Brains! 2063.5: Jacksonville Trades For Swanson

[aaronweiner]

Jacksonville GM Aaron Weiner was recently quoted as saying he was going to try to do something about the pitching problem ASAP. While it might not fix everything, the Zombies today traded two prospects to the Rosenblatt Bombers for starting pitcher Alexander Swanson, the second time Swanson has been traded this season.

"Obviously, I'm disappointed that I won't be pitching in the playoffs this year, but Jacksonville has an excellent offense and seems very excited to have me in," said Swanson. "They've said all the right things to me, and they made sure I was taken care of financially before the trade."

The deal was contingent on Swanson, a pending free agent, signing an extension. He signed a six-year deal worth a total of $42 million with a sixth-year player option that Swanson is expected to trigger. Swanson has been a very productive professional, and pitches like a younger version of Takehide Gertrudes, who at 39 years old has found himself in the bullpen but was very good for Jacksonville in previous seasons.

"I really do see a lot of myself in the young man, but he learned at the kitchen table of one of the best to ever play the game," said Gertrudes, of the son of BBA Hall of Famer Mike Swanson. "And he's got a lot more years in this game left than I do."

Jacksonville did pay up for the privilege of owning Swanson. Juan Palmer, a 2061 3rd rounder, was Jacksonville's second highest rated hitting prospect, and has reached AAA by age 22, albeit with an up and down season this year. Jacksonville already had a fairly deep logjam at the 1B/DH positions after the Bob Anderson trade last year, so Palmer was buried a little bit on the depth chart.

Roy Morin, last year's third round pick, is a lefty pitching prospect rated in the top 100 overall prospects. He was having an outstanding year in high-A Folsom this year at just 20 years old, though the team rates him still a while away from the major leagues.

"We think the world of both of these guys, and wish them well in their professional careers, but we wanted to lock down our rotation for the next few years, and Alex was a good way to do that," Weiner said. "We still have work to do on the pitching staff yet, but we're hoping that some of our younger pitchers start acclimating to the majors by next year."

Swanson is likely the Zombies' #2 starter for the foreseeable future, unless they acquire someone to move him down in the rotation. Both he and Zombies' #1 starter Dan Voelzke are signed through the 2069 (nice!) season for a total of $15 million per season after Voelzke's bonus season in 2064, which gives the team a lot of flexibility filling out the rest of the pitching staff.

"Hopefully this is just the beginning of our rebuilding of this pitching staff," said Weiner. "Alex is a pro's pro and should really help to stabilize our rotation."

[BaseClogger]

I’ll be following him. Very underrated BBA pitcher. Up to 16th in Ron’s most recent SP ranking.

[aaronweiner]

I’ll be following him. Very underrated BBA pitcher. Up to 16th in Ron’s most recent SP ranking.

Have always enjoyed watching the exploits of the Swanson clan. Can't wait for his son in 2089, Ron Swanson. I'll be eleventy-one!