Lornezo Cain Begging For Promotion

No, not literally, though he could be forgiven if he was.

Twenty five year old Lornezo Cain, who was acquired in the Zach Grinke trade this winter has been crushing AAA pitching to the tune of a .301/.373/.513 triple slash. Following this winter's trade however I fully expected that Cain would be handed the starting center fielder job given his solid .306/.348/.415 line in 158 plate appearances with the Brewers last season, even though it was heavily BABIP fueled. On top of the solid offense, Cain also played strong defense, posting a +5.7 UZR/150.

The team however followed up that trade by bringing in Melky Cabrera from the Braves, and it became apparent early in spring training that the center field job was his to lose. So far, he hasn't really done anything to lose it, per se, he's hitting .275/.315/.435, good for a .750 OPS that's above the MLB average of .750. He's been worth a total of 1.7 WAR so far in 2011, a solid mark that would put him on pace for around 3.0.

The Greinke Trade

Brewers Get:

Zack Greinke (5.2 WAR)
Yuniesky Betancourt (0.6 WAR)

Royals Get:

Lorenzo Cain (1.5 WAR)
Alcides Escobar (0.6 WAR)
Jeremy Jeffress (0.1 WAR)
Jake Odorizzi (A-)

Much more after the break.