A Farewell to Rafael Furcal

The MLB Non-Waiver Trade Deadline has come and went for the 2011 season. Throughout the season, a team distinguishes whether or not it will be in contention and thus buy, or if they are too far back, in which case they will sell.

The Dodgers have been buyers for the last few years. A buyer typically couples together a group of prospects and ships them over in exchange for a veteran player that provides an added boost to the team's postseason aspirations.

The Dodgers bought players such as Manny Ramirez, George Sherrill and Ted Lilly over the last few seasons.

This season was much different though. The Dodgers' chances are pretty dismal, so the team elected to sell. A selling team does the opposite; it sends off its' star players in exchange for a group of prospects that might help the team rebuild in future seasons.

That brings us to this trade deadline. The rumors had began about a month ago that the team would be looking to unload players such as Hiroki Kuroda and Rafael Furcal. As the weeks progressed, the rumors became more rampant.

Finally, as the weekend approached, we learned that we would not be losing Kuroda, who would not waive his no-trade clause. However, we would lose another fan-favorite: Rafael Furcal.

The St. Louis Cardinals acquired Rafael Furcal in exchange for minor-leaguer, Alex Castellanos.

Just as quickly as fans were notified that the trade was in question, Furcal left the Dodger Stadium clubhouse. He arrived yesterday in St. Louis and went 0-for-1.

Looking back at Raffy's career with the Dodgers, you find that he was an electrifying presence for the team. In six seasons with the Dodgers, Furcal was 711-for-2,511 (.283) with 44 homers and 228 RBIs. Furcal was named to the National League All-Star team last season after batting .300 with eight homers.

Furcal was known to be a threat on the basepaths, but has seen those numbers gradually decline. In his first two seasons with the Dodgers, he stole 62 bases. In his final four, he stole 47.

Furcal's glove was another force to be reckoned with. Any groundball hit his way was extremely likely to: 1) be on target and 2) beat out any runner. Furcal holds a 96% fielding percentage in his 12 year career at shortstop. He has turned nearly 1,000 double-plays (916). He just passed 4,000 assists (4,174).

Most importantly though, in the clubhouse, Furcal was the ideal teammate. Furcal's presence was missed yesterday. It was weird without Furcal in the clubhouse, said Matt Kemp.

"It's part of the game," Kemp said. "It always happens this time of the month. We lost a great shortstop, a great friend of mine. I'm not gonna get to hang around him and laugh with him anymore, but he's with the St. Louis Cardinals now."

Yesterday's loss to the Diamondbacks was attributed to a "loss of energy". Perhaps that energy now resides in St. Louis? Perhaps that energy belonged to the energetic, Rafael Furcal.

Furcal ended his Dodger career by going 8-for-22 (.364) with three RBIs and two stolen bases in a six-game stretch that saw the Dodgers win five-of-six. Coincidental?

Goodbye, Raffy. Thank you for the good times. The best of luck is wished to you in St. Louis.

As for now, welcome Dee Gordon. The shortstop position is now all yours. You have really big shoes to fill. I've heard that your feet just may be big enough to do that.

Gordon went 1-for-4 (.250) in his first game back with the Dodgers yesterday.