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Mets Deal Cerda To Royals

Yesterday, the Mets traded lefty setup man Jaime Cerda to the Kansas City Royals for righty Shawn Sedlacek.

The move also frees up a spot on New York's 40-man roster for Todd Zeile, who is expected to sign this week, possibly as soon as Tuesday, after passing a team physical on Friday. Sedlacek will be a non-roster invitee and join the pitchers and catchers when they report for Spring Training on Feb. 20.

This is basically a non-move. Cerda had a modicum of success with the Mets, though he was actually very impressive against minor league hitters. In 210 minor league innings, Cerda posted a razor-thin 0.81 ERA, struck out 215 batters (9.21 K/9), and only walked 53 (2.27 BB/9). His big league numbers are much less impressive: 4.42 ERA with 40 K and 34 BB in 57 innings.

According to the article, Sedlacek was the Baseball America minor league pitcher of the year in 2000 for Kansas City. He's logged 707 minor league innings, putting up less-than-stellar numbers. His 4.40 ERA is just slightly better than Cerda's major league ERA. I wouldn't expect Sedlacek to make the club out of spring training, though he might end up at Norfolk to toil some more.