2062-5 Finally, a center fielder

[Knucklehead254]

After Miguel Montero's horrendous start to the season, it became clear that he wasn't gonna cut it in center field, and Dave Hutchinson had seen a step back in his defense that doesn't make up for his horrendous bat. The other problem is that our top position player prospect, CF Hector Ruiz, is still a few years away before making an impact in the majors. So what is an Aaron Wharram team to do? Upgrade the position through a tradeof course, and there was one guy I had on my mind since the last trade deadline, that being CF Amphibian Johnson. He had been acquired by Sacramento in 2060 from Louisville for a hefty price, but recent lumps to some ratings and then shoeless trading for another star in CF Lou Bayou last year had Johnson on the block. He ultimately wasn't traded, and near the end of this offseason to see if Shoeless would potentially look to trade him now.

He wasn't, as Shoeless had managed to work out his cap problems do he didn't feel the need to trade him anymore. Understandable, so I began slowly looking elsewhere. I had then nearly completed a blockbuster deal for another center-fielder before my cold feet ended up prevailing and I backed out. I won't get into it anymore then that out of respect for the other GM, but essentially this lead me back to Johnson and had me reaching out to Shoeless yet again to ask about him. He was high that night so I figured now might be a good shot, but he was smart and said to wait until tomorrow. Tomorrow came and he told me he had another deal in the works.. Shit. All I could was wait.. a whole day before I messaged again asking if the deal had been made, and then again the next day saying a previous offer I had made was still on the table. I waited..

And he got back to me, and offered a counter that I was ok with, and bada-bing-bada-boom the deal was made.

Vancouver acquires:

CF Amphibian Johnson

Sacramento acquires:

CF Mohanakrishnan Sankrant
SP Toby Barham
SP Alfonso Hernandez

Sankrant is the big piece here and I hate to lose someone of his potential regardless of him being an IC prospect. If he fully develops this trade could backfire heavily. Barham and Hernandez are two 40 Pot starters with some upside, but ultimately I was ok losing them as I had a ton of pitchers like them in my minor leagues.

While my owner is not exactly thrilled at the new $12,000,000 in payroll, that still leaves us at $64 million total, and his pay of the next two seasons drops to just $8 million a year, so I was fine with that. In his first sim as a Mountie he struggled with the bat but we went 4-2 against formidable opponents in San Fernando and Portland. Is this the Amphibian effect?

[BaseClogger]

Montero was +2 ZR in CF with 8 range!

[Knucklehead254]

Montero was +2 ZR in CF with 8 range!

Which is crazy, but I don't think he maintains that. Plus his bat has been awful to start.

[RT60]

Take care of Amphibian! And feel free to trade him back to his home whenever you want.

[BaseClogger]

I think he’s the highest of 8 range and can be a positive defender in CF but ya the hitting was inexplicably good the last two seasons and he’s falling back to earth.

[Knucklehead254]

Take care of Amphibian! And feel free to trade him back to his home whenever you want.

I mean if Ruiz pans out in a couple years that could be a possibility

[shoeless.db]

Correction: I was high when I finalized the deal, also.

Fun reading the account of things.