It's good news for air carriers, as Seattle and New York agreed to a five-player, one-draft-pick trade today. Heading east on non-stop flights for their new lives in the Big Apple are major league pitcher Seiji Masuda, top-50 pitching prospect Brian Harrington, and catching prospect Norman Bouchard. In return, Seattle acquires AA reliever Jesús Cruz, catching prospect Steven Broadbent, and New York's second-round pick in next March's amateur draft.
Seattle Owner/GM Mack Shultz explained the Monarchs' reasoning, such as it is, to the media. "Seiji's been a good soldier in the organization. He deserves a change to start in the major leagues, and he just wasn't going to get it here. Our rotation is too deep. We knew New York had a need in light of Jeff Shuttleworth's injury, and discussions ensued. We just worked it out from there."
In the deal, Seattle also sent away its second-best starting pitching prospect and a promising catcher. "We didn't want to deal Brian, because he has a world of promise, but we had to do what we had to do. We're excited to add a good reliever in Cruz and we're very excited about the power bat Broadbent is bringing. Everyone seems to be swimming in great young catchers, us included, but he looks to be a special talent."
Off the record, front office members in Seattle said that they were trying to reclaim the #1 team ranking for prospects. On the record though, all Shultz would say is,"In the end, we just didn't want to waste Seiji's prime as the seventh starter on our major league team. It's not fair to him."
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