Montreal 12/17/2013
In a recent visit in
Montreal, Montreal GM approach Las Vegas GM and inquire about Maurice Gould
availability. I was a secret for no one, that Las Vegas was going nowhere
this season. The three game swept in Montreal might have convince Las Vegas
GM that maybe it was the time to rebuilt their home.
Meanwhile, in Montreal,
we missed the playoff for the first time last year, and it was important to put
a winning team in Town. After our first 2 titles, our band rivalry
"THE OUTLAWS", steal the last three titles. This is when I said
that somebody need to step up to stop them, or at least try, because they've
got a fine-tune baseball machine.
So it starts in the
off-season in Montreal, with the acquisition of Johnny "sweetness"
Tiller, who after an unsuccessful try as a starter, didn't give a point and
only 1 hit in his last 8 appearance on the mount as a closer, where he belongs,
I guess.
The Bandits also
acquired 38 years old, Georges Sanders, who is hitting .331 with an OPS of .958
and 5.5 WAR, as well as 43 years old, MR Del Hubble who is posting an 5.54 era
in Montreal
Meanwhile, several young
kids made it to the big league in the last 2 years, Lou Latulippe, Doug Walsh,
Ramon Castoneda, Alvin Baldwin, Valentin Alvarado, Thomas Gonzalez, and Kinnosuke
Sato....
However, since the
departure of Raul Perez, we were missing a true ACE, and we felt that this
year, we had a small chance to bug the champion. We know we have an
offense to compete against the Outlaws, we definitively address our bullpen issues
with the arrival Tiller, Hubble and the development of Castoneda and Perez,
even thought it is now 11th in the league, moving back Tiller at the Closer and
with Barrett coming up, this is a clear upgrade. Finally our starters are
rank 6th in the RCL, it could just improve now with Gould in Montreal.
As expected, the cost to
acquire the Gouldenboy was high. We hate to let Latulippe go. He's
a future premium SP starter and will become very good. Same thing with
Masaki Baba, this guy is a very good hitter. Finally Alvarado was very
promising. However, we have draft several SP in the last few years, Jesus
Feliciano and Bruce Lowe (13th prospect overall in the league) will assure the
SP future in the big league. Baba will be missed, but some kids are just
waiting for some playing time (Davis and Allen), and we still have an all-stars
outfield with Chris Collins, Tim Raines and Li-Chi Au. With the arrival
of Georges Sanders, he is replacing Baba at the DH position, and we have few
infielders ready to go at the 2B position (Pennington, Trujillo and
Kountoudaras)
We send away a lot of
our future, for a chance to compete now, I think in the next 2 or 3 years, this
transaction will be ok, however, in few years from now we might regret
it. However, believe me our fan our estactic about the acquisition of
Maurice. Maurice is a popular name in Montreal, one that bring a lot of
success to the city, referring to Maurice "the Rocket" Richard.
So it was not a surprise to anyone, when GM showed up the #9 for the
Gouldenboy. When talking to the GM, Maurice said "there is one
thing I have not done in the ABL is to win a Championship, and trust me I am
extremely motivated, and very happy to be here, we were going nowhere with the
Jokers this season, and I think it was the right move for everybody.
Also don't forget Rich
Barrett, we like what this guy can bring to the table in the bullpen or as a
starter
Will this move be enough
to shake the Outlaws powerhouse...who also recently send away some of their future
to acquire Bussell. Only time will tell, however, if they are getting
better, while ranking 1st in this division, it is not by watching them kill
everybody that we will beat them. So we have decide to move and try.
As you imagine the
biggest deal in the ABL history made a splash in the league. We will see
if it will have some effects on other teams.
