Season 2 Wheelin' and Dealin'

Season 2 of Roy Hobbs World continues to "wheel and Deal" as we near the regular season. Now having completed game 10 of spring training we have had a good share of trades but have a ways to go to rival the masses from season 1. Prior to the start of regular season 1 there were 60 total transactions, and with 19 more throughout the season we ended with a grand total of 79 for season 1. There are 26 so far for season 2!

Among those trades are a few stand outs. The first of note is the huge, but not unexpected move of Geronimo Julio . Dalejr88sr3 made it clear from early on that Julio would be up for grabs and kemosabe11 was the first to make good on the catch that included a very promising setup/closer in Hideki Jung. In exchange Kemosabe's Bayou Bengals gave up a healthy group of potential all-stars in David Sakamoto , Cesar Pena , and Lawrence Francona who went 47th overall in last season's draft as a 1st round supplemental pick. Sakamoto is a high-A player 2nd Baseman who picked up several awards at the including making the all-star team, gaining the silver slugger award, gold glove award, and winning the future's Game MVP honor. Kemosabe11, making 3 other deals, must have a clear plan drawn up for last year's league Cy Young in this huge investment.

Threester's Albuquerque Pilots have joined in the mix and thus far have completed 2 deals. The biggest move involved the acquisition of last years NL all-star P Yuniesky Morales who ended the year with a record of 21-6 and striking out 250 batters. On the other end of the deal new owner Rpsrn and the Anteaters bring into their franchise a first-round draft pick and rookie league all-star 2nd basemen in Yamil Guzman and Luther Smith , a 23 year old 2nd basemen who hit .266 and struggled to make a big splash in the majors although hit 19 Hr's.

Next on our list of splashes for this off-season is new owner and manager emdump and his decision to remove Miguel Ayala from what could have been his place of retirement, Tampa Bay. Last season Ayala won the NL MVP, was an all-star and 2nd baseman silver slugger but is aging at 33 and most likely will be moved to 1st Base this season considering his new team's outfield. For now Ayala has been shipped to Montreal who also made good on a deal to bring in Archie Lockwood, a 30 year old "bug eyed" infielder. Montreal also took advantage of the "froidl up" of the season thus far in snatching Craig Wood in the rule 5 draft blunder (see yesterday's headlines) which should help to avoid last years struggle down the stretch.

Catcher Sammy Ozuna is now in Milwaukee living the "High-Life" under m22pamk's management. He was dealt in a trade by dalejr88sr3, and in so doing these new managers tied Scranton's stnick44 for the most world deals with 6. The price for this 31 year old catcher, who turned in a completely average season batting a .277 with 69 RBI's and 9 Hr's, was for 3 others. Only one of whom (Rondell Slocumb) should rise beyond the return of merely average numbers. Slocumb was a AA all-star and may be have been one of dalejr88sr3's better bargains for the aging $5.8 Million C Ozuna.

Things have been cooking in Scranton once again who, as mentioned, has been involved in a 3 way tie league high 6 deals. Three separate deals took place to add strength to their pitching core. A deal with wylie715 of Pawtucket landed Julio Martinez in Scranton and sent last season's NL rookie league gold glove CF Ivan Carreras to Pawtucket. With him went 2 promising reliever/setup men Ed Magnusson and Matt Hallman. Scranton also dealt more promising prospects including a future star in Nigel Prince who now resides in Tampa Bay, and SP Weldon Stein to Milwaukee for the Major league caliber pitching of Benj Riggs , and closer Stump Alexander.

In other trade news the Charlotte Codes, under devonjain's new management has only completed 1 deal trading off defensive specialist prospect in Leo Edmonds to gain Bryce Park as a better bat and pitch caller at the DH/C position. Brettm1220's new management has made good on 3 that bring in a highly rated SS Pat Chong with seasoned skills with both a bat and a glove, Mike Burroughs, and all-star silver slugger Tony Guapo. Perhaps their biggest steal however also came from the rule 5 where they took dibs on Don Yamaguchi, a RF with a very bright future having won several honors in AA, silver slugger, gold glove, and all-star. He has already been called up to the ML. This kid is 23 and has been yearning to get his shot and while he could benefit from another year in the system Brettm1220 has meritoriously decided to bypass the AAA and has given him a go at the show.

Cretin's Chicago Orphans pushed through two deals to bring C Ismael Torres and AA all-star and silver slugger Dmitri Mercedes to Chi town's windy city. The Poi-Boys of Honolulu joined in the action with their one and only deal that brought in LF Randall McNeil who sports a championship ring from his previous year with Sheirbon's Seattle team, of which McNeil played only a minor role. Now that McNeil has his ring he may just be in Honolulu to bask! Speaking of Sheirbon's champions Seattle was involved in only one other transaction so far. This deal dealt Alberto Lopez , Vin Alvarez , and Roger Hitchcock to Palet99's Salt lake City club and added AAA all-star Raymond Service , Will Hemingway , and last year's AA silver slugging LF Kiko Daniels to Seattle's fire power. In another deal Palet99 has brought in a veteran Sp in Juan Barajas to help his rotation.

Other deals worth noting came out of Iowa City where kevbo65 added P Peter Dixon, 2B power hitter Peter Leius, and well rounded "paly everything" Howard Giles at the expense of a very good all-star ML pitcher and SS prospect who was taken 14th overall in last years draft. So the previous wonderboys Rusty Cox and Dummy Stahl are now pencil-necked geeks and it remains unclear which is better.

Then of course there was the most recent deal struck between Montrealexps and Dakar, owner of the Kansas City Jayhawks. This exchange will bring last season's 22 million dollar man Luis Concepcion to Kansas City for Hi-A all-star P Tracy Winchester. Thank you very much Dakar must be thinking. For owner montrealexps to have paid 22 million to bring in the international free agent Concepcion just to dish him the very next season, this may just be the steal of the year! Concepcion had a mediocre year batting .256 with 16 Hr's and 81 RBI's while striking out 74 times. However, he was thrust into the AA and perhaps a little too early for a 19 year old. Concepcion has high marks and huge potential and while he may fall short of 22 million, that was his price of which owner dakar now has rights to.

Of course there is much more wheelin' and dealin' to be done. It is still early in the season and the trade chat is sure to continue. So when it does we will be there and it will be here!