PVBL: Phoenix Gila Monsters
Phoenix Gila Monsters Finish Busy Offseason
March 1, 2000

Loss of Whiten, Alvarez, Galaragga, aquisition of Hunter, Watson highlight off-season

Phoenix(AP) - Manager and GM Patrick Bridges has announced the new starting lineup for the Phoenix Gila Monsters today, after finishing a busy winter offseason of trading. After losing LHP Wilson Alvarez to free agency, shoring up the pitching staff was the Monster's chief concern. That was addressed by sending RF/1B Mark Whiten to Tampa Bay, along with several amatuer draft picks, for LHP Allen Watson.

Bridges still wasn't done. Apparently unsatisfied with something in the excellent Phoenix lineup, Bridges traded aging star 1B Andres Galaragga to the up-and-coming Sacremento River Otters for OF Brian L. Hunter. "We wanted another leadoff-style hitter that I could put in front of Derek Jeter at the top of the lineup. Hunter has excellent speed, and good bat control. He should score lots of runs ahead of Derek's excellent bat. He also makes our team a good deal younger, and provides us with a lot of defensive flexibility."

Phoenix now has set their lineup for the upcoming season. The most notable change is moving LF David Justice to 3B. Paul Konerko, who struggled last season fielding 3B, but improved in the offseason, will start the season at 1B. Chili Davis moves to DH and Brian Hunter to left field to complete Phoenix's defense. Bridges' only comment about this was: "We plan on giving Paul another shot at 3B soon, but for the moment we're going to put David at 3B. It would be a waste not to put Brian in the outfield, and he plays left field very well. Chili said he wouldn't mind the extra rest as DH. He can't move as fast as he used to, but he can still swing the bat."

The announced Phoenix hitting and pitching lineup is as follows:
POS Name                 CH  PH  SP   FA  AS
 LF Hunter, Brian L.     61  57  76   68  53
 SS Jeter, Derek         96  66  63   74  59
 RF Mondesi, Raul        67  99  67   53  99
  C Rodriguez, Ivan      71  99  52   61  99
 3B Justice, Dave        69  91  51   60  66
 1B Konerko, Paul        67  90  37   66  49
 DH Davis, Chili         60  75  23   --  --
 2B Gonzalez, Alex       54  85  61   71  86
 CF Stewart, Shannon     55  60  65   68  68

Starters
 T  Name                 AS  EN  CO  HR   FB  CU  SI  SL  CB     FA   
 R  Reynolds, Shane      58  83  99  66   63   0  84   0  80     60  
 R  Astacio, Pedro       64  80  95  70    0  57  62  50  79     59  
 L  Watson, Allen        80  84  99  54   58  48   0  35  75     54  
 L  Avery, Steve         79  71  99  75   80  44   0  44  60     60  
 R  Park, Chan Ho        90  63  48  96   78  31   0  42  57     63  

Long Relief
 L  Swindell, Greg       51  52  70   5   89  47  61  68   0     49  

Middle Relief                                   
 R  Nelson, Jeff         76  33  58  35   49   0   0  97   0     51  
 R  Holmes, Darren       67  42  67  55   34   0  61   0  74     48  

Setup
 R  Jones, Todd          71  38  45  68   61  33   0   0  47     53  
 L  Daal, Omar           72  30  90  90    0   0  57   0  72     59  

Closer
 R  Nen, Robb            89  30  99  84   88   0   0  35  66     54  


--written by Patrick Bridges