Off-Season: Hitmen say goodbye to a MVP

H'ville, Tn - After a 2nd straight 1st round exit in the playoffs the H'ville Front Office went staight to work on building a better team for the 2013 season.  Frustrated with how the SP performed throughout the year and especially the 3-5 starters, Owner/GM Travis Hays decided to look for some upgrades.

The 1st guy on the list for the Hitmen was ML strikeout king Earl Harper of the Niagara Falls Frenzy.  As early as late May, Hays' was contacting Frenzy Owner/GM JJ Hoban about Harper's availabilty.  A mid-season push may NFF a contender, but then a late season collapse forced JJ's hand and turned the Frenzy into sellers this off-season.  Talks escalated quickly and a HUGE trade was on the table, but ultimately JJ declined the offer.

"I was bummed, but ultimately it was a blessing in disguise," comment Hays to local media.  "We were able to take several pieces that we offered to JJ and turned around and got back MORE overall value while trading less players AND cut a lot more salary!"

After the Harper trade fell through Hays aggressively sought a SP upgrade and that search ended in Madison.  What started as a inquiry about Carlos Clemente ended with a trade for young LHP Jerry Burgess and rookie utility man Bill Davis. 

Jerry Burgess

Age: 26
W/L: 10-11
ERA: 3.89
WHIP: 1.35
K's: 197 (2nd in TL)
K/9: 9.19 (2nd in TL)
Contract: 3-yrs/$15.2M, $4.4M in 2013



Burgess is one of the bright young stars in the VBL6.  Last year in Madison at the age of 25 Burgess was 2nd in the TL in K's only 4 behind Haddenfield's Mendoza and 2nd in the TL in GB% with an impressive 71%.

"The upside of Burgess was to much to resist," commented Hays.  "When evaluating his young age, his very team friendly contract for the next 3 years, his dominate K/9, his high GB%, his excellent 4-pitch repertoire and his unprecedented work ethic, what's not to love!?"

Bill Davis is an exciting young player that has an HUGE upside.  In his rookie season he hit .261, 36 2Bs (3rd*), .360 OBP (5th*) and 73 BB (4th*).  Davis played 153 games and started at all 4 IF positions including 20+ games at 1B/SS/3B.  His loyalty, work ethic and intelligence is uncomparable.  His contact, Gap and Eye potential is off the charts.
*ranked among TL Rookies

"When I look at Davis I see the next Tony Owens!" Hays told reporters.  "This kid could win a batting title or two and should be among league leaders in OBP."

The key piece of the trade was the moving of the Hitmen's most reliable offensive star and former MVP Tommy Green.  In his 6-yr career Green's 162-game avg looks pretty good.  In his 3-yrs with the Hitmen Green has played EVERY single game!  Not only does he not miss games but he has been the cornerstone block for the offense.  His yearly avg are around .310/25/100/100/.400/.900

Tommy Green

Age: 28
Avg: .317
OBP: .397
HR: 28
RBI: 108
OPS: .907
Contract: 3-yrs/$31.5M, $10.5M/yr

"Trading Green has been the hardest thing I've had to do since owning this team," Hays said at the press conference.

Also leaving H'ville in the trade is young SP Nam-cheol "Million Dollar" Chong.  In 2010 Chong won the AAA Cy Young with a dominating 21-5, 3.08 ERA, 231 IP and 206 K's.  As a 21-year old he won an impressive 15 games (15-7, 3.70 ERA) in 2011, but got injured in the last start of the season and just never looked the same in 2012.   Chong's ability, POT, age, repertoire, stamina, GB% and work ethic makes him a stud young SP spec.

The final trade looked like this...

Gets:

1B Tommy Green
SP Nam-cheol "Million Dollar" Chong

Gets:

SP Jerry Burgess
1B Bill Davis




Off-Season PR1