Deadline Recap: London

[Nigel]

Don’t look now Underground fans, but your team seems to be turning a corner going into the dog days of August. New GM Scott Miller took over the team in late June and the team has responded by going 19-20 since the hire. This may not look great to some, but it’s a huge improvement over the pathetic .305 winning percentage that the team had been boasting.

The team made some tough decisions at the deadline by dealing away Josh Emery and Dominic Gagne. Emery, being the popular player that he is, caused the most outrage by fans. One particular young lady was seen outside the ticket office screaming at whoever would listen, “He was the cutest one! And now he’s gone!” Emery did bring back a young righty reliever in Powell Lilley and also veteran Toyozo Ishihara from the Kentucky Thoroughbreds.

Gagne was sent packing to the Trendsetters for 37 year old Daron Little, AAA infielder Morimasa Sasaki and the gem of the deal, 22 year old starting pitcher Felipe Rodriguez. With both Emery and Gagne being free agents that were likely not going to be resigned by the Underground, I think the team did a good job in getting pieces back for them.

The real question of the deadline was, “Why wasn’t Juan Valdes traded?” With the team in the state it is right now, players with 9 million dollar contracts don’t belong in London. Hopefully the team isn’t thinking about resigning the aging Valdes.