Sammy Bodeen Traded

[aaronweiner]

In a surprising twist, the first-place Birmingham Bandits have dealt Sammy Bodeen - not to a rebuilding team for a combination of current help and prospects, but to Hawaii, a first-place team, for prospects and a reliever.

"We have today dealt Sammy Bodeen and Ronald Darling for three players in a move that we believe will make us a better ballclub both immediately and in the long term," said GM Aaron Weiner in a prepared statement today.

Bodeen is by far the biggest name in the five-player deal that includes the aforementioned Ronald Darling (2-0, 2.18) on Birmingham's side. Returning to Birmingham are reliever Mark Dewey (6-0, 1.66 ERA in 21.2 innings), second baseman Hank Felicetti, and minor leaguer Matt Davis.

"I am saddened to be leaving the only team that I have ever known," said Bodeen. "While I understand that this is a business, I had hoped to re-sign with the Bandits."

Reportedly, Birmingham had difficulty signing the star righthander, but it is believed that he will sign with Hawaii once he returns from the disabled list. Birmingham spent a great deal of time this offseason selling Bodeen on Birmingham, but the pitcher continually refused extension offers. Ultimately, the team tired of his constant negotiating.

"We felt that we'd been fair with Sammy recently; we offered him more money than his arbitration number two straight seasons, we gave him anything he asked for, we tried repeatedly to sign him to a multi-year deal, and he acted as if we'd slapped him in the face," said Weiner. "It's difficult to say, but Sammy really rejected us a lot more than we rejected him."

Bodeen will return in late September, so even in the unlikely case that he refuses to re-sign with Hawaii, he'll be available for a potential playoff run; Hawaii currently leads their division by 5.5 games over Valencia. Furthermore, Bodeen will absolutely be a Type A free agent, and Hawaii will - at worst - receive two draft picks for Bodeen.

The players that Birmingham received in the deal were of high quality. Dewey has been a consistently productive reliever in each of the past two seasons and should adequately replace Darling, a surprise performer, in Birmingham. Felicetti is out for the season, but the infielder is considered one of the top two-way prospects in the league and was considered Hawaii's top prospect. Finally, Davis is a very talented reliever prospect, though the righty is considered at least a year or two away.

"We weren't looking for an Allen Izatt-type haul in this deal," said Weiner. "Also unlike the Izatt deal, we were extremely concerned about dealing Bodeen out of the FL. We're very happy with what we've gotten in this deal. We hope to re-sign Mark Dewey and continue to develop Hank Felicetti and Matt Davis."

[felipe]

That's a pretty big deal - I'm interested to see how this one works out over the years...

[aaronweiner]

Same here. Hey, for all I know, he'll be happier in Hawaii.

So would I. (Stares out at three inches of snow.)

[EchoesIE]

Well, apparently not...in his frusterating (apparently) he's decided to not sign an extension. So, we'll see how much dough he pulls in from darn-near every team in the MBBA during free agency. I expect the deal to be $120+ mil.