The Indians have traded first baseman Ben Broussard to the Mariners for outfielder Shin Soo Choo and a player to be named later.
If you're a Pirates fan, this might seem like a much more interesting trade than it ordinarily would be. Broussard is pretty similar to Craig Wilson. Broussard's worse - he has a lower career OPS than Wilson and, unlike Wilson, you pretty much have to platoon him. But the two players play the same position, produce at similar rates, and are the same age. Broussard, unlike Wilson, need not be a rental - if I've got my math right, he can be taken to arbitration.
The weird thing about this trade is that Choo is exactly the sort of player you can see Dave Littlefield falling in love with. He's not terribly young - he's 24 - and he's major-league-ready®, hitting .323/.393/.499 at Class AAA Tacoma. Still, Choo's kind of a tweener - he can handle center field but isn't fantastic there. He may not have enough power for a corner outfield position. He's young enough that he could maybe blossom a bit more, but he'll probably wind up being a 4th outfielder. In terms of his value, he's a little like Nate McLouth.
Unlike the Pirates, the Indians could easily contend next year, so I think trading Broussard for a 4th outfielder with a bit of upside is defensible, particularly if the PTBNL is good. For the Pirates, though, Choo isn't the kind of player who will help much, but he's probably the sort of player they'll wind up with anyway, since they don't want to reach further down into the minors to get someone with more potential.
Will Littlefield be able to get someone better than Choo for Wilson? Will anyone bet yes on that?