If you tried to follow every lead generated since the Oklahoma City Kingfishers announced SP Ron Moran was on the trading block, you likely got dizzy. Though the offers trickled in at first, GM Sour Surfer now claims, "We have received interest from 8 or 9 teams. Varying levels of interest of course, but interest nonetheless. In terms of formal offers, 6 different teams submitted something."Why so much interest? It's rare an SP of Moran's quality and youth is made available, and teams don't want to miss the opportunity. In Season 1, Moran was 20-11 with a 2.89 ERA, the boneified ace of the OKC staff. He was a Cy Young award nominee, though he did not win the honor.
"We didn't make him available out of desperation, just practically," said Sour Surfer, whose team is 3rd in the competitive NL West with a 26-23 record. "We're 3rd league-wide in ERA and 31st in AVG. We lack balance, so that's why it makes sense for us." The Kingfishers play in a pitchers' park which probably has something to do with the lack of production from their lineup, but it is also not hard to spot the easy outs in their lineup.
Our sources indicate only 3 teams remain frontrunners in getting a deal done. The Line on Mendoza will have all the juicy details if and when a trade is finalized.
Sluggers, Kingfishers finalize deal: After a slow and deliberate process, the Kingfishers finally found a package they liked for SP Ron Moran. It ended up being a much larger deal than the Kingfishers antcipated going in, but both sides seemed pleased.
The Kingfishers packaged SP Ron Moran, SS Earl Cust, and minor-league SS Vic Fernandez to get 1B Charlie Freeman, SP Vasco Megias, and minor-league SS Iago Randa. Freeman was the centerpiece of the deal for the Kingfishers, as the 23-year-old completes a fearsome heart of the order for them with LF Sal Knight and 3B Magglio De La Vega already in place. Megias and Randa were mostly brought in to replace departing pieces from the trade.
The Sluggers were able to snag Moran, a pitcher who garnished a large chunk of interest on the market, but they also got an everyday SS in Cust. After they lost their starting SS, Jose Maduro, to forearm nerve irritation for 3-4 months, GM bdixon felt importing a new one during this deal just made sense.
Fernandez and Randa are both major league potential, with Fernandez being an offensive player and Randa flashing his glove whenever possible. It will be interesting to see what kind of impact these two footnotes of this blockbuster will have someday.
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