[mikev]

AABA Aquisition And Another Trade

In what has been one of the busier offseasons in recent memory for the Crawdads, it has been announced that outfielder Silas Camarena has been aquired from the Las Vegas [s]Cheating Bastards[/s] Hustlers in exchange for starter Paul Alfred and infielder Kosuke Fukudome.

Camarena is expected to be the starting right fielder against righties for New Orleans, with Jason Stucky primarily playing against LHP. Tsukasa Sato will be slotted into the 5th outfielder slot, primarily kept around for his defense.

Fukudome was the odd man out of the infield due to the inking of AABA star Sean Clancy to play third base next season. This move, along with getting Tommy Nolan to play shortstop meant Fukudome was primarily going to be used as a backup in the future. Clancy, who batted .279 with an OBP over .400 last season with AABA Wichita, was happy to finally make the jump to the MBBA. "I'm anxious to prove that I should have been brought over 2 years ago" he said.

Alfred, who had a reasonably good season in 1996, with a 3.89 ERA and 1.27 WHIP, was primarily moved because the front office was weary of his lack of development in the Stuff and Control departments. "We still have a young nucleus to build around, and the addition of a guy like Silas will outweigh losing Paul we think" said GM Mike Voelker.

Rumors have it that New Orleans may still be on the lookout for another starter before the regular season is underway.