Dodgers / Devil Rays Trade

Minor trade today:

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- The Tampa Bay Devil Rays traded pitcher Mark Hendrickson and catcher Toby Hall to the Los Angeles Dodgers on Tuesday for pitcher Jae Seo, minor league catcher Dioner Navarro and a player to be named.

I think this is a good move by both teams. The Dodgers have a real shot at the playoffs but are real weak at catcher and the back of the starting rotation. Hall is an upgrade at catcher (40-yr old Sandy Alomar was the starter) and Hendrickson is a big upgrade over Seo (the 2006 version of seo at least). It should be noted that Hendrickson was leading the AL in road ERA this season with a 2.20 mark.

The Devil Rays save about $2 million in 2006 salary - probably weren't going to be able to re-sign either Hall or Hendrickson and they get a young highly thought of catcher and a starter who was pretty good last year for the Mets. They save on salary this year and next. If Navarro turns out to be a stud or if Seo regains his 2005 form - its a bonus.