The Hitmen sent long time fan favorite LF Gregg Burkholder and elite MR Ghidewon Hassan to L.A. for the 2008 MVP LF Sam Sagar. Sagar is a 5x All-Star, 2007 Rookie of the Year and 2008 MVP, but is coming off his worst season of his career. L.A. is known for "killing" batters with is very unfriendly hitters park, but Sagar did still manage to hit .296 in L.A. but saw his HR's drop below 30 for the first time in 5 seasons and his RBI's drop below 100 for the first time in his career!
"When Mike contacted me about Sagar and proposed the trade I was skeptical," Hays told the media. "Of course we like Sagar, but his career lows + his age + his salary were all concerns, but in the end we felt Sagar was a bigger improvement than Burkholder."
Burkholder's injuries the last 2 years, his $9+M contract and age (will be 36 in May) made trading him easier, but trading Hassan was a lot harder. Hassan had a 1.16 ERA last year and did NOT allow a single run at home all season including the playoffs. He just turned 25 and is signed to a cheap deal for a few more years. No doubt one of the elite arms in the game and one of the youngest. The trade almost fell through because of the unwillingness to move Hassan.
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| Gets: |
LF Gregg Burkholder
MR Ghidewon Hassan
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| Gets: |
Sam Sagar
$4M Cash
The 2nd trade materialized very quickly and seemingly out of nowhere. Madison Bombers owner Rob Carlson sent a trade inquring email for SP Art Ellis one day and after a few back in forth's it felt like no deal was going to be made. But then H'ville owner Travis Hays remembered that Madison had acquired CF Luke Pittman from Baffin Island Beavers just a few days earlier. A proposal was made and then in a rare occurance that has only happened a handful of times, Rob signed into Gtalk. A few casual back forths and the trade was agreed upon. All in all it took a few emails and just a couple of hours.
After winning the World Series Hays felt the only true area that he needed to upgrade was the CF position. A speedy, defensive specialist that could be a game changer at the plate was exactly what he was looking for and the 2011 MVP Pittman fit that mold. In order to move an upper echelon SP of Ellis' caliber Hays had to get back an impact player for this season, especially with SP Scott Hill still recovering from Tommy John Surgery moving a SP was risky.
"Acquiring Pittman is a very exciting thing," Hays told reporters."but we are very, very aware of the risks with his injury history. We will do all we can to ensure he is well rested and can only hope this is the year he stay healthy. There is not doubting his talent and having his gold glove defense in CF will really help our staff."
Also going to Madison was 2010 batting champ RF John Prowse who's been injured the last 2 season, but still has a ton of talent. While both Pittman and Prowse have been injury prone in their careers, Pittman obviously has the higher upside with his Gold Glove defense and speed, but also comes with the higher price tag.
Last year's rookie defensive and speed CF for H'ville Luis Rodríguez (33 2Bs, 33 SB, 12 HRs) also heads to Madison in the trade while CF Domingo Martínez and MR Mike Henley head to H'ville. Henley comes over to replace the loss of Hassan to LA. He has tremendous talent, but has yet to put it all together with 6.29, 5.15, 3.43, 4.06 ERA's in his 4 year career. Martinez much like Rodriguez is a young CF with with a lot talent, but in his only real full playing time he hit .238 last season. Martinez will be a backup for the Hitmen this season, but is slated to be part of the starting OF moving forward with 23-yr old Luis Padilla and super spec 21-yr old Vic Robertson.
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| Gets: |
SP Art Ellis
RF John Prowse
CF Luis Rodríguez.
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| Gets: |
CF Domingo Martínez
MR Mike Henley
$2M Cash
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