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Francisco Rodriguez (Wikimedia Commons)

It was a little surprising yesterday that two rather significant trades happened in Major League Baseball.

Why? Well, it is supposed to be a relaxing and fun day on baseball’s calendar. But, when you get all the general managers together under one roof, as what happened yesterday in Phoenix, I guess it’s not all that surprising.

Earlier in the day, the Toronto Blue Jays traded Juan Rivera (.243, 6 HR, 27 RBIs) to the Los Angeles Dodgers for future considerations. Rivera had seemed to be lost in the Jays’ outfield mix, as Travis Snider, Eric Thames and Corey Patterson were higher on the depth chart. Rivera came to the Blue Jays in the Vernon Wells trade with the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim in the offseason.

Then last night, the New York Mets traded Francisco Rodriguez (2-2, 23 SV, 3.16 ERA) to the Milwaukee Brewers for two players to be named and cash. The trade isn’t all that surprising. KRod fell out of favour a little bit in the Big Apple last year when he got into a fight outside the Mets’ dressing room with the father of his girlfriend. He will probably be the setup man to Canadian closer John Axford of Simcoe, Ontario in Milwaukee.

As for the game, Rodriguez’s new teammate Prince Fielder stole the show with a three run home run in the fourth inning as the National League defeated the American League 5-1. Blue Jays’ right fielder Jose Bautista went one for two and made a diving catch down the right field line early in the ball game.