Kansas City dealt 1B-L Trey Dyson, RHP Kieran Mattison, and cash to Cleveland for LHP Brian Anderson yesterday. The Royals hope Anderson will provide more stability to their rotation than some of their recent "upgrades". With the Indians he's compiled a 72:32 K:BB with 162 H and 21 HR allowed in 148 IP for a 3.74 ERA. Unfortunately, he's moving to a club with a worse defense and a home stadium that is decidedly unfriendly to pitchers. Consequently, his ERA likely will rise above 4.00 before the end of the season. However, Kansas City can provide him with more run support than the Indians have given him, so he's likely to finish the season with a few more wins than if he'd remained in Cleveland.

The Royals signed Dyson as a nondrafted free agent out of the University of South Carolina in June of 2002. He spent the remainder of last season at Spokane in the Short-Season Northwest League and then reported to A+ Wilmington in the Carolina League this spring. At the time of the trade, Dyson was hitting .275 with a .364 OBP and .434 SLG on 126 H, 31 2B, and 14 HR with a 60:92 BB:K and 6/8 SB% in 458 AB. He needs to work on his contact rate, but I like his walk rate and his power potential. Dyson's already 23 and likely needs a full season at both AA and AAA to prepare him for the majors. Cleveland has demonstrated a fondness for older prospects with Jody Gerut, Travis Hafner, and Ryan Ludwick, but at this point they don't seem likely to have major league playing time available at 1B or DH even in a couple of years.

Kieran Mattison also signed with Kansas City as a nondrafted free agent last summer. Coming out of East Carolina University, Mattison reported to the Royals Rookie-level Gulf Coast League affiliate after signing in July. At the time of the trade, the 23-year-old had compiled a 29:9 K:BB with 38 H and 5 HR allowed in 33.2 IP for a 3.74 ERA over 7 starts at A+ Wilmington following 17 starts with A Burlington in the Midwest League. Mattison doesn't appear to need to work on any specific areas of his pitching, but he's not particularly young and he hasn't been tested in the upper minors yet. The Indians possess enough starting prospects with higher upsides than Mattison to fill their rotation, so he'll likely either be moved to relief or turned into AAA injury insurance.