Maybe my outfield needs a nickname.
Cutch and the Cuban Corners?
Perhaps that will work.
Or, I could just rename my team. If Choo can name his whole team after one player, I can surely rename my team after two players.
How about "Slamma Havana?" Or "Defector Gadget?"
That could work, but I doubt I'd change the name of such a storied franchise.
Parker just laughed, and perhaps choked on a drink, if he was taking a sip during that last sentence.
But, if I can win a fourth World Series this season, it won't be a laughing matter for Parker anymore.
To do that, I'm putting my faith in a pair of corner outfielders who escaped Cuba to play Major League Baseball.
Yasiel Puig was a huge success for me last season, and now, I'm dipping back into the Cuban pool to add Yoenis Cespedes.
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| Kris Medlen is on the move from the Slammers to ERA. |
In a separate deal on Saturday, the Slammers traded Domonic Brown and the sixth pick in the 11th round to Philly Cheese Steaks for the first pick in the 11th round.
First, let's talk about the latter trade. The Cheese Steaks picked up a young left fielder, a position that was on his offseason wishlist.
So far this offseason, with a strong pitching rotation already in tact, the Cheese Steaks have upgraded catcher, right field and left field, while scoring three minor leaguers — well, technically four, considering Brown's status, but he'll likely be kept as a normal, everyday starter.
It's a good start for Philly Cheese, and if he can put together a good draft, he can be in contention this season. Anyone with that rotation core would be.
And his upgrades in the offseason did not cost him much. He dropped seven spots in the first round and six spots in the 11th to add six keepers. Not bad.
Steroid.ERA has added just a few more players this offseason as he, too, works through a rebuilding process. He added three more players on Saturday, acquiring Pence, Medlen and Skaggs.
Skaggs was a member of Steroid.ERA last season and was a minor throw-in to the Cliff Lee-Zack Wheeler deal before the 2013 trade deadline. Now he returns to ERA as he begins his first season as an Angel. He'll likely be in their rotation, and ERA is hoping he'll pitch much better than he did in Arizona.
But Skaggs, as he has been in the past, wasn't the big part of the deal. For ERA, getting Medlen and Pence was huge. It did cost him Cespedes, but Pence's batting average was 43 points higher (.283), home runs were one higher (27) and RBIs were 19 higher (99). Pence should duplicate those numbers this year.
Even still, Medlen is possibly the best part of this deal. Medlen is a year removed from his amazing 2012 run, and it's not like his 2013 was a bad year. He went 15-12 with a 3.11 ERA. It was a solid follow-up to 2012, but it was under-the-radar because it wasn't the crazy 9-0 stretch that he put together in 12 starts late in 2012.
For me, it was tough giving up Medlen because I truly believe he's one of the better pitchers in the game. He has been tabbed as the next Greg Maddux, so we'll have to wait and see if he can continue to progress in that direction.
If he does, ERA has himself a helluva pitcher. ... Or, whoever he trades him to.
Cespedes also has great upside, which is why I made the deal. He's come into camp with an extra 15 pounds of muscle and a shorter swing, a similar approach helped Brown turn it around in Philly.
That, of course, is what I'm looking for from Cespedes. A turn-around.
But unlike Brown, it's not as if Cespedes is out there to prove himself. He's done it already. He just had a sophomore slump after finishing second in the Rookie of the Year voting in 2012. If he can pull his average up from an awful .240 in 2013 to something close to the .292 he posted as a rookie, I'll take it.
We started to finally see it late in 2013 when he batted .314 over the final month, posting 27 hits, including six homers and 19 RBIs. That continued in the playoffs against a tough Tigers pitching staff where he batted .409.
For me, the sophomore slump ended in August. It's time to get ready for a big 2014.
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