BaseballMusings.com

June 9, 2011: Within a matter of hours, the news within the baseball world shifted dramatically from the new to the old.  Owners, GMs and players alike all stopped talking about Curt “Cobra” Turner being taken as the number one pick over Dave “Zoom Zoom” Barker or “Trashmaster” Morales.

Instead, news of the bold, brazen and controversial trades by San Antonio of three key players to Cup-contending teams rocked the PEBA.  For weeks it has been no surprise that San Antonio Calzones of Laredo GM Matt Higgins was looking to move salary and salvage what has been, up to this point, a disappointing season.  The big question was how and to whom.  Shortly after Notre Dame RF Luis Muñóz became the PEBA version of “Mr. Irrelevant”, the moves were announced.

Having already moved Carlos Madrigal to Florida, the Featherheads struck another deal with the Calzones, acquiring CF Yoshino Miyata, the first player ever drafted (Duluth) in the PEBA.  In return they received speedy LF Shimpei Adachi (.223 on the season), slick-fielding SS Naoaki Kichida (.183), some minor league talent and a 1^st round pick in next year’s draft.  Both Adachi and Kichida are having off seasons, and they are both expected to step into starting roles for San Antonio.

There is great concern coming out of Florida about how such a deal will affect the payroll structure of the team.  When asked, Featherheads GM Kevin Lewis gave a flippant retort: “I can worry about that a couple years from now.”  Miyata gives Florida an immediate threat at the top of their lineup, producing more than the players who were traded for him combined.  With Madrigal showing a rapid improvement in the week since his trade to the swamps, the solid play of free agent signee Roberto Merán and a starting rotation with a 3.34 ERA (2^nd best in the IL), there is hope that the team with the best record in the Imperial League last season can make a run to the playoffs this season.  Florida begins play today 8.5 games back of Dixie-leading West Virginia, sitting in third place, 2 games back of Manchester for the fourth playoff spot.

The second move of the day saw the Tempe Knights snag hotshot second basemen Powell Clark for next to nothing.  A rag-tag trio of minor leaguers and a 3^rd round pick in next year’s draft was enough to send this two-time All-Star and former Sandgnat west through New Mexico and into the Arizona desert.  Clark, a career .300 hitter with blazing speed (269 career SB in five seasons – best in the PEBA), joins a retooled Tempe team that is serious about outlasting the hard-charging Bakersfield Bears for the last playoff spot as well as challenging division foes Aurora and Palm Springs for the top spot.

Tempe GM Chris Van Hauter was clear after the quick start by his club that they were going to be aggressive in taking advantage of their position and make “the future” today.  No word has come from the Tempe camp regarding this trade and how it’ll affect the Knights’ lineup once he comes off the DL (strained hip flexor), but word is that ticket sales are brisk and the already scorching hot demand for Knights tickets in the desert has become white hot.  Demand is so great that on eBay, tickets for Tempe’s second-to-last home stand of the season – games with Palm Springs, Aurora and Crystal Lake – are going for as much as $500 a piece in the sections behind home plate.

The third move – and the one that has captured all the attention – saw San Antonio’s star and 2010 Royal Raker winner Octávio Pexego traded to arguably the most star-studded team: Aurora.  It was a trade of one award winner for another, as San Antonio added another bat to their major league lineup in 2007 Wunderkind Award winner Kuemon Kiyomizu.

“Kiyo”, as he’s known in the Front Range, missed most of last season with a broken cheek.  This year he was used in a platoon rotation with Alexandre Poirier at first and Augusto Quiñones at DH.  It’s believed that he was viewed “most expendable” in the mind of GM Will Topham when simple, exploratory conversations with San Antonio became more than simple or exploratory.

Aurora adds a bat that has a career .310 average, .503 SLG and, perhaps more importantly, one less place for a pitcher to hide in the stacked Borealis lineup.  Initial reports out of Aurora are that Pexego will bat fifth in the lineup and will be the DH.

The move benefits Kiyomizu, freeing him up to play first full-time, and it benefits Borealis first basemen Poirier because he too slides into the lineup as the full-time player at first.  Even Octávio benefits: a chance for his first playoff appearance.

Not to be lost in the deal was the acquisition of OF Cristián León, a 21-year-old A-ball player who plays an excellent CF, has great speed and has the potential to find himself batting leadoff in four years.  San Antonio also received a 2^nd round pick in the draft and a couple of minor league shortstops of no particular note.

So as the dust settles, “Trader” Matt, who did not have a pick in this year’s draft until the 6^th round, has set himself up nicely for a second half push with the addition of solid (if not spectacular) players, and has laid a foundation for the future with some prospects and four new picks (in addition of his own) in the first three rounds of next year’s draft.  When you look at the talent that San Antonio gave up, you’d think they might be the loser in all this.  But consider this: San Antonio was an Inaugural Year playoff team.  They have not achieved that goal since.  A fresh start and the salary space in the budget to wisely build around a budding young core may be what make San Antonio the real winner here.