Trade: Seattle and Covington

Seattle and Covington engaged in what REALLY was the first trade of the offseason (see Transaction Page) when Seattle sent Gene Icenhour and Curtis Barksdale to Covington in exchange for Isaac Diehl and Richard "Crazylegs" Shipp.

Icenhour posted a 2.92 ERA last year, but that apparently wasn't enough for Seattle General Manager Mack Shultz. "He was 7-10 last year. How do you have a losing record with a sub-3.00 ERA and our offense? Frankly, we think he dogged it when it counted. That start against River Cities in the Cecil Cup clinched it for us. He's just not a big game guy."

Icenhour spent just one season in Seattle, coming over last offseason for a package of players highlighted by Scott Mayhew, who suffered a career ending injury. "Thank the gods," said Icenhour when reached for comment. "Do you know what Seattle's like with all those uptight caffeine-fueled yuppies?" When advised of Shultz's comments, Icenhour quickly retorted. "I'm not a big game guy? I'm not the GM of a team that's lost THREE Cecil Cups. I think the failure starts at the top, and you can quote me on that."

Barksdale is a promising middle reliever who had come over in a deal from Saskatchewan in the middle of last year. "I got traded again? Crap, I just got my apartment arranged the way I like," said Barksdale.

Diehl and Shipp apparently favored the deal. "Do you know we were in single A ball last year?" said Diehl. "All damn year."

"At least Seattle pushes it's young players up to the major league level," raved Shipp. "Look at Hester, Armendariz, Machen, Maclin. They let young players play. We're fired up to go there and start moving our careers along."

The trade gives the defending Adams League champs an astounding eight of the top twenty prospects, as ranked by Baseball America, including six starting pitchers. Can Seattle possibly be planning to keep all of these young stud pitchers, or will some be moved to acquire the outfield pop that may have kept them from winning the Cup last year? Only time will tell.