Corona over Griffin

H'ville, Tn (AP) - Late last night H'ville got confirmation from the Commish's office on a 2nd trade that was late getting sent to his desk.  Indy's owner Steve Turcotte late night partying habits which then leads to him sleeping all day was the culprit in the confirmation getting to the Commish's desk late.  Despite this tardiness, the trade was actually agreed upon the day before.  

Earlier in the week Steve sent out an Indy trade block email and the one guy on it that H'ville already had their eye on was CL José Corona.  The 27-yr old closer is off to his best start of his career, notching 12 saves with a 1.46 ERA, 0.97 WHIP, 27 K's to only 7 BB's in 24.2 IP.


H'ville Owner/GM Hays, knowing that MR Kolfe "The Werewolfe" Were was involved in the Cole trade inquired about Corona looking to replace Were in the pen.  Hays makes no secrets about his love affair for elite bullpen arms.  


"Everything just kinda fell into place," Hays told reports. "with Corona becoming available at the same time as we were moving Were.  It was the perfect storm."

Steve quickly targeted two of the Hitmen's top four hitting prospects for payment of Corona's services.   18-year-old minor league second baseman Ramón Lugo and 18-year-old minor league center fielder Félix Sánchez both rate out as 4.5 star specs by H'ville's legendary favors ability scout Nathan Gray.  After another round of evaluating by Hays and Gray the Hitmen agreed it was worth proceeding with.   Defensive specialist minor league catcher Guillermo Matos was also added to help offset a little bit of Corona's salary.


"My first option was to bring home Griff so he could retire as a Hitman," Hays answered when asked about signing Martin Griffin.  "After several offers on Griff, including $6.25M at the end of April, it became clear he wasn't ready to sign.  Once he turned down that offer, we re-evaluated the smartness of spending $6+M on Griff when the we already have the best bullpen in BSA without him.  Paying him $6+M just so he could wear the intimidating red and black of the Empire one more time would be a waste of money."  


It worked out great for the Evil Empire as they saved $3M in difference in what Toronto paid Griff, they didn't have to give up any picks either (Griff is was type A comp), they got a equally dominate pitcher and if he doesn't re-sign with the Hitmen then he will be a 27-yr old type A dominate FA CL.


The official trade:

Indy Gets:

C Guillermo Matos
2B Ramón Lugo
CF Félix Sánchez 

Hville Gets:

MR José Corona