PVBL: Hartford Whalers
Whalers busy on the wire
August 10, 1997

Hartford (AP)- In a weekend that saw three members of the Hartford Whalers organization released, it also saw 8 free agents signed. 7 of the 8 free agent acquisitions over the course of this weekend were pitchers.

Here's the breakdown:

RELEASED: C John Marzano, C Bobby Blanco and LF Vince Coleman
SIGNED TO AAA: 2B Luis Sojo, RHP Wayne Eayrs and LHP Butch Henry
SIGNED TO LOW MINORS: RHP Andre Hacker, RHP Billy Dietzel, RHP Ernie Hammer, LHP Bill Wallace, and RHP Fred Fletcher

-7 of the 10 players currently signed to Hartford's LOW minors are now pitchers.
-All 5 of the LOW pitchers acquired are 25 or under.
-Butch Henry returns to the organization he played with early on in the season.

Here are some numbers on the prospects: 
      Name            AS   EN   CO   AGE   EXP
RHP   Andre Hacker    55   70   49   25    2
RHP   Billy Dietzel   37   48   50   22    1
RHP   Ernie Hammer    36   33   52   23    2
LHP   Bill Wallace    29   17   54   23    2
RHP   Fred Fletcher   34   53   53   25    4 (Has four pitches too)

Of the weekend's activities, Manager Chrabascz said, "Well, we desperately needed some youth and a good shot in the arm as many have been kind enough to point out to us. The guys we released certainly weren't young nor were they productive. The guys we got have great potential. We focused on pitching because Hartford feels that pitching wins championships. Of the 7 pitchers we just picked up, 5 of them are 25 or younger and all of them have great control and overall potential-they'll all be assets. Looking down the stretch run we wanted depth and we got it." 'Nuff said.

--written by Jeremy Chrabascz