Tigers Acquire Jhonny Peralta

Detroit Tigers general manager Dave Dombrowski has decided against standing pat at the trade deadline this year. He made a relatively minor move by trading for Indians third baseman Jhonny Peralta late this afternoon.

Peralta comes over with seven home runs and 43 RBI in 93 games with Cleveland. Prior to the 2009 season, Peralta was the Indians shortstop, but has played almost exclusively at third for the past year and a half. He will slot into the lineup at third for the Tigers, at least until Brandon Inge comes back from injury. Once Inge is healthy, Peralta will be in the mix for time at short.

In the short term this is a solid move for Detroit. Peralta bring a much-needed veteran bat to a decidedly inexperienced lineup. Cleveland is paying a good chunk of the remaining salary for Peralta this year, and the Tigers will hold a $7 million option for 2011 that can be bought out for $250 thousand.

As always, however, the Tigers did in fact have to give something up to get their man. Southpaw starting pitcher Giovanni Soto was the man headed to Cleveland. He has spent the season thus far with Low-A West Michigan, where he had a 6-6 record and 2.61 ERA in 18 starts. He’s just 19 and he has a fairly high ceiling, but he’s not one of the top prospects in the Tigers chain. (more after the jump)

Another casualty in this deal is that in order to make room for Peralta on the 40-man roster, Detroit has designated for assignment the contract of OF Wilkin Ramirez. Ramirez was perhaps the top hitting prospect in the organization as recently as two years ago, but he’s been passed over by several outfielders on the organizational depth chart this year.

Reports indicate that Peralta should be available to play for Detroit in time for tomorrow afternoon’s series finale in Tampa. The Tigers will have to option out one of the young players on their current roster to make room.