The Tigers acquired Jhonny Peralta from the Cleveland Indians today for minor league pitcher Giovanni Soto. Peralta is a 28-year-old third baseman who is batting .246/.308/.389 so far this year. The converted shortstop appeared to be headed for stardom when he posted a .886 OPS at age 23 in 2005. After two down years, he then had an OPS of .804 in 2008. However, his OPS has been below .700 each of the last two years.
He will presumably take over third base while Brandon Inge is on the the disabled list with a broken hand. When Inge returns in another month or so, Peralta may switch to shortstop if he hits. He's not a good defensive shortstop though, so it would be hard to justify bumping Ramon Santiago and Danny Worth if he continues to struggle offensively. The Tigers have a $7 million option on Peralta for next year, but it's hard to see them exercising it at this point.
Soto is a soft tossing left-hander who had a 2.61 ERA and 76/25 K/BB ratio at low single-A Western Michigan this year. He is only 19 years old and still has time to increase his velocity, but TigsTown.com currently has him ranked as only the 36th best prospect in the Tigers system.
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