Keeping in mind grover's admonitions to put some thought into trade diary's, I had a thought rolling around and wanted some AN opinions.

It seems lately that one of the bigger frustrations here at AN is over our shortstop.  People want to trade him, release him, etc but the problem is that we cannot really do that until we find something better.  As others have shown, the upcoming crop of free agent shortstops are as bad or worse then ours, and our minors does not offer much hope at that position either.  That leaves a trade as the only real option, and we need to find a player that offers some upside, but also is someone we can acquire with our limited trade chips.  

The player I would like to target is Wilson Betemit.  Not exactly a big time impact name, but c'mon its not like we can get Reyes or Ramirez.  Anyhow, even though Betemit has played mostly third base, he came up as a shortstop with the Braves and still plays there on occasion.  Betemit currently finds himself in the Dodger Doghouse as he is batting near the mendoza line at .206.  He has had 1 start since June 25th.  The Dodgers currently are starting Loney, Kent, Furcal and Nomar in the infield with Martinez, Abreu and Saenz to back up, so they don't really need him.  They also have Furcal long term and prospect Andy La Roche waiting in the minors to take over at third, so he really does not fit in their long term plans either.  Finally, the Dodgers are in a playoff race, so would (in theory) be willing to move a guy that is just being used as a pinch hitter at this point.  So this is why he could be available.  Why do we want him?

Despite the low batting average, Betemit currently sports an .802 OPS (.827 vs righties) this season and last season had an OPS of .795 (.849 vs righties).  These numbers are not bad for a shortstop and would far exceed Crosby's current production.  Betemit is not young, but not old at 26 and still has some years of team control left.  Best case scenario, we find ourselves a productive middle infielder for the future.  Worst case scenario, maybe Crosby feels the pressure of having a guy brought in to take his job and actually realizes that he'd better start making some adjustments.

Anyway, what would it take to get him?  This is a question I was hoping for some input from the "trade guru's" here at AN, but I do have some ideas.  Seems the Dodgers have been hit with a small rash of pitching injuries lately (Schmidt, Wolf) and could possibly use another starting pitcher.  If so, Kennedy might be able to nab us a guy that the Dodgers now seem to have no use for.  A lefty swingman that could start or relieve is always useful to a playoff club, and the Dodgers are no exception to wanting to acquire good veteran arms for the stretch run -- just the kind of thing a Colletti ran team would want.  They might also be looking for some OF depth (they have only Pierre, Gonzalez, Ethier and Kemp on their current 25 man roster).  With 3 of those 4 being lefties, maybe a known lefty-mashing outfielder like Kielty could interest them?  If any combination of those two players could get us Betemit, it seems like a low-risk investment.  

Not sure this much text should really be devoted to a trade diary regarding Wilson Betemit, but I really want to come up with some ideas to make the roster better.  Any option that is better then Crosby would make me happy right now.