GM Tropicana Shakes things up a bit in Seattle

SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER

Between 10:30 am and 11:30 pm, Seattle Sanguine GM tropicana changed the entire shape of the franchise.

The team looked to be headed towards a .500 record, with a very up and down season on the horizon. The offense was obviously an area of deep concern, with 4 hitters managing averages around the mendoza line, highlighted by Victor Olivares' anemic .180 average. With all four hitters forming the 4-7 part of the lineup, at times, Seattle's offense would become non-existent. Then came Saturday.

Tropicana made three huge trades, and together, they give the Sanguine a now scary lineup, while at the same time shoring up their bullpen.

The first deal was looked on with some curiosity, as the Sanguine dealt potential superstar arm Fritz Corino for two sluggers, David Coombs and minor leaguer Willie Chantres. While many looked on Coombs as someone with talent, most thought it wasn't enough return for Corino.

The last two deals set the Sanguine up to be contenders the rest of this season. In the first, Seattle sent possible late-season rotation candidate Al Caballero to Nashville for Apollo Griffin and Max Grebeck.

"Where we were dealing Corino for some depth, we sent out Caballero to give this team some much needed punch," tropicana said. "Griffin is going to provide Victor some protection in the lineup, and we're hoping that that will allow him to see some better pitches as Apollo asserts himself."

The final trade of the day sort of came out of nowhere, as new owner of Philly sickchangeup and tropicana had been talking on and off the whole evening and came up with a blockbuster of a deal. Though Seattle had to part with Billy Ray O'Donnell, a potential closer in the future, the return that the received was huge, netting Chris Knoblauch from Philly (giving them a legit closer), Richie Nicholson (who will provide another, solid middle of the lineup bat), and future ML reliever Branch Kerr, who will most likely slot in at AA.

"All in all, the third trade, the one with Philly, that was the one that just might put this team over the top," tropicana said. "Nicholson will be a great contributor for us this season, and should slot into our into our outfield, providing us both with better defense as well as more offense."

"The key really was Knoblauch, which I told everyone in our organization and sickchangeup, as well," tropicana continued. "We needed him to shore up our bullpen, which was our new biggest weakness, and I told him I was pretty much willing to give him whatever to make the deal work. Billy Ray, though we liked him a lot, was what he settled on."

Knoblauch will almost certainly take over the closer's role from Brent Portugal, who though he was 7 for 7 in save opportunities, had been shaky at times.