SELLER DWELLERS: Knights Put Matsui, Others on Block

(New York Daily Mirror - June 20, 2008)

NEW YORK - With the 2008 season over before it began, Knights management has begun to look to 2009. And many current Knights apparently don't fit into the Knights future plans.

According to a press release issued by the Knights this morning, the organization is officially advising NASBL Commissioner Steve Beard and the other NASBL franchises that the team is willing to listen to trade offers for the following players.

OF/DH - Hideki Matsui
1b - Adam LaRoche
OF - Xavier Nady
IF/OF - Billy Hall
P - Dontrelle Willis

The release further advised that other than closer and '07 Less Filling ROY Takashi Saito, the team is also willing to discuss a trade for any relief pitcher on the team.

From a team policy perspective, it is somewhat surprising for GM Mitch Pak to announce that the team would be sellers; official team policy since 2005 has been to build through the draft. But the team's disappointing follow-up to a successful 2007 season has obviously demonstrated to Pak and Knights brass that the team has more needs than can reasonably be filled in a single draft. Additionally, pressure from the New York media and Knights fans for immediate change has also contributed to the surprise move.

It is somewhat surprising to find Hideki Matsui on the expendable list. Matsui has been a powerful presence in the Knights lineup since the team drafted him in the third round of the 2004 draft. In 2005, he hit 47 homers and batted .311, and in 2007, he hit .370 in an injury-shortened season. It is also surprising that mega-bust P Barry Zito is not on the list; however, as one anonymous Knights official put it, "what can we expect to get for him at this point? We might as well hang on to him and see if he ever straightens himself out. Besides, we gave up a lot to get him and we don't want him to go somewhere else, get healthy and come back to murder us."