UPDATED: The End of the Rafael Fucal Era

Um, yeah.  About that...

UPDATE: Dodgers receive Alex Castellanos, according to Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.  Castellanos, a 10th round pick in the 2008 draft, is having a pretty good season in AA this year, hitting .319/.379/.562/.941 overall, but is already 24 (25 next week- happy birthday, Alex) and has 94 strikeouts in 391 ABs so far this year.  He looks to be primarily a RF, but has played 17 games in CF this season, and has played 1B, 2B, 3B, and all 3 OF positions in his minor league career.  He even has 1 game at SS in 2008, where he apparently made 2 errors.  Overall, he looks to be a little better than a typical depth guy, as his power and speed both look solid, but he needs to cut down his K rate before he'll have a shot at moving forward in the organization.

Details are still coming in,  but it appears all but certain that Rafael Furcal is about to join the St. Louis Cardinals, pending his approval as a 10-and-5 player.  It's certainly bittersweet seeing Furcal go- as everyone with even a passing knowledge of Dodger baseball knows, when healthy Furcal had the ability to be one of the most dominating players in all of baseball.  Unfortunately for him and the Dodgers, those healthy periods were rare, increasingly so in the last few years.

We still don't know what the Dodgers are getting in return for Furcal.  Reports say that cash is going along with Furcal in the deal, so it doesn't sound like a straight salary dump, but odds are the return for him won't be much more than a fringe-y prospect.  It also sounds like this trade closes the door on any trade for Jamey Carroll that may have been in the works, as the Dodgers have stated previously that they were open to trading one, but not both, of the players.

Truthfully, while it's a little sad to see Raffy go, this is the best possible situation for all involved.  It's thankfully clear now that Colletti doesn't see the Dodgers' recent mini-hot streak as a sign that they can compete in the division/wild card race and isn't going to make any ill-advised trades for more PVLs (as much as our blog title wishes it were so).  Dee Gordon should be boarding a plane bound for LAX any minute now, adding- at the very least- some much needed fun to the final two months of the season.  Rafael Furcal gets to go play meaningful games every day and attempt to rebuild a little value going into a very uncertain free agency.  And while the Dodgers are sending cash along in the deal, it will save a little payroll space in the grand scheme of things, maybe (?) giving a little more flexibility in the offseason to fill some of the gaping holes at pretty much any infield position.

Plus, we can all cross our fingers that  maybe Colletti got The Riot back in return.