Sioux Shore Up for Stretch Run

Burlington, VT

The Vermont Fighting Sioux capped off a frenzied few days on the trade market early this morning by acquiring burnt-out reliever Cory Wade from Lake Champlain. Wade fits nicely into the last but least category, as he's by far the least splash-worthy acquisition.

To recap, in order of splashy to Wade:

1. Vermont trades the future for playoff nirvana (possible copyright infrigement), sending the 7th overall pick in the 2007 draft Ryan Zimmerman to Lake Champlain in exchange for the ageless Chipper Jones. Zimmerman was producing a .262 average for Vermont; Chipper .375 up on the Lake. Zimmerman finished his 2.5 year VFS career with a .253 batting average, 45 HRs and 201 RBIs along with some darn good defense. Ryan also littered the Top 10 in a dozen plus career Sioux offensive categories and was an all-around good egg.
2. Gone is Cliff Floyd, he of the .195 batting average for VFS (fun Floyd fact, he has a -14 OPS+ for the Padres this year). In return Vermont acquires Aubrey Huff from the Illinois Chow Chows. Huff has been chowing down on NASBL pitching all year to a .320 clip and will figure prominently at both the DH and 1b (fixing Albert Pujols overusage issues along the way!!) spots. Vermont also surrendered their 2nd and 5th round picks to ILL in the deal.
3. In a trade featuring players with zero future value, Brett Myers was sent packing to Troy in exchange for Jesse Litsch. This year Myers was 8-6, 5.45 for VFS and Litsch 5-7, 4.85 in TRY. The hope is Vermont's offense will give Litsch the run support he needs to become the #3 option in the rotation behind Ervin Santana & Jeff Suppan (no joke, 6-1, 4.42). TRY gained a 3rd round pick from the Sioux in addition to Myers' pleasant disposition. In 4.5 seasons as a middle-of-the-rotation guy, Myers produced the exact type of numbers you'd expect, a 38-37 record to go with a 5.60 ERA and a decent 6.9 K/9 ratio. Brett's 38 wins are sadly good enough for #3 on the all-time VFS wins list, edging former gamer Brian Lawrence by 1 win. His 593 Ks make puts him atop the Sioux career leader list in that category. 良い不戦勝者〔付け足し〕の野茂英雄、私たちはあなたがいなくて残念に思います (or good-bye Hideo Nomo, we miss you).
4. Wade for Joel Hanrahan and a #8 pick. Jockey/GM Steve Beard whipped Wade like Mine That Bird after 5 furlongs and he offers no value to VFS this regular season. This, along with all other moves, is clearly a move made with an eye toward the playoffs.

There are 59 games left this year on the Sioux calendar. The 4 trades resulted in +40 Win Shares for Vermont, roughly equating to 13 wins over a 162 game season, or 5 more wins the rest of the way. Will those 5 extra wins be enough to get the Sioux a coveted 1st round bye in the playoffs? They better given the value (Zimmerman and 4 draft picks) that was doled out to acquire the additional wins. Win shares are only one metric and their Strat relevance is questionable at best, but it's an easy one to apply.

In summary, Vermont shored up their rotation, added a great arm out of the pen and picked up two hitters who can flat-out mash. In fact, if one were to use LCC-like lineup setting skills (defense be damned!!), here's what a future Sioux lineup could look like:

RF Raul Ibanez

3b Chipper Jones

2b Albert Pujols (yes, he's rated there)

LF Carlos Quentin

DH Aubrey Huff

SS Mike Aviles

1b Lyle Overbay

C Kelly Shoppach

CF Grab bag of poop (Crisp, Pacman, Gerut)

Plenty of defensive subs remain to fill in at late innings if need be. As a wise Canadian beer swilling philospher once said, "Flags fly forever."