PVBL: Hartford Whalers
Hartford nabs 3B, sends away pitching
April 6, 1998

The Hartford Whalers completed a trade today with the Springfield Atoms that will send 3B Matt Williams to Hartford in return for pitching prospects, Livan Hernandez and Dan Consedine.

3B Matt Williams 64-88-34 53/89, age 29

Of the trade Manager Jeremy Chrabascz said, "We've been searching high and low for a quality third baseman to replace the departed Scott Brosius and we've found someone even better. Everyone in Hartford is very excited about this acquisition. Although Livan and Dan will never suit up for us they were gifts to us anyway. We had a lot of interest from around the league in Livan but this offer best filled our need for a solid everyday third baseman with All-Star potential."

When asked about his new lineup and if Hartford would be doing any more trading, Chrabascz replied, "I doubt it. We had a need and we filled it. We lost some pitching but we also replaced that (referring to the recent acqusition of young pitchers Cunanane and Boehringer). In fact, to be honest, I think we have a more potent offense than we did last season and, well, we all know what we did last season. Hell, we won a ton of low scoring games. We don't need to do that anymore and our pitching staff hasn't changed too much either. I think we're a better team overall. People can disagree with me but I think Socks is our leadoff man for years to come, Bell is better overall than Whiten, Williams is better than Brosius and Stanley is themost consistent catcher to come our way since our inception. I like our chances...a LOT."

But before departing, Chrabascz slipped in, "But you never know if we're TRULY done trading...we've always got SOMEthing up our sleeve, don't we?"

The NEW projected lineup for the Whalers will be:

LF Socks Byrne      59-51-58
RF Derek Bell       55-69-65
CF Ken Griffey, Jr. 65-99-60
1B Rafael Palmiero  60-90-52
DH Joe Carter       50-77-51
3B Matt Williams    64-88-34
2B Randy Velarde    58-51-50
SS Kurt Abbott      46-78-54
C  Mike Stanley     53-75-40


The new pitching rotation remains a mystery for the moment...we'll keep you posted.

--written by Jeremy Chrabascz