28 May 2063
Boise, Idaho
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by Tony Toney
Despite Plans, First Round Pick Gets PromotionWith P Juan Guzmán being DFA'd and eventually released, it made room for P Felipe Ledesma to get the permanent call to the majors to finish his development as his turns in the big leagues have shown him to be ready to contribute. The next step was making room for another prospect to get the permanent call as the club DFA'd veteran P Michel Gautier for that purpose. Only the question of which prospect yielded a surprising answer. The initial look was to give 22yo righty Alfredo Morán a permanent spot at the ML level. But another option emerged in Boise first-round pick P Cornelio 'Deathblow' Martínez. Morán has had more time to prove himself at AAA Salt Lake City and AA Weymouth, but he is still not as developed as Martínez even at his young age. Given the choice, GM Ben Teague decided to go with the draft pick. "We initially wanted more time at AAA for Martínez to settle in and prove himself," said Teague. "But given the choice of the two we just had to go with the most developed player. And we can always return him to AAA and grab Fredo as the season moves along. Some would argue that this is a young age to start the ML service clock, but if he's ready then he's ready." Asked if the team now had plans to release Gautier, Teague offered no comment which would indicate that the club is taking a wait and see approach as Teague has commented many times on avoiding the DFA "carousel" that has become far too often in recent seasons.