Today, in a small move designed to add depth and youth to their team,
the Phoenix Gila Monsters aquired outfielder Angel Kaat from the Montreal
Royals for their 29th overall pick in today's free agent draft.
"This almost completes are moves for the trading season. We have
made one offer that we're still trying to work out by this afternoon
prior to the draft, but outside of that, I think we're about set.
Angel adds this last bit of hitting depth to our system that we were looking
for."
When asked about the Monster's outfield situation, Phoenix GM Patrick Bridges
had this to say, "Well, David Justice and Raul Mondesi are clearly starting
for us. Shannon Stewart, our recent aquisition from Sacremento, will be our
starting center fielder this year. We're debating moving Raul into the DH
position if one of our outfield prospects can step it up during spring training.
Even if that doesn't happen, we still have spots at DH and 1B that we have to
fill. At the moment, I'd guess that Pat Meares will be playing left for us,
with Stewart in Center and Justice in right. This leaves Mondesi at DH,
with the first base posoition open to whoever can win the job in spring
training. Of course, a lot depends on what happens in the last day of trading
and in the free agent draft."
About third base, Bridges had this to say: "As of right now, Todd Ziele is our
starting third baseman. He hit for power last year, did a great job fielding
a tough position, and was an anchor on the team that won our division. Still,
there has been some interest in Todd, and he might be traded. Were that to
happen, we'd obviously need a replacement 3B back, at until we can train a
better one. We're hoping that Bob Abreu can make the jump to third base,
and with his great arm, we feel he could be a good third baseman. He'll
probably have the year to work through this in AAA, even though he's a
future star on our team."
When asked about their recent emphasis on youth, namely the trades of
Amaral, Molitor, and McDowell, the Phoenix GM said, "Frankly, our
team was getting a touch old. In addition, We had a shallow farm system,
primarily due to poor draft positions because of our good record, and because
we're having to rush players to fill holes created by players such as Henry
Rodruigez signing with other teams. We feel that while our team has a shot
at the division title this year, we're not content with just that. We want to
win the Series, and doing that will require developing a truly powerhouse
team. We plan to do that with the francise players we already have,
namely Justice, Mondesi, and Reynolds, along with our great younger players and
prospects, like Stewart, Kaat, Abreu, Alvarez, Astacio, Park, and Gonzalez.
Players like Lansing, Meares, and Ziele provide us the stability, solidity,
depth, and experience necessary to win games and lead our younger players.
They're all valuable members of our team, and we're proud to have all of
them as Gila Monsters."
