Omaha makes a flurry of trades (38.49)

[niles08]

The injury bug has hit the Omaha clubhouse hard over the past few weeks with the club first losing Manuel Orozco, and then losing Carson Stoller not even a week later. They lost Orozco for the rest of the year, while Stoller is expected to miss 2 months minimum.

That left the front office scrambling to find pitching depth in a pool that simply had no depth to begin with. With very little money to deal with, this set off a flurry of moves in Omaha.

First, the club made a quick move to acquire starting pitcher Bengt De Meza from Charm City for prospect Felipe Valdez. De Meza is a 27 year old right hander who has struggled a bit in the BBA to start his career but somebody Omaha apparently felt the need to take a chance on.

Early results seem promising as De Meza has a 3.52 ERA over 15 innings pitched already for Omaha.

That seems to at least help one of the open positions of the rotation, but there was still one open as Omaha surely wasn’t willing to run Emilio Parades out there again. Omaha quickly got on the phone with Montreal as soon as word came down that the waiver claim on pitcher Manuel Pena to go to the UMEBA was going to be voided.

As some GM’s had expressed interest in Pena, Omaha apparently knew it had to work fast as Within minutes Omaha had agreed to send $500,000 to Montreal for the rights to Manuel Pena and his $36,000,000 remaining salary over the next 4.5 seasons.

Pena has not pitched for the club as of yet, but expect him to pitch this upcoming week. He has the ability to make a direct impact and potentially remove the loss felt by Manuel Orozco’s trip to the disabled list.

For the third deal in just under 24 hours, Omaha agreed to send recently acquired Vicente Chavez to Huntsville for nothing in return. Huntsville of course, now has to assume Vicente Chavez’s contract which had $24,000,000 remaining over the next 2 seasons.

Not a particularly bad trade for Omaha when you consider they acquired Chavez & Rafael Gonzalez for Jesus Rojas. Basically this wipes the trade down to Gonzalez for Jose Rojas, a trade Omaha would surely jump on if presented the chance.

The flurry of moves also put Omaha under the $110,000,000 salary cap and allowed the club to avoid any further fines handed down from the BBA for being over the cap.

When it’s all said and done, Omaha may have picked up 2 pitchers to help fill a void, and traded a struggling Jose Rojas to acquire a potential slugger in Rafael Gonzalez. Not a bad few moves for the club.

[handaspencer]

Maybe Pena can settle this feud between Omaha and the Yellow Springs and help win the division for Omaha. I am rooting for Pena to rebound.

[niles08]

If he can pitch complete games and avoid letting the bullpen anywhere near the game he will be a key asset.

[RonCo]

Maybe Pena can settle this feud between Omaha and the Yellow Springs and help win the division for Omaha. I am rooting for Pena to rebound.

The friend of my enemy is my enemy.

[RonCo]

We beat de Meza first time out...bring on Pena!

[bcslouck]

We beat de Meza first time out...bring on Pena!

That isn't a tough thing to do.

He probably should be a righty specialist in the bullpen. Should of did it myself but I already have a guy like him but better (IMO). I think as a RP, his stuff is a 10 so he's probably a 10/8/4 vs RHB, maybe even 11/8/4. .604 OPS vs RHB against 1.147 against LHP. Can't see how you used him at the moment since reports aren't all up to date, but I'd consider doing that Justin.

[niles08]

We beat de Meza first time out...bring on Pena!

That isn't a tough thing to do.

He probably should be a righty specialist in the bullpen. Should of did it myself but I already have a guy like him but better (IMO). I think as a RP, his stuff is a 10 so he's probably a 10/8/4 vs RHB, maybe even 11/8/4. .604 OPS vs RHB against 1.147 against LHP. Can't see how you used him at the moment since reports aren't all up to date, but I'd consider doing that Justin.

He's starting for me lol. Statsplus is up to date so I looked there yesterday. I thought about letting him be in the bullpen, but I honestly need a 5th starter until Stoller comes back.

[bcslouck]

Oh trust, me I did too. I gave him a shot and he wasn't awful last year, especially given our situation. But with 2 rookies doing well, Soto coming back plus a waiver claim, it was him or the guy with a FIP 2 runs better than his ERA. Plus with my bullpen being pretty full, he was the guy to go. I didn't even check his options. I figured it'd be better to get rid of his money, even though small, just in case we make a move later.