Omaha silent up to deadline, makes 3 deals at the buzzer.(47.10)

[niles08]

Let’s call it a buzzer beater. The trade deadline, which is normally one of the more exciting deadlines in the BBA looked like it was going to be a lackluster day, with just a handful of trades publicly announced prior to the deadline.

Then, 20 minutes before the deadline, Omaha picked up the phone. After ordering a pizza on that phone call, it was time to get to work.

After all, Omaha was within striking distance of securing a playoff spot this season, which is obviously step one in any bid to repeat as Landis Champions. The main weakness was clearly the bullpen with Rich Jacobs going down with a season ending arm injury at the beginning of the season, which then said weakness turned into a glaring hole. Enough so that Omaha had the 12th ranked bullpen in the Frick as of the deadline. Clearly, the club couldn’t rely on their starters to go 9 innings every game.

Trade 1 came along with Boise, where the club acquired reliever Fernando Guerrero for prospect pitcher Cecil Williams. Guerrero had a 4.19 ERA in Boise this season (his first) over 58 innings pitched. His 3.93 FIP indicated just a tad unluckiness. It’s expected that Guerrero will play in the setup role for Omaha for the rest of the season.

That’s a little improvement, but not enough as Omaha popped over an IM quickly to San Antonio after noticing the GM online to ask about the availability of a few bullpen pieces. After going back and forth a little, San Antonio and Omaha agreed on a deal that sent veteran reliever Luis Pina to Omaha. Pena was a vast improvement and much bigger fish than Guerrero. Pina had a 2.7 ERA over 56 innings in San Antonio and has had a consistent proven career as a reliever posting at least 0.9 WAR each of the past 4 seasons. Omaha had to give up some prospects for him, giving up former first round 1 pick Ricky Taylor, and reliever Raul Reyes.

Omaha appeared to be done as the front office was giving each other high-fives on the improved bullpen while chowing down on Casey’s Gas Station pizza. All was well and they were shutting their laptops, until they noticed that Long Beach appeared desperate to get rid of some contracts.

This deal came together just as quick with Omaha acquiring Renato Lacerda with Long Beach retaining his entire remaining contract, but also acquiring Mario Barrera who Omaha notified would be released immediately from his remaining contract. Lacerda is expected to pitch in middle relief in Omaha. In return, Omaha sent pitcher Terrence Kelly, who, after a magnificent season in 2046, had fallen out of favor in 2047 and pitched out of the bullpen rather unsuccessfully. Kelly actually was sent from Long Beach to Omaha prior to that 2046 season, and now finds himself back in Long Beach.

What a crazy 20 minutes.