Wheeling and Dealing

The Traffic have made a few trades in the last week.

1. The Traffic sent CF Gary Nelson and IF Miguel Cerveza to St. Louis for minor leaguers Butch Russell and Ted Kelly. Russell is a speedy RF who can also hit fairly well. Kelly is a defensive SS who will be useful as a defensive replacement if he can't win the SS job someday. GM gumbercules said, "We expect Gary to be a quality player in St. Louis and we thank Miguel for all he's done for this team. But we couldn't pass up a chance to grab a potential RF and SS of the future". The Traffic also save about $10 million this season and next by dealing Cerveza.

2. Later in the week, the Traffic dealt underachieving Alex Sanchez to Salt Lake City for minor leaguers Tito Harris and Joey Hartman. Harris is a durable corner OF/1B type player who could get called up when the rosters expand. He's got a good bat against lefties in particular. Hartman is a decent player across the board- his role on this team is in question. This may have been a deal in which the Traffic were motivated more by money (Sanchez is still owed $21.5 million over the next 3 1/2 seasons) than by getting the most talent back.

3. The Traffic then pulled off a blockbuster deal, dealing Sammy Garrido, Curtis Smart, and Tito Mercedes to Salem for dual aces David Dunwoody and Dwight Salmon. Dunwoody and Salmon split the Season 1 Cy Young Award and led Salem to a World Series title that season. They've been to a combined 9 All-Star games and have won a combined 206 games. GM gumbercules expects they'll become the aces the franchise has never had.