Welcome back Bag fans!! Afte the Bags best season since moving to Jersey, their first roster move of the off season has happened. Right before the eligible players have filed for free agency talks a deal finally formalized between the Bags and the Knights of New York. The teams had been in talks for almost a week when a deal was agreed upon.
The D-Bags agreed to send one of the more popular players in 3B David Pena, who broke out last season witha team high 28 HR, and former inaugural 4th round selection SP Rudy Bourg packing to New York. In return Jersey will retain some power back with the versatile OF Leon Foster. Foster plays all 3 OF above average, brings what Jersey most sorely needed as well, power from the right hand side of the plate. Last season Leon jacked 36 bombs, 42 doubles while driving in 123 runs hitting 5th for the Knights last season. His bat will be a welcome addition to the lefty-laden roster of Jersey.
When asked about trading Pena, GM Josh Swain said it was a hard one and added, "David is a great kid. He is a gold glove caliber fielder and hits the ball a long ways. He is only 27 and we might not have seen his peak yet, but it was a team decision. We sorely needed a big OF bat, especially a right handed one. Our 1st-3rd base platoon is a very crowded one, and he was expandable, but we will miss him in the clubhouse."
When Swain mentioned that the 1st-3rd platoon was a crowded one, he wasn't kidding. Milliard Cross showed splashes of power hitting with his 200-some AB's last year for the D-Bags and the 2012 likely MVP Derrick Wright will get ample time to prove he can handle the position. He absolutely tore up AAA pitching to the tune of 35 2B, 31 HR, a league record 158 RBI and a triple slash line of .343/.420/.561 and scouts like what they see in this kid.
On the 3rd base side you have the incumbent and Jersey's MVP of the 2012 season in Parker Morrow who is signed for the next 3 seasons. In AAA 25 year old Alberto Perez finished last season with a line of .334/.379/.462 while knocking 13 HR's looks ready for some VBL experience and one of the team's top prospects Adam Morrow was very successful in AA after his mid-season promotion and will likely be called up to AAA for the upcoming year. A very crowded depth chart.
With the trading of SP Rudy Bourg, a spot will open up in the rotation. Bourg had a lackluster year posting an ERA of 5.15, with a record of 11-12. The most likely candidate to take Bourg's place would be the 26 year old Rob Goodship who went 12-7 in AAA last year, but posted a very big dominating performance in the last week of the season to keep Jersey's season alive. Another candidate could be #2 pitching prospect league wide Jerry Paige. Paige came over in the Vargas trade with Maui last off season. In AAA he went 15-5, an ERA of 3.44, while striking out 240 batters in just 209 innings.
According to sources this move might be the first of a couple moves to come this off season to bolster this roster for another playoff run. We shall see!
Go D-Bags!
