PVBL: Washington Sea Dogs
McDonald comes to Washington
Febuary 11, 1998

"Do you know who we have on our team? I don't either."

That was the response of Washington Manager Aaron Weiner to the flurry of trades, including Todd Stottlemyre and eight other Sea Dogs this morning that brought RF Mark Whiten and starting pitcher Ben McDonald to the Sea Dogs.

The first deal was Stottlemyre to the Houston Hellraisers for young starter Carlos Castillo and the #5 pick in the upcoming free-agent draft. Washington GM Aaron Weiner explained what happened from there.

"Well, we've had our eyes on Ben McDonald ever since we entered the league last year," the GM said, "but we never dreamed we'd get him. But we started talking Whiten this morning, and the talks opened up to McDonald."

The deal for McDonald and Whiten included newly acquired outfielder Derek Bell, both former Hellraisers, Washington starter Mike Mimbs, newly acquired shortstop Jay Bell, and last year's starting left fielder Billy Hatcher.

"Maybe this is whacky to say right now, but this deal really sets us for the regular season," said the GM. "Whiten's going to be our everyday #5 hitter, and provides switch-hitting power in right field. McDonald will be our #2 starter, replacing the departed Todd Stottlemyre."

Weiner has officially announced that unless offers come in from teams for a huge slugger, they're likely done for the offseason.

"We've got our lineup now," the manager said.

Washington's lineup against righties: Washington's Rotation:

LF/1B Johnny Damon    LHP Chuck Finley
3B Bill Mueller       RHP Ben McDonald
2B Chuck Knoblauch    RHP Chad Ogea
SS Barry Larkin       LHP Shawn Estes
RF Mark Whiten        RHP Mack Leefenhaufenhauz
DH Terry Steinbach
1B/LF Matt Stairs
CF Ernie Young
C  Charles Johnson


"This deal might play some tricks with our bullpen, and certainly our bench," Weiner said, "and unless we can pick up one of the guys we're looking at in the draft, we're strongly leaning towards getting a good relief arm."

This deal does potentially threaten the depth of the Sea Dogs, but Weiner scoffed at those thoughts.

"We've got the best defensive shortstop in the league with Pokey Reese," Weiner said. "We're 5-deep in the outfield, we've got J. T. Snow and Russ Davis for the infield, Jason Kendall's not even playing. We had depth. Now we have great pitching, and we have the lefty bat we wanted.

"This could be a really great year in Washington."


Notes and Quotes:

The Sea Dogs have also announced their bench, outside the free-agent draft.

"On the bench will be Warren Newson, who was playing well until he got injured last year," Weiner said, "Rico Brogna, who improved his hitting dramatically, Pokey Reese, to provide solid defense anywhere on the field, Jason Kendall, who is likely to platoon with Johnny Damon at 1B, and Russ Davis, our young infielder with pop."

Washington is glad to see the Hellraisers have assembled a strong team for this year.

"Poor managerial work last year combined with mediocre pitching sunk the Hellraisers last year," Weiner said. "We're pleased that they have such a strong team now. They ought to give the Punxatawney Groundhogs a real race this year."

With Mimbs gone, the inside track for the long man now goes to Shawn Boskie or Hank Gill.

"Hank pitched somewhat better for us last year," Weiner said, "but Shawn's the veteran. We'll see how they face off in spring."

Weiner also mentioned that if the Sea Dogs were to draft a reliever in today's draft, they'd probably pick up Dan Consedine or Joe Hetrick.

"Both those youngsters would make a great addition to our pen," Weiner said. "We feel it would give us one of the best bullpens in the league."

The Sea Dogs have only two spots open in their bullpen, as the other four spots are filled by Nigel Fernandez, Bobby Ayala, Heinie Phillips and Fred Smith.

"We'd like another lefty, but it's not a necessity," Weiner said.

--written by Aaron Weiner