Shipping Out Of Peralta Not a Shock to the Locker Room

Despite playing well out of the All-Star break, the Cleveland Indians once again find themselves sellers in the trade market which reared its head again at Progressive Field Wednesday night.
About 30 minutes before the scheduled start of the Indians-New York Yankees game, word came down the pike about a deal the Tribe had made with the Detroit Tigers, sending third basemen Jhonny Peralta to Detroit for a Class A pitcher.
The move is the end of the road for Peralta in Cleveland, a player that had been in the Indians organization since the age of 17.
“It was emotional for all of us,” Indians manager Manny Acta said of telling Peralta. “A lot of people only see the guy in uniform, but Jhonny is a fantastic human being, he lives in this community, he married a wonderful girl from this area, this is the only place that he has been.”
Players in the locker room that have been here and have made it through trades before are becoming accustomed to seeing the team make moves this time of the year.
Two years ago the team shipped Cy Young award winner C.C. Sabathia to the Milwaukee Brewers for current first basemen Matt LaPorta.
Last season it was another Cy Young award winner, Cliff Lee, who was shipped to Philadelphia Phillies, and then later on it was catcher Victor Martinez traded to the Boston Red Sox.
For current DH Travis Hafner, seeing friends leave the locker room is becoming a sight he is getting use to every July.
“Jhonny was a great teammate,” Hafner said. “He was a guy who played everyday, played hard, and was a really talented player. Everyone in the clubhouse is going to miss him, and the organization is going to miss him as well.”
Peralta was not going to be around after 2010, as general manager Mark Shaprio told the media Wednesday night the team was not going to pick up the team option on the player.
Nevertheless, losing a player that had been with the Major League club since 2003 is always tough, even if in the end the move is mostly applauded by fans.
“It’s always tough to see, unfortunately it’s been that way the last couple years,” Hafner said. “It is a business and that is part of it, but it still doesn’t make it any easier.”
Now the players that remain have to sit back and wait to see if anyone is next. Pitcher Jake Westbook has been talked about as possibly being next, and Austin Kearns is another player that could be moved as well.
Right now, Hafner says he and the team cannot worry about if there are going to be anymore moves, as they have to worry about the task at hand.
“Guys are just focused on their jobs, you can’t be worried about the outside,” Hafner said.






Matt has covered Major League Baseball and the "other two" Pro teams in Cleveland since 1994. He has been on the beat of the Indians in full-time mode since 1996, working for various raido and print networks around the country.