball.

Granted, Omar Infante (the best in-house option for replacing the injured Placido Polanco) is not that great, but he's a hell of a lot better than Perez, who hasn't been a servicable batter since the Clinton administration.  Infante has marginally better offensive stats (.269-.311-.378 vs. .254-.266-.343) with a sharp edge in OBP, which, taken in the context of these two light-hitting utility infielder types, should be the most important consideration.  Also, Perez has posted these sub-par offensive numbers at one of the better offensive parks in either league.

OK, does Perez at least give you a favorable platoon advantage?  After all, he is a switch-hitter.  No, he doesn't.  Despite batting from both sides of the plate, Perez also hits lefties better.  This is a very bad thing.  Aside from the obvious redundancy of the situation, it behooves a team to have someone who hits righties well, seeing as how right-handers make up the large majority of population, pitchers or otherwise.

So if Perez isn't a better hitter, does he give you better defense?  Actually, no, he doesn't.  The two have essentially the same defensive stats (with a slightly higher Z range for Infante).  Even if Perez is the better defender, it doesn't outweigh Infante's higher OBP in terms of games won or lost.

To take a step back, say you're Dave Dombrowski (Detroit's GM, who I think makes great decisions - most of the time).  Your starting 2B goes down with an injury, perhaps for the rest of the season.  Your team is in the driver's seat heading into the home stretch.  It won't be a cakewalk, as the team is slumping a bit and your division rivals are making big pushes, but you should make it into the playoffs if you can just keep playing decent baseball.

Why would you trade for Neifi Perez?!?  Yes, the organizational answer is infield depth, but do you really need two light-hitting utility guys behind the light-hitting utility guy who stepped into the everyday 2B role?

Arrgghhh.  I only hope the rotation pulls it back together for the last month of the season.