Trade: River Cities and Saskatoon

Dateline: Marietta, Ohio

In what may be the final deal before the deadline River Cities has made a bold move, breaking off their traditional refusal to deal prospects and picks to acquire standout third sacker Ronald Quijada from Saskatoon, along with minor league shortstop Matthew Rodrigues and Saskatoon's 2nd round pick in the upcoming draft in exhange for River Cities prospects OF Edward Boothe, who'd just broken into the majors, minor league OF Rufus Murray, recently acquired minor league 3B Telmo Dalmau, 1B prospect Kenneth Dolezal, minor league reliever Danny Bronner, and River Cities 3rd round pick.

Seven players and two picks changing hands makes this one of the larger deals in league history.

"Obviously, we're very pleased to get a player like Ronald Quijada for the team" said River Cities owner Nate Wooley. "It's not often an opportunity to acquire a player of his worth. At 25 and with his potential it's a no-brainer to make the deal. Yes, we'll miss Telmo, even though he'd been with us only a few months, but with Palacio at 2B, Hukill at SS, and Quijada at 3B there'd be no place to play him for years to come. Now we have to work on signing Quijada long term. He's still got one more arbitration year but we want to get the deal done quickly, if possible."

"Reached at his apartment near the air field in Dayton Dalmau told this reporter, "Eh, it's not like I was fitting in here. It's been less than three months since I was dealt to this miserable, late-voting place. I hope Saskatoon is friendlier. Plus, there's a chance I could get to play up there this year, depending on how things go!"

Covington (Cleveland) grabs another prospect...this time from Houston

Covington (Cleveland) has picked up Houston's #1 rated prospect, under performing SS Carlos Gomez. Carlos was overheard saying that he hated the heat in Houston and was never going to play well enough to make the big league team. After the trade he said, "I like Cleveland much better, it reminds me more of my home country of Puerto Rico." Carlos will start off in Amsterdam playing for the AA Dutch Ovens, but hopes to move up to the AAA franchise in Mexico City soon. He was the #2 overall selection back in 2007 but has never lived up under the pressure of being such a coveted pick.

Steamers GM Jeremy Goldman thinks that Gomez will shine in his new home and thinks he has the chance to be the next 30/30 man if he ever reaches the majors. "This now makes 3 Carlos' in the organization that play SS. They say good things come in threes," said the GM from his Atlanta double-wide. Jeremy also likes the $500,000 that is accompanying Gomez in the deal.

In return, the Armadillos receive SP Steve Foland from the AAA Mexico City Dirty Sanchez ball team and one of Covington's 4th round picks in next year's draft.

Seattle-Danville Trade, Part III

July 22, 2011 SEATTLE (AP):

Seattle and Danville today agreed to their third trade of the year, as Seattle sent coveted minor league closer Steven Mattice and a seventh round pick in next year's draft to Danville in exchange for former Monarch Paulino Zamorano. Zamorano, a power-hitting centerfielder, will be a free agent at year's end and was widely quoted as saying that he would never sign an extension with Danville.

"We brought Paulino back into the Monarch family today to give us depth and flexibility as we approach the playoffs," explained Owner/General Manager Mack Shultz. "We hope to persuade him to sign an extension with us, but we'll just have to see what his demands are. We know what he can do, as he was a more than capable hitter for us from 2004 until we traded him to Danville in July 2008."

Zamorano was part of a huge mid-year trade in 2008 that sent closer Pedro Morales and power-hitting prospect Juan Guzman to Danville in exchange for, among others, outfielder Armando Cedeno and starting pitcher Isidro Frau.

Zamorano could not be reached for comment but his agent, Will Bilkum, expressed skepticism about his client's willingness to sign an extension with the Monarchs. "Paulino wasn't happy there before. He showed in Danville that he is an All-Star centerfielder when given playing time and he's not going to be happy backing up again. Plus, we want a [truck]load of money"

Mattice was the Monarchs' third round pick in the most recent draft but had struggled while posting a 5.09 ERA with the Kent Kings.

Individual Records Under Assault

We're just past the halfway mark, and here are some of the individual records most at risk of being broken this year:

Adams League
Batting Average: Roberto Cesarez, .365, 2004 (Waylon Blassingame is at .372)
RBI: Brian Frison, 150, 2010 (Frison is on pace for 160)
Wins: Demarcus Ramirez, 28, 2009 (Chad Nelligan is on pace for 31)
Saves: Norman Fuentes, 45, 2010 (Timothy Vallejo is on pace for 53)

Zotti League
RBI: Patrick Valdes, 138, 2009 (Valdes is on pace for 143 and Timothy Palacio for 140)
Hits: Anton Suarez, 220, 2009 (Suarez is on pace for 227 and Duane Gerhardt for 226)
2B: Gerald Bowers, 49, 2003 (Gerhardt is on pace for 55)
3B: Joel Valenti, 18, 2004 (Gerhardt is on pace for 19)
Runs: Frank Nunn, 141, 2004 (Gerhardt is on pace for 143)

The End of a Fine Career

by I. M. Hack

The baseball world is a bit poorer with the recent career-ending injury to fire-balling right-hander Vernon Larry.

Who could forget the five memorable years that Larry spent as the ace of the Hickory Huskers pitching staff? He held that team together during it's early years, pitching his heart out for the new expansion team. Larry remembers how it all began.

"There I was, pitching for the Truth or Consequences Martindales out in New Mexico when Zev Steinhardt approached me about signing up with his expanding league. He wanted me to throw for him in a tryout before the game, but I couldn't because the team policy was that pitchers who weren't pitching that day had to sell beer and peanuts in the stands. But after the game, I was able to throw for Mr. Steinhardt. He watched me throw for about ten minutes and said to me 'Son, how'd you like to go to Hickory?'"

And that's how it began for the right-hander. He anchored the Hickory staff for five years, from 2004 to 2008 where he compiled 39 victories. He set league records, some of which still stand today. Before the 2009 season began, Larry was acquired by Denver in a four player deal. He provided some valuable contributions to Denver's effort in 2009, including winning six games.

Never one to be content with sitting on his laurels, Larry signed a two-year contract with the Brooklyn Wolves before the 2010 season. Unfortunately, fate conspired against Larry and he ended up in the minor leagues for most of the 2010 campaign. A poor spring showing caused him to end up in the minors again in 2011.

"I was sorry to see him go to the minors," said team owner Zev Steinhardt. "In fact, I feel partly responsible for his torn rotator cuff. When [Charles] Midgett injured himself, he was one of the candidates to replace him on the staff. In the end, however, we went ahead and signed Dane Vos. If we brought him up, who knows, he might not have torn his cuff in that game."

Unfortunately for Larry and the baseball world, the injury is just too extensive to treat, even with radical surgery. "We considered the surgery," said Dr. Frankensteen, "but then we wondered 'what would happen if we did the surgery and Larry returned to pitching?' We decided that the risk was too great that he'd pitch again, so we declined and advised him to retire."

And so, one of the stars of the game is now gone. Who knows what great things Larry could have done if he had another five years to pitch. But the fates have conspired against us to rob us of one of the greats. Now, he's gone onto baseball history. All that's left now is for the Hall of Fame voters to recognize his greatness.

Trade deadline: A proposal

Not necessarily inspired by Luis Jeon's recent injury, I suggested the following to Zev, and he asked me to poll the other owners. So, guys, tell me what you think of this proposal:

If the sim that encompasses the July 31st trade deadline is due to begin more than one week before the 31st (on or before July 24th), then that sim will be for less than two weeks, and will end on the morning of the 31st, allowing one last day for player trades. The following sim, and all remaining sims during the regular season, will be for the normal two-week period.

If the sim is scheduled to begin on or after July 25th, it will be for the normal two-week period.

I know we're a trade-happy league, so I'm hoping I have support for this. Zev has told me that he would enact this proposal this season (since the next sim starts on the 22nd) if a majority of the owners agree.

Sim 8: Who Uploaded?

Seattle
River cities
Los Angeles
New York
Covington
Walla Walla
Saskatoon

Remember, the trading deadline is the next sim.