Righty Mitch Talbot is the player to be named later from the Kelly Shoppach trade, writes MLB.com's Anthony Castrovince. The Indians traded Shoppach to the Rays on December 1st. The Rays also received cash in the deal, according to a team press release.
Talbot, 26, pitched mostly at Triple A this year. He posted a 4.47 ERA, 6.6 K/9, and 3.0 BB/9 in ten starts. He missed a few months with an elbow injury, so the Rays had him make six starts in the Arizona Fall League to get more work. He's out of options, so he'll presumably compete for a spot in the Indians' rotation. Heading into the season, Baseball America had this scouting report on Talbot:
Talbot has an 89-91 mph fastball with good movement, a hard slider with impressive late cutting action and a changeup that continues to show better fade and depth.
Shipping Aubrey Huff to the Astros in July of '06 really paid off for the Rays. They received Talbot and eventually spun him into Shoppach. They also received Ben Zobrist, who was immensely valuable this year.
