Thunder Bay makes major trade with Deadwood August 14, 1998
The Thunder Bay Storm and Deadwood Outlaws have made a trade for the
second time this season. This one, though, is much bigger than the last.
The Storm has acquired Javy Lopez, Al Martin, Mark Clark, Tim Baldwin
and Deadwood's 1st round Free agent draft pick. Thunder Bay did have to
give up two big names for the smorgasbord of players, pitcher Denny
Neagle, who is definately not playing the kind of baseball he should be,
and Bernie Williams.
Due to communication problems with interim commissioner Randy Reese, it
is unknown when the deal will be completed. However it shouldn't be much
of a problem.
Thunder Bay owner Jesse Gouldson was quite pleased with the trade. "With
Jeff Reed on the DL for the rest of the season and starting to get a
little older it was easy to see that we needed a catcher. We were
prepared to ride out the rest of the season with Tyler Houston behind
the plate but getting Javy Lopez is great for us. I'd have to say that
he was the key to the deal for our club."
The Storm is currently in a race for last in the PVBL, they are ahead of
the Tampa Bay Mets in the battle of the T-Bay's and are catching up with
the aptly named Chicago Hoersts. (Just say the word 'Hoerst'. It ain't
too pretty.) The so-called winner of this race will be rewarded with the
1st overall pick in the Free Agent Draft. "Now we should be able to get
at least 2 decent players in the draft and fill the holes that need to
be dealt with." said Gouldson.
No real decision has been made whether Al Martin will play in left field
or at shortstop, but either way he will have a permanent spot in the
lineup. "Al Martin and Lopez will give us a way to evenly distribute
hitting throughout our lineup. Right now there are a few weak spots that
haven't been producing much but I'll just leave that up to Pete."
Gouldson said, refering to manager Pete Mackanin.
Mark Clark probably won't be on the active roster this season but there
is still a possibility. Adding Clark gives the Storm a very impressive
list of minor league pitching propsects inculding Clark, Santo Blade,
Lee Sosa, Duncan Courteney, Charlie Blasingame and Matt Matei. "Since we
have a young and plentiful group of pitching prospects leistening to
trades for them is definately not out of the question. I'm not syaing
we're looking to trade them but they are available." Gouldson said.
There really aren't any plans yet for minor leaguer Tim Baldwin, as Dean
Palmer is returning soon and he has Wade Boggs as a back up.
The press in Thunder Bay has been very quiet and there hasn't been too
much written about them yet. Many say the press room is too small and
confined as well as a safety hazard as two writers have tripped on
electrical wires and broken bones. Others just don't show up because
they don't like the food being served there. Everyone seemed to have an
excuse but now a new press conference room has been built and opened so
expect more coverage of the team.
TRADEWINDS
As the Storm winds down the regular season everyone is looking towards
next season. The following players are available for trade. I'm not
looking for anything in particular but I do favour pitching slighty.
C Jeff Reed
C Tyler Houston
2B Carlos Baerga
LF Mart Murphy
3B Luis Salazar
LHP Fernando Valenzuela
RHP Billy Cary
RHP Doug Drabek
RHP Scott Kamieniecki
And any of the my pitching prospects but chances are I'll only deal one.
A few people have asked about Kevin Brown. It would have to be a really,
really good deal.
