WARNING: This post is entirely baseball-related. Don't expect to be entertained if you're not a baseball fan. Or even if you are.

I'm tired of everyone bashing Paul DePodesta for the Dodgers/Marlins trade, where the Dodgers sent Guillermo Mota, Paul LoDuca, and Juan Encarnacion to the Marlins for Brad Penny, Hee Seop Choi, and Billy Murphy.

I'm especially tired of the argument that this is a bad or "risky" trade because it disrupts the team chemistry of a team that's in first place. Even if that were true (but I don't think it is), why should that be how we evaluate the trade?

Shouldn't we evaluate a trade by how it helps or hurts the team on the field, rather than going into some subjective notions about how it might impact a completely subjective (and possibly irrelevant) thing such as team chemistry?

And what is it about Paul LoDuca's leadership that is so indispensable anyway? That he's "led" the Dodgers to three non-first place finishes since he became the starting catcher? That he hustles a lot? Studies have proven that catchers have an insignifcant affect on the performance of their team's pitchers (I can e-mail you that article if you're interested), so I'm not sure what separates LoDuca from any other slightly above average catcher.

The argument that the Dodgers shouldn't have fixed what wasn't broken is ludicrous. Paul DePodesta's job as a general manager is to improve his team, not sit on his laurels while watching what other teams will try to do to beat him. That type of attitude is what cursed the 2003 Angels. Bill Stoneman kept that team the same as his 2002 championship team and watched his players regress to the mean.

And yet that's what so many people in LA wanted. That the Dodgers had played so well in July is a reason why they should make the moves they did-- because that type of hot streak is not gonna last the entire season. There will be a lot of people blaming the trade on why the team cools off, but they were playing over their heads that month anyway.

Brad Penny and Hee Seop Choi will help the team now, but they're also young and cheap, so they'll help the team for the next several years. Penny becomes the Dodgers' best starter and the following is a list of Choi's most comparable players (according to Baseball Prospectus' PECOTA system):

David Ortiz
Carlos Pena
Paul O'Neill
Pete LaCock
Mo Vaughn
Sam Horn
Cliff Floyd
Carlos Delgado
Jim Thome
Paul Sorrento

That's some pretty nice company, even if there are a couple no-names like Pete LaCock and Sam Horn thrown in.

Mota is a great reliever, but he's 31 and can't get much better from here on out. Middle relievers are the easiest players to replace, and the Dodgers do a good job of finding relievers out of nowhere. Yes, they'll miss him this year, but you'll get much more out of Penny's remaining 65 innings than Mota's remaining 30 innings.

And we all know how LoDuca fades after the All-Star Break. Of course, it's not like he's a great player anyway. As a 32 year old catcher, he's past his prime and has only had one season where his OPS was over .731. Encarnacion has a lifetime .311 OBP and is a corner outfielder.

If you have some non-mushy reasons of how this trade hurts the Dodgers as a team, I'd like to hear them. I just can't think of many myself.