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Montreal--Finally, the Montreal Royals' 5th man starter woes are over. They finalised a deal last night that brought a young lefty, Kirk Rueter, to Montreal from the Tuscon Border Patrol, in exchange for 22-year old Alex Ochoa.
The Royals are hoping the young pitcher will finally be the piece to the pitching puzzle this season. The Montreal Royals, formerly the United of Washington, D.C., had only 1 win in the 5th spot in all season. Terry MulhollandÊÊ was a major dissapointment, posting an ERA over 7 and acquiring only 1 win versus 8 losses. Mulholland, currently playing for the Augusta Trappers, the Royals' AAA affliate, will need to turn his career around at the age of 31 if he has any hopes of returning to the majors.
In desperation, they brought up Steve Kline. Kline impressed the opposition in the double-A minors with his powerful delivery. He reaches speeds over 90 mph, surprising considering he is only 5'8. His control, though, was eratic in the minors. He had walked on average 3 batters a game. His strikeout totals were impressive, and opposing batters had a .193 average against him. The Royals brought him up less than 2 weeks ago, but in two starts Kline did not fare much better than Mulholland. In both games, Kline continued to fall behind the count and unfortunatly the opposition profited from his every mistake. In his last start before being resent to the minors, he faced the Deadwood Outlaws in the rubbermatch game. Deadwood pounded the Royals, bringing them down to reality, and severely hurting their chances of getting back into contention.
"We really needed to win that game to show we were serious," commented Rusty Greer after the game. "The Outlaws showed us that we still have a long way to go 'till we can compete."
The Royals may have finally landed a pitcher who can win games. The GM and manager were busy last two days finalising the deal. Yesterday, Kirk Rueter packed his bags after hearing the news, to join his new team. "I'm excited. Very excited, " said Rueter. "I always believed that I would be staying with the Border Patrol for a long time, but an unexpected event isn't necessarily a bad one." Rueter will be joining former teammate Steve Cooke. They both played in the same starting rotation in single-A.
On the cellar-dwelling Border Patrol, Kirk Rueter posted a 3-1 record, despite an ERA over 6. He was the only starting pitcher on the team to have a winning record.
Kirk Rueter came at a price. The Royals had to give up a very promising young rightfielder, Alex Ochoa. Ochoa had gotten his chance to shine, replacing the injured Hal Morris. Before leaving to Tuscon, he elevated his batting average to .298, 30 points higher than his batting average only 10 days before. Most people expected Ochoa to replace Bobby Bonilla or Hal Morris in the future.
Written by Peter Carbonetto