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Who Should Trade For Juan Pierre?

The Los Angeles Times reports Juan Pierre is willing to expand the number of teams his partial no-trade clause effects if the Dodgers want to trade him.  Given the four years and $36.5MM remaining on his contract, there aren't likely to be many takers at that price.

Despite that condition, I decided to try and find a fit.  What I focused on was the fact Pierre puts the ball in play  in 90% of his ABs.  (Side note, Pierre has walked more times in his career than he has struck out - 291 v. 288 in 4,778 ABs) and the worst fielding teams in the majors in 2007 based on Baseball Prospectus' Defense Efficiency.

My reasoning behind looking at the worst fielding teams was to find the worst fielding divisions in baseball to take advantage of the unbalanced schedule.  If a team can be located within a generally poor-fielding division, then the team acquiring Pierre can maximize its chances of taking advantage of Pierre's best hitting skill - putting the ball-in-play.  (ed:  Just like Little League!)

To get a gauge on the worst fielding divisions, I looked at a simple average DefEff for each one.  The AL Central and AL West were the worst followed by the NL Central.  Who could use a CF in these divisions (money aside)?  The Twins, White Sox, A's, Rangers, Cubs, Cardinals, and Reds.

From that list, I figured the A's and Rangers wouldn't be the best fits due to the smaller division and less emphasis on the unbalalanced schedule.  What remained were the Central teams.  Ideally, the six-divsion NL Central would prove the best landing place because the unbalanced schedule could play the biggest part in maximizing Pierre's usefulness versus the five-team one in the AL.  Neverminding whether the Twins and White Sox could use him.

Given the Cubs place near the top of the DefEff rankings for 2007, I calculated the NL Central average DefEff ex-the Cubs and found the NL Central to be the worst fiedling divsion ex-its best fielding team (AL West notwithstanding) and therefor, best landing place for Pierre thanks to the preponderance of games against the poorest fielding teams thanks to the unbalanced schedule.

A pipe dream for Matt Kemp, Andre Ethier and Dodger fans in general and a possible nightmare for Felix Pie and Cubs fans, but a somewhat logical landing place given the Cubs still don't have an established CF for a win-now team - if, in fact, Pierre can even be dealt.  But if the Dodgers' picked-up a big chunk of the contract, would the Cubs bite?  Pierre was successful, in his own way, in Chicago before signing the big deal with the Dodgers after the 2006 season.