Omaha wheels and deals after the first week of the season (55.14)

[niles08]

Typically, teams heading into the first week of the season are just getting their bearings on, knocking off some final rust, and taking the small sample size numbers with a grain of salt. That apparently was not the case in Omaha as the team announced two trades that involved 9 players in total, swapping teams.

In the first deal announced, Omaha acquired pitcher Robert Wilson from Atlantic City. Wilson has been up and down in his career, having a 6.06 ERA last year after a 3.87 the year prior. At age 29, he has several years of team control remaining and is making $1.5M this season. It’s likely that Wilson could be the back end type bullpen guy that many knew Omaha needed to add.

Heading to Atlantic City were pitcher John Simons(#264 prospect), outfielder Adam Alomar (#397 prospect), and current BBA roster member Leo Hill. Hill was a rule 5 pick of the team, and came in as the number 137 ranked prospect in the league, so the team is clearly banking on Wilson to be an impactful member.

Less than 24 hours later, the team announced their second trade, this one with Edmonton.

Heading to Edmonton isFloyd Turner, who similar to Hill was selected in the rule 5 draft by Omaha and came in ranked in the top 150 overall prospects. Going along with him however is Keith Forrest, another pitcher who is ranked in the top 150 overall prospects in the Brewster. The team paid $5,500,000 for Keith Forrest this off-season to get him to sign to a minor league contract.

Heading to Omaha in the deal from Edmonton are outfielder Jorge Delgado, who is ranked 120th overall in the top prospect rankings at age 17. Pitcher Snicker O’Connolly, who is viewed at as more of an organizational piece but is ranked 428th overall. Last but certainly not least is 34 years old hitter Yo Miyamoto.

Miyamoto was a long time member of the Seattle Storm where he had a career 104 OPS+. At age 34, it’s unknown at this time what the plans for him are, or if he was just a throw in piece of the deal.

Well, Omaha was active at the rule 5 draft, knowing that they could potentially have roster space available for some guys to step into. Instead, so far, they have helped turn those rule 5 draft choices into a top 120 prospect who is now in the minors with no restrictions and a potential back end bullpen piece that could make or break their season.