Whalers, AllKnighters Close to Agreement May 20, 1999
Hartford, CT (AP)- The Hartford Whalers are reportedly unloading their
future. Their future pitching staff anchors, that is. Youngsters Kevin
Millwood and Clint Faatz, according to GM Peter Gammons, are headed to Ann
Arbor in return for veterans David Wells and Jeff Kent. Of the trade,
Gammons had this to say, "Well, nothing has been signed as yet but an oral
agreement was reached yesterday with the Ann Arbor AllKnighters' owner,
Michael Kennedy. We'll be acquiring veteran righty David Wells and veteran
infielder Jeff Kent in return for Millwood and Faatz. It will really throw
our future in a spin but we were concerned with winning now, this year.
We're in a quest for our second world championship." Gammons answered
rumors about Hartford seeking a more powerful lift in, say, Albert Belle.
"Well," Gammons replied, "we were in the running for Canseco or Belle from
Houston. But we didn't want to bet the farm for one guy. We wanted a
fairer, more straight-up deal. Besides, Houston was only willing to trade
one of them and it seemed clear to me last night that Belle would be
heading to Vero Beach." In losing Millwood and Faatz are the Whalers
concerned about their future? "Not really," answered owner Jeremy
Chrabascz, "No one on our staff is ancient and we still have people like
Will Cunnane, John Hunter, Masato Yoshi, Hideki Irabu and Roy Hoffman
developing. Thankfully, most of our relievers could be starters. We're
comfortable with that. We've been more disappointed in our offense. But
with Kurt's (Abbott) returnt this week and, hopefully, Kent's addition we
should get a kick-start."
The McCoy Division has seen much activity in the last 24-48 hours as both
Deadwood and Hartford have been working the phones. Only a 1/2 game
separates the two teams and only 5 games separate the first-place Outlaws
from the last place Oil Kings. No one seems panicked other than Edmonton
which has been hit with the same injury bug the tanked Hartford last
season. "It's unfortunate," said Hartford Manager Kevin Kennedy of
Edmonton's luck, "The same thing happened to us last year. But even so,
the Kings are only 5 games out of first and 4 1/2 behind us. They're is no
reason to panick only to make adjustments. We're still the best division
in baseball."
