The Texas Rangers have traded outfielder Freddy Guzman to Detroit for catcher/first baseman Chris Shelton.
Who are these guys? Glad you asked.
Guzman once was known as Pedro De Los Santos and played second base in the San Diego Padres organization. Then when the visa crackdowns came along, his name changed and he aged a few years. Guzman has decent on-base skills and is fast. His ceiling is a poor-man’s Juan Pierre, but really, he’s a fourth outfielder. Actually, so is Pierre, but I digress.
Shelton spent all of 2007 in the minors after batting .273/.340/.466 for the Tigers in ‘06. The guy …read more

I somehow missed this when it first came out, but Marc Hulet has done some nice analysis of the Rule V draft over at Baseball Analysts. Although much of what he says applies to current draftees, Marc also examines the draft’s recent history.
I’ve been working under the assumption that Johan Santana is the only good player to come out of the Rule V in decades, but that’s incorrect. Although Santana is the only guy to become freakishly good, several useful players have emerged, including Jay Gibbons, Chris Shelton, and Dan Uggla. I’m still not sure these few exceptions are enough …read more