With catchers Salvador Perez and Manny Pina being out for 2-3 months with knee injuries, the Kansas City Royals made a trade Tuesday, acquiring catcher Humberto Quintero and outfielder Jason Bourgeois from the Houston Astros for minor league left-hander Kevin Chapman and a player to be named later. To make room for the newest Royals, the team put Perez and Pina on the 60-day disabled list.

Ever since Perez’s injury, the Royals expressed interest to acquire a catcher outside the organization. There were rumors the Royals invited Ivan Rodriguez to camp, but it ended up being just rumors. Instead, the Royals went the trade route, getting Quintero.

The 32 year-old Quintero is a nine-year major league veteran, playing for the San Deigo Padres from 2003-2004 and with the Houston Astros from 2005-2011. He’s been a career backup catcher, appearing in 379 games. Quintero appeared in 88 games in 2010, the most he’s played in a season.

Quintero’s career line is .234/.268/.321, so the Royals didn’t get him for his hitting. They got him for catching and throwing ability and his major league experience. For now, Quintero expects to play two to four days a week, splitting playing time with Brayan Pena.

It was clear the Royals didn’t see Max Ramirez as a solution, despite his good spring offensive numbers. In fact, Ramirez only started a handful of spring training games as a catcher, so the Royals didn’t have much faith in his catching abilities. Cody Clark doesn’t have major league catching experience and it’s likely the Royals believe Clark would be a better fit for AAA Omaha, where they also need catching help.

There is one concern and hopefully it’s a minor one. This spring, Quintero was out with a bulging disk in his back but returned to action over the weekend. At least it’s not his knee.

As for Bourgeois, the 30 year-old outfielder has four years in the majors, playing for the Chicago White Sox, Milwaukee Brewers and Astros. Bourgeois played 192 major league games in his career with a .262/.307/.324 line with 431 plate appearances and 22 RBIs. His speed and versatility are his main assets, with 46 career stolen bases, with 31 of those in 2011. Bourgeois also hits well against left-handers, with a .328 batting average compared to .205 against right-handers.

Bourgeois is not a everyday player, so Alex Gordon, Lorenzo Cain and Jeff Francoeur have little to worry about. But with his versatility of playing all outfield positions and some second base, players like Mitch Meier and Jarrod Dyson have some competition for the reserve outfielder job. Who knows, maybe Manager Ned Yost might have Bourgeois in the second base mix between Johnny Giavotella, Chris Getz and Yuni Betancourt. It is spring training after all.

Probably not. The Royals see Bourgeois as a right-handed reserve outfielder who’s a cross between Meier and Dyson. The odd man out in this situation could be Dyson, who bats from the left side but doesn’t have the versatility of a Bourgeois.

Both Bourgeois and Dyson have options remaining, so it’s likely one of them makes the Opening Day roster and the other one goes to Omaha. If Bourgeois goes to Omaha, he would serve as outfield depth in case someone get injured. If Dyson goes to Omaha, he would get more playing time, perhaps improving his chances of developing into an everyday outfielder. If either player makes the Royals roster, it will be as a reserve outfielder.

The Astros get Chapman, a 24 year-old left-handed relief pitcher who played two seasons with A+ Wilmington and AA Northwest Arkansas. His career ERA is high at 5.06, and he gave up 9.1 hits per nine innings. But his strikeouts per nine innings is 12.4, so Chapman gets a lot of strikeouts. Chapman projects to be a reliever if he makes it to the majors. And that could be soon, since he’s with the Astros.

The other player the Astros get is our old friend player to be named later. It’s uncertain who it is, but according to Astros General Manager Jeff Luhnow, this player was a big reason the Astros did the trade. Don’t worry, Royals fans, it’s doubtful the PTBNL are either outfielders Bubba Starling, Wil Myers or pitcher Jake Odorizzi. It better not be, if Dayton Moore wants to keep his job. And if Royals fans want to keep their sanity.

Quintero and Bourgeois are not long-term solutions for the Royals. Quintero was acquired to fill the gap of Perez and Pina being gone for half the season and Bourgeois was acquired to provide outfield depth and perhaps give Dyson and Meier some competition as a reserve outfielder. For now, they fill some holes, if nothing else.

Two big bats landed in the NL central this December. One, Lance Berkman, returns to the division and will don a once rival St. Louis Cardinal’s jersey. The other, Carlos Pena, makes his first appearance in the National League and joins a different Cardinal rival, the Chicago Cubs.

Each of the players received more money by accepting one-year deals with their respective clubs. Pena signed for 1 year at $10M and Berkman signed on for 1 year at $8M. With the Cards-Cubs rivalry and the similarity in the contracts let’s take a look at each addition and see the value they may bring to their teams as they battle for the same division crown.

Carlos Pena, 32, once a top ten draft pick, struggled to find his way early in his career. With stops in Texas, Detroit, Boston, and other places, Pena finally made his mark in Tampa with the Rays. In 2007, at age 29, Pena had his career year belting 46 home runs and driving in 121, all while batting .282. From 2007-2009 Pena was one of the more valuable first basemen in the league. Last year, Pena plummeted in production squeaking out a mere .196 AVG. His power was still evident in his 28 home runs, but even with that his ISO (SLG-AVG) dipped from .310 down to .211. Pena did suffer from a little more bad luck on balls hit into play (.222 BABIP) and from hitting more ground balls in general (1.11 GB/FB). Some of that should rebound this next season as he moves to a more hitter-friendly field- according to StatCorner, Tropicana Field depresses HR production by 11 percent compared to a neutral park, while Wrigley increases it by 19 percent. Offensively, Pena should be able to rebound. While his peak performance days are most likely behind him, he could near his career line .241/.351/.490.

Lance Berkman, enjoyed a consistent career as a Houston Astro. Since 1999, Houston’s mainstay, produced at a clip of .296/.409/.545. From 2000 to 2009, he hit 20+ home runs while playing both the outfield and first base. As a Cardinal, Berkman will be patrolling the outfield, either left or right, but also has some experience in center. However, he has not played outfield since 2007. The good news is that Cardinal’s outfielders face fewer fly balls than most teams as they are fueled by a ground ball pitching staff. In any regard, the front office still sees enough left in the 34 year-old’s tank to march him out to the outfield for 2011.

Like Pena, Berkman is coming off a down season. His .248/14/58 line was his career worst since becoming a regular. Some of that production decline came because of Berkman missing the first two weeks of the season after knee surgery; some of it also comes from the switch hitter’s inability to hit verses lefty pitching. From 2008 to 2010, his average while batting right against lefty pitching has slid from .277, to .230, to. 171. As a switch hitter, Berkman will probably face lefties less as LaRussa will find ways to move his bat down in the order against a left-handed starter or pinch hit for him against a left handed pitcher late. Along, with the natural production decline that comes with age and eliminating some left-handed pitching match-ups, Berkman should be able to rest some where just shy of his 2009 line of .274, .399, .509.

When one compares the two, Pena fills a big hole for the Cubs at first base and carries more offensive weight on his shoulders, as Chicago will be counting on his production to supplant Derrek Lee. Pena still has good plate discipline and is excellent at taking the walk. His defense at first is not as good as the three-time gold-glove winner Lee but Pena did garner a gold glove of his own in 2008. At $2M more per year, with the greater need the Cubs had, the difference in salary might be a bit more justifiable for the Cubs.

At $2M less a year and a track record that has screamed nothing but consistent production, the Cardinals have to be happy with what they have received in Berkman. As the third big bat in the line-up (depending on what Rasmus can produce) he should be able to “earn” what the Cardinals will pay him.

With the Cubs needs, and what they were willing to pay, one wonders why they did not make a run at Berkman. Paul Konerko, Adam Dunn, or even an attempt to bring back D. Lee would have also made some sense. However, when you run down the list of sizeable long term contracts in Chicago (Soriano, Zambrano, Ramirez), the long-term deal may have been exactly what the team was looking to stay away from, especially in a declining player. Perhaps the organization will slide Ramirez over to first as the break in prospect Josh Vitters at the hot corner in 2012.

Obviously, the proverbial proof will be in the pudding. If both aging sluggers remain healthy and produce they will no doubt have an impact on the division race and in perhaps a big at-bat or two in the timeless Cards/Cubs rivalry.