With their 12th deal of the offseason, the defending ARBA champion Surprise Zombies made their defense even more unlikely by trading away 2 more members of last year's major league roster. That brings the traded total up to 15 and very few of the rest are expected back.
This time, we bid a very fond farewell to relief ace Scot Shields. He had a great 4 years with us and will always hold a special place in my heart for getting the last out in that very tough World Series battle with Buda. Along with him goes Esteban "The Dark Prince" Loaiza, who came over from the hated SFE Gecko Lizards and went 18-3 in the regular season, but only had one IP in the playoffs. Believe it or not, Loaiza has won 3 straight ARBA championships. So I guess that means Washington has to be the favorite heading into next season!
After all that nonsense, here are the trade details. Surprise sends S. Shields, E. Loaiza, G. Sanchez, and W. Baez to WAS in exchange for WAS#1, WAS#2, and $150K. SFE still has more 1st round picks (5-4), but we're up to 9 in rounds 1 and 2. This should be fun!
I can't remember what my initial asking price was, but I'm satisfied with adding top half picks in the first 2 rounds along with a pile of cash. Ken may have gotten a discount for packaging Shields with Loaiza and a couple of my lesser prospects, but perhaps I was just eager to make a deal and move on with my life!
