Hawks Lead Division as August Begins
Trades and Roster Shuffling
by Caitlen Sullivan
Halifax Chronicle Herald Sports Editor
August 1, 2024
Who woulda thunk it? Not me! Here it is August 1st and the Halifax Hawks are leading their division (Johnson League Atlantic) by six full games. They have the second best record in the MBWBA with 63 wins. (Only Omaha has more – 65). Things are good in Halifax. Can it continue?
As good as the team has been doing, the Front Office is not content. Witness the flurry of trade and roster announcements released early this morning:
- To bolster the bullpen, the Hawks have traded rookie league prospect Al “Wrench” Martinez to the Indy Grasshoppers in exchange for young major league reliever Jesús Gonzáles. To make room for Gonazles on the roster recently recalled Bartolo Cruz has been optioned back to AAA Montgomery.
- In another bullpen bolstering move, the Hawks also recently promoted 21-year-old José Perucho to the Hawk roster to replace struggling Germán García who heads to Montgomery.
- The Hawks also traded AAA reliever Ken Roberts to Hawaii in exchange for 28-year-old third baseman Wilton Sanders. Sanders has been struggling this season but may benefit from the friendly confines of Nova Scotia Stadium. To make roster room for Sanders the Hawks announced the outright release of third baseman Eric Hardy. Hardy has good power but came home last year hitting only .198 and he has failed to match that miserable average this season. He would have been gone at year end in any case as there was no way the Hawks would have exercised his $8.0 million team option.
- To complete the infield transformation, first/third baseman Luis Hernandez was also optioned to Montgomery. His roster spot will be taken by down-again up-again Haku A'amakualenalena who becomes the backup to Cisco Guerrero at first base.