Pittsburgh Owner/GM Mack Shultz today announced a pair of trades, sending away the team's two best players for two of the top prospects in the game. Pittsburgh shipped out starting pitcher Gaby Duran and outfielder George Pullum, gutting this year's team even while Pittsburgh was tied for the wild card spot.
Duran left along with prospect third basemanLuis Huerta in the first trade of the day, made with the Helena Handbaskets. Duran is the reigning Cy Young Award winner and leads the Platonic League with 11 wins so far this season. In return, Pittsburgh acquired the second pick in this past year's draft, infielder Donald Parson and starting pitcher Wilfredo Desilva.
"Duran is an outstanding pitcher and a big winner, but he's headed to free agency and, frankly, he doesn't like me very much," explained Shultz. "So, he had to go. We're thrilled to pick up a player with the potential of Parson and a capable major league pitcher in Desilva."
Pullum, signed to a 5 year, $12 million contract in the recent offseason, is having an MVP-type of year, leading the Platonic league in slugging, OPS, home runs, RBI, and runs scored. He was sent, along with $2 million in cash, to the archrival Seattle Ministry of Silly Walks for stud prospect first baseman Gary "Tiny" Croce, outfielders Bryan Caraway and Scott Birmingham, and Seattle's first round picks in 2003 and 2004.
"George is a heck of a guy, but we're going into a rebuilding mode. Tiny is a unique talent and one we felt we had to acquire if we could. Bryan Caraway will start quite a bit for us for the rest of this year and those two draft picks will be very helpful," Shultz remarked. When asked about Birmingham, Shultz stated that Birmingham "really should pack light for this trip. We frankly don't expect to keep him very long."
Shultz also announced that anyone on the remaining roster can be had for the right price and "these trades should prove it."
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment