One Hell of a Blockbuster

H'ville, Tn (AP) - As we enter July in the BSA there is a lot of chatter and excitement as we have just finished the 2014 Ammy Draft, teams looking over the future of their franchises and the 2014 All-Star ballot are due tonight with a possible #Poddamnit All-Star Team Announcement (?).

But the BIG news is the huge blockbuster trade completed earlier today by the Hitmen the sends 2 of it's best bats, and ACE SP and it's best Spec packing.  What started as a search to upgrade the SS position ended with a monster deal as the Hitmen sends SP Jerry Burgess, 1B José Álvarez, LF Sam Sagar and super spec 2B Jim Edgar to the El Paso Diablos for the most underrated superstar in the BSA 1B Mr. Shumei Yokoyama and former Hitman SS Brian Cash.

"Wow," Hays opened with at the press conference.  "I can't believe I just traded Burgess, Alvarez and Sagar in the middle of the season that we are having."

Sammy Sagar

Hays has been openingly shopping the #1 rated LF Sagar despite him having another All-Star year hitting .322/.392/.581/.974 with 15 HRs, 48 RBI, 19 2Bs, 56 Runs, 3.4 WAR and 38.6 VORP.  "It's not his production but the $14.5M contract that forced the trading of Sagar," Hays told reporters.

The 9th ranked bat in BSA, Sagar is proving he still has the capability of putting up MVP numbers, but as he deserves he has a big contract that was preventing the Hitmen from being able to re-sign some key pieces like  Bamber, Haward and Cole.  Sagar lead the Hitmen in Avg while 2nd in OBP, Slg, OPS and 3rd in HRs, RBIs and 2Bs while also being 3rd in the NL in Slg, OPS and VORP.

Jose Alvarez

 Jose Alvarez in his 1st full year as a starter is ranked as the 12th best bat in BSA and is having a breakout year to prove he's worth it.  He leads the BSA in runs scored while 3rd in in NL in BBs, 4th in the NL in OBP and 5th in NL in VORP.  He's proved to have a power stroke also cranking out 19 HRs and 60 RBI's, both 2nd for the Hitmen.

 Alvarez is more than likely heading towards "Super 2" status which will void his last year of $400k salary for a more than likely $5M-$8M Arby number.  "Alvarez was a very hard piece to move," Hays continued.  "He's still learning how to hit and putting up impressive numbers at the same time, but like Sagar, we have to always be looking forward at payroll."

Jerry Burgess

SP Jerry Burgess was the key to the whole trade.  Flaherty was dead set on not moving "Yoko" without getting a #1 type SP and the 27-year, left was excactly what he was looking for.  Burgess is coming off a dominating playoff in which he lead the Hitmen in Hill's absent with a 4-0, 3.03 ERA in the post season. 

Burgess is entering his prime and is one of the game's best K pitchers.  He throws 4 pitches, 2 great and 2 elite for a high GB% and has great defense and hold runners.  He's signed CHEAP for this year and next and has intangibles off the chart including a very high work ethic.  "It's extremely tough to let go of young great SP talent, but with Hill coming back soon and Pineda on the roster we are taking the risk."


The final piece to the trade puzzle was super spec and last year's #1 draft choice 2B Jim Edgar. While still sevearal season's away the kid projects to be an elite hitter with great defense at 2B.  Another very tough piece to trade.

Hours after the trade it is still kinda shocking to see the production the Hitmen just traded away.  Pittsburg Swag GM Dustin mentioned on twitter earlier, "what is a 61-22 team missing?"

The simple answer would be nothing, but Hays is always looking to improve his team no matter what the record is and always sees areas to be improved.  Two areas stood out for Hays, 1) The SS position has been a disappointment so far this season and 2) the concern of payroll moving forward.   So Hays told his team to look for a way to improve the SS pos without giving up the GG defense while being mindful of the $ situation.

"Yoko"

The search landed in El Paso where former Hitman SS Brian Cash was the target.  But you can't look at the Diablo's roster without looking at 1B Shumei Yokoyama.  "Yoko" has been a favorite of almost all of the original BSA owners as he was one of our early Superstars at such a young age and by most scouts has Elite of Elite ratings.  An annual "untouchable" player for El Paso owner Michael Flaherty he has gone quitely unnoticed in the last few season's but never out of mind of Hays and the Hitmen. 


"The price for a "Yoko" was high," Hays continued at the press conference. "but he's been one of our favorite players since the innaugural draft and combine that with the much need salary cleared we couldn't pass it up even if we over paid for one player as we will most like decline to offer Cash his staggering $8.7M arby"

Brian Cash

SS Brian Cash is the key to the whole trade for H'ville.  The whole trade was started cause of him and the need to upgrade the offense at SS while still having gold glove caliber defense.  The list of players capable of that is very short, but Cash is on that list.  He is currently hitting .340 with a .390 OBP and .480 Slg. with 4 HRs, 19 RBI's and 13 2Bs.  Despite missing several weeks with an injury he still has a 2.3 WAR and a 20.0 VORP.

On the defensive side he has elite range and error and despite his weaker arm he still very good at turning DP.  He currently has a +3.1 zone rating, .990 fielding pct and a 1.034 fielding efficiency.  While Cash should be an upgrade on the offensive side this year it's his contract that makes him valuable next year.  He's got one more year of Arby which is at $8.7M, but if declined that will leave $16.5M cleared on the salary for Bamber, Haward, Cole and Yoko to be re-signed.