2050.4

[bschr682]

GM: "Well its been two weeks. We had a bad week followed by a good week. Losing Luis Pena for the bulk of the season really hurts. He is such a ridiculously good defender and while his bat won't wow anyone, its not the blackhole that you typically see from superior defenders. He can't really be replaced but we did find Luis Cruz in free agency who can soften that blow a bit. Questions? "

Renfork: " You seemingly have added to the rotation again. Why the Amos Swallows deal? What was the thought process in picking up Jorge Hernandez? He's awfully expensive for what he brings. "

GM: "Well Niles the deal just kind of fell in our lap. Omaha hit us up kind of randomly about something completely different and he noticed we had oodles of cap room. He was looking to ditch that salary and was prepared to send some prospects with to get it done. We have the space, we actually think Hernandez has some gas left in the tank and we like the prospects that came with. Seems kind of self explanatory to me? As for Amos, well that one also seems self explanatory. Adding him allowed us to bump Gerardo Lopez back into the pen where he excelled last year and its gives us injury coverage. In fact, with Hernadez in the mix we actually have ability to sell an arm if another inviting trade deal pops up. "

Renfork: " I spose when you put it that way..."

Jenkins: "Llllleeeeerrrrroooooooyyyyy Jjjjjeeeennnnkkkkiiiinnnnnnssss!"

GM: " Yes Leroy lets talk about the new kids. Brian Flint is a classic no range outfielder/bad infielder type that seems destined to be a DH. The kicker with him though is his bat is extremely well developed for an 18 year old. The kid is going to absolutely rake in the minors and that gives him a few years to either work on his defense a bit or to just devote himself to making his bat even better. By the time he's banging on the door of the majors we will figure out a place for a him to play. Jimmy Decker is a right handed starting pitcher that looks extremely raw right now but thats pretty ok when your 17. The scouts just noticed a big uptick in his velocity and with enough time and effort, we could see him turning into either a shutdown bullpen arm or, if things go really well, he could even earn his way into the rotation someday. He has a lot of time to work on things just like Flint."

Charron: " Lets talk about Hopkins. Why would you move such a promising youngster? "

GM: " Yes Guy lets talk about that. Indeed Hopkins had a hell of a year last season. But we were very worried about what the park switch might do to him. His big skill is ability to make contact and just flat out generate a lot of hits. The park changes suppress that a bit. Was it going to completely destroy him? No but he would lose value. If we were ever going to deal him it had to be now off the back of that great season. And lets look at what we got. Andrew Wright is exactly the kind of guy this park was built for. He has monster power but needs a platoon partner. We have that covered already. Hes a better defender than Hopkins and a good clubhouse guy. After the mess we had last season with team chemistry, we put some emphasis on that this year..."

Jenkins: "Llllleeeeerrrrroooooooyyyyy Jjjjjeeeennnnkkkkiiiinnnnnnssss!"

GM: " Hah yes Leroy lets talk about some more prospects. Coming over with Wright is 1B/DH Anastasio Diaz and LF Rashid bin Mujahid. Diaz is a classic power bat DH with the kicker that he is a switch hitter with no split. Great guy in the clubhouse and he has some time to work on getting a bit better. Rashid is a bit younger so has even more time to work on things. He also is a switch hitter though he does have a pronounced split at the moment. We tend to platoon in the outfield in the bigs anyway so its not a pressing issue. "

Sullivan: " Don't forget to talk about what we gave up in those moves. While we still have cap room its no longer a big chunk and we did send some guys out. "

GM: " Right you are Ms. Sullivan. Don Castor, Swapan Katka and Edward Brickey all left the organization in the Wright trade. Now if you look closely at this collection of guys you will notice they all never really had a shot here. Katka has no power so the park switch pretty much ended any chance he would get a shot in the bigs here, Brickey was a minor league free agent signing and Castor was just a little bit behind talent wise to the collection of arms we currently have, adding Swallows and Hernandez really pushed him down a couple rungs in the organizational ladder, and he occasionally struggles with giving up homers. Thats a big no no here now. Thats ultimately what lead us to make Sahir available in that Pepper deal too. Simply put the goal is now to collect as many plus power bats who can play good defense as we can while also collecting as many pitchers who excel at not giving up homers. Its a bit more complicated than that but thats roughly what we are going for. "