Trail Droppings 2041-6 Pioneers Trade For Legrand

[indiansfan]

Pioneers Trade For Legrand

Calgary shored up its rotation acquiring lefty Pierre Legrand in a deal with the Long Beach Surfers. Calgary also gained catcher Sean Smith in the trade that sent starting pitching prospect Jorge Alfano to Long Beach.

“I felt we needed to add another lefty for the stretch run,” said GM Kevin Dickson. This will give us a Big 3 for the playoffs and Bates can go back to the bullpen where he has been lights out.”

Legrand’s career numbers are 101-77, 3.78 ERA, 1.29 WHIP. He also only give up 1.1 HR per 9 innings, an important factor for Calgary. In his 9th season, Legrand has never been an all star despite having only 1 losing season in his career. It appears that Legrand may actually be the replacement for the departed Bobby Lynch that the team may have put out to pasture too soon. He has another 4 years left on his contract, of which Long Beach retained 35%. There is concern however over the opt out he has after next season.

The Pioneers had talked to San Fernando about Knud Zeitler, 2 years younger than Legrand. The team went with Legrand as Zeitler would be a free agent after next season and has had some injuries in the past.

Alfano has been a solid starting pitching prospect for the team and if they thought he could play in Calgary right now, that is where he would be. However, he has struggled at AAA this season and still need to refine his change up. For a team on the rebuild, this was a good get for Long Beach.

Sean Smith is one of the best defensive catchers in the game and was brought in to also platoon against left handers. He was a Zimmer winner last season. In 3 games with Calgary he is hitting .400 with 2 HR.