December 14, 2014: Asheville, North Carolina – GMs were lined up for cabs back to the airport as the PEBA Winter Meetings came to a close. Aurora had a busy Meetings for a change – but don’t hold your breath for any bodies to arrive on the Front Range anytime soon!

GM Will Topham struck four deals over the four-day weekend. In doing so, he moved four players and two draft choices in exchange for six selections in the 2015 amateur draft – five of which are 2^nd round or better. Aurora’s philosophy has been to acquire picks every year to help keep the system fresh, and this year looks to be no different.

The trading began with a move with the wheeling and dealing San Antonio Calzones; a familiar trade partner. Aurora sent right-handed closer Sheng Yep and their 1^st and 8^th round picks in the coming draft for Gloucester‘s #1 pick (acquired by the Calzones in the Wesley Scott deal) and San Antonio’s 4^th rounder. The Gloucester pick will be the 11^th selection of the draft.

Sheng, originally signed by Aurora as a minor free agent, has an 18-12 minor league record over five seasons, with a 3.26 ERA and 79 saves. Yep seemed stuck in a system that has long had a strong bullpen, and with “Stork” Holbrook having already bypassed him and “Sleepy” Kuhn lurking in the shadows, the Taiwanese national was not likely to get a chance.

“Trader Matt came knocking on the door and it was, ‘Boom… boom… deal done.’ The quickest deal of my tenure here with the Borealis,” said Topham. “We weren’t happy about losing our #1, but moving up 12 spots ain’t too bad.”

The second deal came with Desert Hills doormat Yuma. Stephen Mason was the player heading to the Sonoran Desert. After the Meetings, Topham said, “We needed to clear up some 40-man roster space for the moves we are planning on making, and Mason was odd man out.”

In exchange for the AAA starting pitcher, Aurora picked up Florida‘s 2^nd round selection, a pick that Yuma had acquired in a previous deal. The 25-year-old right-handed starter is 59-43 with a 3.66 career ERA over five minor league seasons. “Mason should make an immediate impact on Yuma’s rotation,” said Topham.

The third deal brought good old Trader Matt back to the table. Aurora sent Kelly Burns back to his home in southern Texas. San Antonio reacquired Burns for New Orleans‘ 2^nd round selection. “Burns was a bit of a disappointment,” Topham replied when asked about the deal, “We had hoped that he would be a different pitcher in this environment, but clearly that wasn’t the case.”

Burns, acquired in the 2013 season for MR Jamie Johnston (now with Charleston), was 7-6 for Aurora with a 5.32 ERA. Opponents were hitting well over .300 against him in 17 appearances, a stark difference from the 18-3, 2.42 ERA he posted at AAA this season. Burns returns to a Calzones team that promises to be much better than the one he left. Higgins has made a number of bold moves that should much improve the team in 2015.

The biggest, boldest, and surest to draw great attention was a deal struck with Arlington. In exchange for the Bureaucrats’ top two selections, Aurora sent them yet another catcher: potential free agent-to-be Wilson Berry. Once a mainstay of the powerful Borealis attack, Berry lost his job to rookie Bob Keller after a slow start led to a platooning situation. When Keller continued to spark the offense, he stole the starting job from Berry.

With the highly coveted (and talented) Scott Vinson chomping at the bit at AAA, Aurora was faced with a difficult decision. They could trade one of their excellent young backstops and keep Berry, but at a cost – he becomes a free agent after the 2015 season. They could hold him for a season, let him walk and take the requisite compensation. Or they could trade him. Letting him walk was full of risk, as teams frequently deal draft choices and the team signing Wilson may not have picks to compensate. So when Arlington called and was willing to pony up “compensation-quality picks”, it was a no-brainer for Topham.

“We are truly thankful for what Wilson brought to the Borealis, but as we’ve seen in the past, you have to be willing to move on,” said Topham. “We have some very big, pricey contract decisions to make in the coming months – Steve McDonald and John Knight, to name two – and with Keller and Vinson, catcher was not going to be one of them.”

Moments after the trade was announced, radio station KOA 850 out of Denver was swamped with calls of outrage over the move. Berry, a career .276 hitter with 120 HR and 566 RBI and a three-time All-Star, has not yet been available for comment.

With the moves, Aurora has picked up the 11^th overall pick, the 18^th overall pick, and second round selections from New Orleans, Arlington and Florida. Though they are minus their own #1, they will receive the 12^th overall pick as compensation for not signing Jacob Lilly. They also hold San Antonio’s 4^th round pick.

“We have had some pretty solid pick-ups in that second round, so we are excited to see what the coming draft has in store for us,” said Topham. “Our goal from the start has been to keep the major league club as competitive as possible while building a deep, strong farm system, and we believe that, as we embark on our fifth season at the helm of the Borealis, we are doing just that!”

Our early assessment of these deals is that they are all wins for Aurora. Burns and Mason are probably both outshined by Graves, Lovell and O’Reilly at AAA Thornton, and Yep had a long road to make the club.

I’d have to say that the trade of Berry is a shrewd move. They picked up compensation for a player who would likely leave in a season; rumor is he had already refused to negotiate a contract extension with Aurora. This deal truly is a win-win for both Aurora and Arlington, as the ‘Crats get a quality catcher they can count on. Should he walk, they will be in line for those compensation picks – it’s hard to imagine someone not signing a still young, All-Star catcher. And they have former Aurora farmhand Roger Bruce waiting in the wings.

“Yeah, Dan (DiVincenzo, GM of Arlington) and I had been discussing this deal for weeks, and we finally pulled the go lever as we sat at the table at the Meetings,” said Topham. “I think both teams will be happy.”

Aurora may not be done dealing here in the 2014 off-season. Rumors abound that a deal is in the works that would move Mark Richardson. All in all, I think this was a very productive, positive weekend for the Borealis.