Washington trades Sheffield for Johnson August 31, 1998
(AP) In a wildly unexpected move yesterday, the Washington Sea Dogs dealt
starting right fielder Gary Sheffield, utility player F. P. Santangelo,
and their 3rd pick in the amateur draft to the Anchorage Abominations for
centerfielder Lance Johnson.
"We believe Lance Johnson is the final piece to the puzzle for us to win
the World Series," Washington GM Aaron Weiner said. "We have long
stressed our team on speed, defense and contact hitting, and in Lance
Johnson, we recieved one of the best at all of these things."
Johnson, who with a .382 OBA and 62 steals was arguably the EL's best
leadoff hitter before coming over to the VL. He was hitting .307 with 55
extra-base hits including ten homers.
"Johnson may have been the only player at baseball who could have
displaced Chuck Knoblauch at the leadoff spot, and will do so with
relative ease," Weiner said. "He's immensely fast and swings a very
productive bat."
Sheffield, the Sea Dogs' cleanup hitter, had been close to an MVP season
last year, but was struggling this year, with only 16 homers and a .262
batting average.
"We were sort of disheartened with Sheffield, even despite signs that he
was picking up his game," Weiner said. "When we traded...for Sheffield,
we expected the man who was close to being last year's EL MVP. Today, we
have acquired him for the man who might have been this year's EL MVP."
Washington now has questions at the cleanup spot in the lineup, as despite
his erratic production, Sheffield did present a formidable figure in the
middle of the lineup.
"We're going to miss Sheffield's presence in the lineup, that's certain,"
Weiner said. "But we're going to move Harold Baines to the cleanup spot
against righties, and hope that Mike STanley can pick it up against
lefties. If he can't, we'll see what we can do about it."
However, Weiner said that he was far from worried about the Sea Dogs'
production.
"With three guys like Johnson, Knoblauch and Larkin at the top of the
order, it'll be almost impossible not to be productive," Weiner said.
"With three guys that average 79 contact, 63 power and 82 speed as our 1-3
guys, it'll be nearly impossible not to score runs."
Notes and Quotes:
"I learned chemistry in high school, and promptly forgot it."
-GM Aaron Weiner
"How does Weiner get off trading away Gary like that? I mean, I know
Lance Johnson can play, but Gary was a great guy in the clubhouse. He'll
be missed."
-CF Ernie Young
When Manager Aaron Weiner went in to talk to the team, he was greeted with
a lot of questions about the trade. Mostly, it was about Sheffield's role
in the clubhouse.
Weiner answered the questions with a snappy one-liner: "Shut up and
simulate." :)
* * *
People who question this trade generally forget how the Sea Dogs score
runs.
"We're not a team that's built around power," Weiner said. "I mean,
we've never been blessed with a whole lot of it...we're big on scoring
runs the old-fashioned way. And we hit a lot of doubles anyway."
Indeed, despite having only the 11th-most homers in the league, Washington
is fourth in the league in runs scored, behind Spokane, Phoenix, Vero
Beach and Larimer.
"And you saw what we can do in Larimer's ballpark," Weiner said. "And if
we played in that Spokane bandbox, we'd average 10 runs a game."
* * *
With an enormous month of August, Mackenzee Leefenhaufenhauz has all but
completely secured the VL MVP.
"Big Mack has been our rock all year," Weiner said. "He's the best young
starter in the league, and he's just 19 years old...it's scary to think
what he'll be like in two or three years."
Leefenhaufenhauz has a 15-8 record, with a VL fifth-best 2.22 ERA. He is
also the second VL starter with 200 innings.
"We'll be resting Big Mack a lot this September, we hope," Weiner said.
"He's worked a lot of innings, and despite his unusual endurance, he could
probably use a rest."
* * *
Washington isn't yet sure who their franchise designation is going to be.
"A week ago, I would have said you'd be out of your mind if we were going
to leave Ben McDonald even slightly unprotected. But when we got Lance...
well, that may have changed."
Washington is still certain to take the 24-under FA plan, and two of their
protected slots are guaranteed to Knoblauch and Larkin. Washington has a
third protected slot as well, but after that, everyone is fair game,
including the so-called "Franchise" player.
"We'll just have to see what we can do about keeping all of these guys,"
Weiner said. "I'd hate to lose any of them."
Should either player be designated the franchise player and chosen, the
Sea Dogs would receive the team's #1 FA and #1 amateur picks. As the
teams that select players
Players who will be protected under the 1998 FA plan:
C Ben Petrick
3B Bill Mueller
LF Johnny Damon
CF Mickey Kelly
SP Shawn Estes
SP Mackenzee Leefenhaufenhauz
SP Chad Ogea
R/S Hank Gill
SP Buddy Moisan
RP Mike Baldwin
Protected players:
2B Knoblauch
SS Larkin
Johnson/McDonald
Franchise:
McDonald/Johnson
Unprotected notables:
C Mike Stanley
2B Mariano Duncan
RP Nigel Fernandez
SP John Burkett
RP Bobby Ayala
DH Harold Baines
