The Winter Meeting Shuffle

Big Trades so far

The third most prolific hitter and DP artist Santiago Perez has been traded to San Juan in exchange for slgger 3B Willie Gutierrez, a young slugging Dave Cepicky who has the deadly high-power, high-eye combo and control specialist Ben Malone who features a blazing fastball along with a decent hammer and a serviceable change-up.


Pittsburgh stays busy trading when they fetch 19 year old phenom "Double Pete" Peter Peterson, possible closer or at worst good setup man Octavio Flores and a future No. 3 SP in Alex Seanez. They also get Victor Martinez who can throw the cheese. Durham gets Teddy Ward who is a year or 2 away from the show. Ward features just about as good of a split FB as you can find to go along with a good 4 seamer and 3 other serviceable pitches. The Tobacco Leafs also get veteran Erik Field who is 3rd all-time in E.R.A. Field has long been a target of Durham management and they finally got their hands on him. At 37 albeit, but Mr. Field says he has a couple years left in him and hopes to end his career as a Leaf.

San Juan continued their addition of superstars by adding 2-time MVP Alan Thompson. They coughed up prospect Gerardo Mateo who is questionable vs righties but has good movement on his FB. They also sent over highly touted IFA Scooter Scott and a pretty good defensive catcher who is all splits. Not a bad price to pay for a guy that has a great chance of adding to that MVP total at a ripe age of 26.

Durham trades another young player in Hank Swift who figures to hit 40+ HR's and a high average. 1B slugging Quinton Brooks was also included in the package. Both are ready to contribute at the ML level. Theodore Smith is what Durham recieved in return. At 19 he is still years away from sniffing the bigs but when he arrives he should be well worth the wait. He looks to be dominant vs righties and hold his own vs lefties. A high control guy who doesn't have a standout pitch but can get you out with a good mix of movement pitches: sinker, slider and curve. He can also get you by changing speeds on you with a 4 seamer and decent change-up.

In a big 1-for-1 trade Toledo sent stud prospet Jumbo Almanza who is going to kill righties. Jumbo is a very durable guy with high stamina that can continually give you 110-120 pitches per start. In return they get season 4 ROY and 3-time all-star Gerald Li who is good for 30 doubles, 30 HR and 100+ RBI's to go with a .300 average.