MLBTraderumors has an interesting post about the 10 best trades of 2007.

One trade that didn’t quite make the Top 10, however, was the July 28th trade of Phillies farmhand Michael Dubee to the White Sox for Iguchi Tadahito.

Iguchi wasn’t doing much on a White Sox team going nowhere. Chase Utley was injured, and the Phillies brought on Iguchi as a stopgap defensive replacement at 2B. Since his arrival, however, he’s provided quite a bit more than that, going .311/.371/.452/ with a rather respectable .823 OPS. Now that Utley is back, he gives the Phils depth from the bench as a pinch hitter and defensive replacement.

And what did the Phillies give up for Iguchi? According to Phuture Phillies, a C+ prospect in Dubee “at least 3 years away from providing a service to a major league team.” Dubee was working in middle relief for the Phils class A team prior to the trade and averages over a hit per inning to go along with an ERA over 4.00.

Iguchi is close with Aaron Rowand from their White Sox days. Manager Charlie Manuel, who as a player in Japan was known as “The Red Devil” -and is viewed as one of the best foreign players in the history of Japanese baseball-may have helped ease Iguchi’s transition into the majors (Manuel speaks a bit of Nihon-go).

Since coming over to the Phils, Iguchi’s numbers go a little something like this:

G AB R H RBI HR SB AVG OBP SLG
41 135 22 42 11 3 6 .311 .371 .452

Not to mention zero errors in 31 games at 2B. If the Phillies do somehow claw their way into the playoffs (as of today they’re just 1.5 games behind the Mets), it seems likely he’ll play an important role in the postseason in addition to the one he’s played already for them.

Iguchi is a free agent at the end of the 2007 season (although the Phils will receive no compensation in the form of draft picks). It’s hard to guess if he’d be willing to stay with the Phillies as a utility IF with two legit MVP candidates already occupying the middle infield spots.   There was some speculation he might try 3B once Utley came back, but the team decided against it. Iguchi played SS in Japan, but not 3B.

Iguchi would most likely start for a number of MLB franchises. The Mets could be a nice fit if they don’t re-sign Luis Castillo. MLB Trade Rumors even speculates in a different post that he could return to Japan, though only if no MLB team offers him a starting job.