Two Big trades went through this weekend for perennial AL contenders. The Salem Witch Doctors added Ace Sandy Murphy and his remaining $89.1 million salary while the Wichita Black Lightning added RF Bruce Gibbons and CF Peter Elster.
The Witch Doctors had to use some fancy trading and financial tactics to get everyone under budget but GM taz21 knew it was worth it all along, "We went into this season targeting the big Free Agency period that lies ahead and were all set to re-acquire former Ace Chad Lamb but when Murphy was available, at a cost we were more then willing to pay, we had to pull the trigger."
The Witch Doctors had to make two trades to pull off the big deal. Part one was clearing cap room for Murphy's albatross contract. The Houston texans received potential All-Star C Manny Norman and P Ronald Douglas and the $10.4 million left on his contract, along with $2 million in cash considerations. Salem got a very good 2b prospect in Terry Lewis and fringe ML reliever in Sean Lasker.
But the biggest thing they got in return was the cap room to pull the trigger with the Pittsburgh Pranksters
Murphy didn't come cheap for Salem.
Pittsburgh GM idigapygmy was reluctant to send away his marquee Free Agent Signee and new face of the Franchise but Salem was willing to pay more then enough for Pittsburgh Management to decide a trade was worth while.
Pittsburgh received future frontline starter in Barry Vickers and solid middle of the rotation starter Clay Wigginton along with the expiring contract of likely summer Type A Free Agent in 2b Roland Rivers.
Quite a price to pay for Murphy but most of all Salem knows they have their Ace and doesn't have to wait til next year. How does this affect next years Free Agent period?
But before we answer that all important question let's move back and take a look at what Wichita had to give up to plan for the future.
First Wichita spoke with the St. Louis senators about CF Peter Elster, who GM zhawks thought fit very well into the teams offensive strategy. So much so that he went out and got Elster to ink a 5 year $30 million extension to stay with the franchise.
"We were really happy to hear that Elster was avilable. Not only does he ad the speed and base stealing that we were looking for but he also improved our overall team defense, allowing us to remove Alex Arnold from RF."
Wichita had to give up RF Emilio Martin, who appears to be a solid hitter for the future in Saint Louis and should hit for .280+ for years and future utility player Trevor Milliard.
This deal allowed for some defensive movement that Wichita desperately needed. The team was able to move Arnold to the bench and move former CF Charles Tamura to right, which will make the outfield defensive much better.
The second trade, which was much bigger for Lightning fans, was dealing Ace Ted Phillips to the Charlotte Big Red.
Wichita sent Phillips, Big League Setup man Ebenezer Ewing and utility prospect Lyle Lankford to Charlotte, along with $400k in cash considerations, for All-Star RF Gibbons, 2b prospect Fred Hutch (who GM zhawks raves about) and a solid Long Relief prospect Henry Ratliff who will get a shot as a fillin in the rotation this year.
This trade was big for Charlotte as they acquired another frontline starter to couple with Bruce Dougherty and Fausto James for possibly one of the best rotations in the Majors. Charlotte also has RF David Walker who can step in in Gibbons absence.
"We are really excited to bring in another Ace to our rotation," Charlotte GM zedonk said in the post trade press conference, "We have one of the best one, two, three punch at the front of our rotation in the Majors now."
As for Wichita, GM zhawks was thrilled to finally be able to re-work his defense.
"We have never had this good of a defensive team," said zhawks at yesterday's press conference," or this much depth. We are very dangerous at the plate this year."
The trade allowed zhawks to make another switch in his line-up, by moving former DH Jolbert Mieses back to catcher and use Tom Harper to give him rest. That allowed for sub-par defensive 1b Lyle Wise to move his bat to DH and insert Bruce Gibbons at first. This allows the club to use Arnold at 1b/lf/dh for rest and opens up a lot of room for Enrique Pescado to mix and match his lineup.
"We're on all cylinders offensively. Pitching might be a bit of hit and miss, we have 3 very good starters and a former Ace on the downside of his career. But that should change next year."
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