As word of the impending deal between Salem and Boise, err Anaheim broke, a reporter was sent to the seen to capture the inside story of how the deal broke. The offseason begin quietly for Salem GM taz21, placing several inquiries for a young centerfielder to man the outfield for the next 10 seasons. Anaheim's young all star to be CF Eugene Garcia was one of the targets as winter meeting began, but they were quickly rebuffed. Salem looked at several other options, getting rejected quicker than the ugly kid at prom for several, but exchanging indepth talks for a couple others. However those talks eventually broke down, and Salem was convinced it was heading into the season having to worry about all the balls hit into the gaps and how it was going to keep them from reclaiming their W-S crown.
However, a funny thing happened on the way to spring training, Anaheim discovered that their Mayfield moving fan expenses from Boise ate up too much available cash and were looking hard for a staff ace to lead them to the promise land. With talks quickly resuming, Salem conceeded it was willing to trade free agent to be Chad Lamb in order to obtain Garcia, but would need some pitching back to make them feel "ok" with that and similar to their one time deal to move Guiel and company for Santiago and company, a blockbuster was born. The principals were in place, but the details needed to ironed out to make both sides happy. Salem agreed that former international free agent E_Nunez would soften the blow of lossing Garcia and while Pablo Bonilla would lesson the load of lossing a staff ace like Lamb. However, both sides still had mixed feelings. Salem didn't know how much Bonilla, the top setup man in Ripken, JR and set for free agency himself would set the organization back a season, and Nunez, while still a couple years away, isn't that far behind Garcia. On the other side, Anaheim also had reservations about the soon to hit free agency Chad Lamb and the fact that they had given away a reliever to free up cash to go after a solid starter in free agency.
So 10 days after the initial thought of Garcia was put out there, Taz21 hit bed thinking he was going to be making a different deal involding Lamb and another young centerfielder. However, by the time his wife booted him from bed for snooring at 4:00 am tdvy had indicated that he was able to convince Pablo to sign a 5 year extension, giving Salem the services of the top reliever for 6 seasons, but would need ML ready closer prospect Yorvit Johnson in return. Salem had bit plans for Johnson to steady their bullpen (admittaly much less need if Pablo was ruling the roost), but Salem still felt a need for a lefty relief prospect and got Anaheim to agree to include last season's #1 draft pick, Craig_Bell .
So finally, at aroudn 5:00 am est, a blockbuster was agreed to with a laural and hardy handshake.. While some paperwork complications delayed the finalization of the deal, but teams gearing up their gift shops for the sale of new jerseys. Can Anaheim, christen their new digs w/ Lamb at the top of the rotation? Will they wonder if it was all worth it when he hits the free agent market next season? Does Salem stand any chance of contending for a return to the fall classic with out Lamb leading the way, how much of an improvement will Lamb in CF make on the defense (allowing former CFer Trevino to move to 3rd, and Hartley to move to a corner OF spot as age begins to take effect on their range?) What will Salem do with all those extra Purple and Black Lamb Jersey's in the gift shop? Rumor has it, their packaged away in storage while all promtional giveaways have been cancelled this season to make room for the prodigal return of Chad Lamb back to the top of Salem's rotation next off season.
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