If you think we're too classy to metaphorically tie the rare earthquake that struck the east coast of the United States and prompted a brief evacuation from the Washington, DC hotel currently home to the Arizona Diamondbacks to the shocking trade made by the team on the very same day...think again.
↵The Diamondbacks shaking up their roster by moving second baseman Kelly Johnson to the Toronto Blue Jays for second baseman Aaron Hill and shortstop John McDonald and the ground shaking the feet of east coast residents was just too much for us to pass up. Sorry.
↵As for the trade itself (we'll leave earthquake analysis to the seismologists), I have to give it a cautious thumbs up.
↵Kelly Johnson is a talented baseball player and a great guy but he's not just in a little slump. He's had two decent months and three horrible months this season and the decent months weren't exactly great.
↵The up and down nature of Johnson's season matches his career numbers. He had an OPS over .800 in 2007 and 2010 but sub par in other years. Johnson is a solid and dependable defender and a great guy, but with free agency approaching after this season, it's not all that hard to say goodbye.
↵In return, the D-backs shake up the batting order which is in a serious slump. With Hill they add a bat that's about as unimpressive as Johnson's but also get McDonald, a sorely needed defensive shortstop. The contracts don't hurt the D-backs either: McDonald will be a free agent after this season and Hill has an $8 million team option for 2012.
↵McDonald is also very much the kind of guy that fans love to love. Here's a heartwarming story about him homering on Father's Day just a few days after his dad died and here's his postgame video interview.
↵We'll see if the trade makes the Diamondback better, but I have a hard time seeing how it makes them worse. Maybe this will be the shock to the system to get the D-backs hitting again.
↵