Burgess Trade
The big piece in the trades was bringing in SP Jerry Burgess from the El Paso Diablos. Now over the past 2 seasons Jersey has brought in Dan Macias, Art Ellis and Jerry Burgess. To get Burgess they had to dip into their deep talent-rich farm system to pull off the deal, but let's talk about Burgess first.
Jerry Burgess is a 28 year old left hander who stands at a statue tall 6'7" and will be calling Jersey his 4th home in just 5 seasons under his belt. Drafted by Madison in the inaugural draft, he played his first 2 professional seasons there in 2011-2012 before being traded to Hendersonville where he would help them win a title in 2013. He would be dealt at the 2014 deadline to El Paso in the Yokoyama deal and pitched a week short of a full season there before landing in Jersey today.
Burgess has a career record of 55-41, 4.20 ERA, and averages over 1K/IP for his career. This year has been the worst so far as a professional, but Jersey brass has confidence that a change of scenery can help him turn it around.
The deal was a 6-1 trade that included: SP Kenny Stanford who was struggling in his 2nd season as a D-Bag and is an impending FA this offseason. 32 year old SP/MR Justin Terry who has been a staple on the AAA staff for years now. OF Harold Robinson, saw brief time last season in Jersey and should be on a ML roster but due to the D-Bags he found himself buried in AAA.
The main real piece of this deal was 20 year old SP Ignacio Colon. The Cuban SP is in his 3rd season of AA and has improved on each one. Scouts say that if he was coming out in the rookie draft this year he would be a Top half of the first round talent. Also from AA OF Jorge Melendez, who has tremendous talent potential, who socked 24 HR in 370 AA AB's last season. The last piece is MR Victor Lopez, 19 year old RHP, who projects to be a solid bullpen arm someday.
A lot of pieces for 1 arm, but a move that Jersey hopes can help push them over the hump this year. A rotation of Macias-Ellis-Burgess-Goodship-Schaefer is one the Jersey ownership claims is Top-5 in the league and should help us to our first playoff berth this season.
Ruiz Swap
IF Antonio Ruiz is one of the only remaining players on the Jersey franchise since the inaugural draft of 2010. He was spending his 4th season in a Jersey uniform and earlier this season signed a very, very team friendly contract of 3 years and 1.98 million dollars. Coming off a season where he hit 20 HR, this came as a surprise to many folks to see him packing his bags, but today Jersey announce they have sent Ruiz to the Vista Panthers in exchange for 2 minor leaguers.
When GM Josh Swain was asked about why, he had this to say: "We have always like Mr. Ruiz in this organization. We thought he signed a great deal for us, but we had some reservations. While it rare to find a SS who can hit for 20+ HR, his batting average and OBP haven't been there over the past 2 seasons, which are two main components. With bringing in Burgess, we now have 5 starters who are considered ground ball pitchers, and while Ruiz can play the MI positions, his strengths lie at 1B and 3B, which are currently occupied by Doyle and Morrow. This combined with the fact we have a very, very good player in Alberto Perez who has been in AAA far too long without getting a shot, led to our decision to trade Antonio."
With Perez being demoted we can expect to see defensive specialist Marvin Taylor see time at SS against RHP and Adam Morrow being shifted to SS against LHP to allow Alberto Perez to play 3B. We are also pretty sure that the play of former 1st round pick Lawrence Schroeder in AAA this year gave some insurance in case of disaster or injury.
In exchange for Ruiz, the D-Bags receive 2 18 year old players. The 1st is SP Javier Garcia, whom Vista discovered and signed out of Mexico in 2013. He is a workhorse who throws 6 pitches, the best being his fastball. His movement is lacking in his game and Jersey plans on looking in and fiddling around with this in the offseason. The other player is 18 year old OF Miguel Rosa whom the Vista Panthers discovered and signed out of Cuba in 2013. Rosa is a speedy left hander who has 50+ SB in the last 2 seasons combined and projects with plus power. He is still very raw with the bat and glove, but at only 18 years old, there is plenty of time to see him progress.
Garcia Rosa
Hopefully these 2 trades will reap the rewards and turn out to be wise decisions for the D-Bags this season and beyond.
GO D-BAGS
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