Seattle Owner/GM Mack Shultz had a tear in his eye as he announced the Monarchs' latest trade, a deal that sent long-time third baseman Eugene Alustiza to the Danville Dans in exchange for two pitching prospects, starter Juan Morrales and closer Mike Campbell.
"Eugene has been a key part of six championships over his eight years with the franchise. We picked him second overall in the 2008 draft, ironically enough with a pick we acquired from Danville in another trade, and he's been part of the Monarchs' family ever since. We're going to miss him."
Alustiza was second on the team last year in batting average and home runs and third in RBI. He's a lifetime .299/.398/.491 hitter. In the playoffs last year, he got even hotter, putting up a .325/.449/.525 line, scoring 11 runs in 10 games. But, Seattle executives have turned their eyes to rookie third baseman Gregorio Reyna who hit .315 in his rookie campaign.
"We hate to let these long-time cornerstones go, and we fully expect to hear it from the fans on this one, but sometimes you just have to bite the bullet and make a move," said Shultz. "We like the arms on the two kids we got and hopefully they'll be able to help us going forward."
Will the Monarchs use the extra salary room created by this deal to step more heavily into free agent waters? After all, the only signing so far has been a low-dollar deal for first baseman Juan Guzman. Time will tell.
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