The 25 year old Trujillo comes in to Madison fitting that popular mold the team has gone towards of late. He has exceptional stuff, well above average control, overpowering velocity, and a bevy of pitches in his arsenal. The knocks on Juan are his lack of movement and his inability to keep the ball in the ballpark as a fly ball guy. He's pitched the last two seasons for the Tropics where he's had success with command but injuries and homeruns have been his down fall.
"We had trade talks on going with Edmonton when they acquired Juan" said Wolves GM Chris Wilson. "Several players were mentioned in the talks before we finally got something settled. We hesitated at one point over Juan's health, he seems to get hurt very frequently, but in the end, we felt it was worth the chance of bringing him on board. We think that with our ballpark, he'll be extremely successful."
Wilson is speaking on the fact that Trujillo was injured six different times last season but was never out more than 2 weeks. He is coming off two long term injuries in his career which is even more concerning but the Wolves took the chance anyway. As for park success, in Hawaii, the ball park tends to yield more long balls which appears to be Juan's big downfall in Hawaii. Madison, which is a lot less homerun friendly, may suit Trujillo's style.
Going to Edmonton will be prospect Rodrigo Rios, catching experiment David Katzenbogen, and power hitting John Garcia.
"Truth be told, Garcia is the guy we hate to lose the most" said Wilson. "He has a ton of power and we think given a full-time starting spot he could put up big numbers against RHP. But with Torres in left we felt it was just a numbers thing. Katzenbogen, well, he just can't hit. Yes, he's an elite defensive guy but that doesn't matter if you can't hit over .200 and we just don't think he can. Rios could be a solid middle infielder in the future, but we didn't like his split so we felt he was expendable. Truthfully, all 3 were expendable to add some pitching."
So now we wait and see. Can this low movement but super talented pitching philosophy continue to pan out in Madison. Can a trio of aging vets and a pair of low movement guys be enough pitching to go with the Wolves offense to continue their winning ways of last season? Or was last season a mirage and things are about to crash and burn?