Still had a trade ticket up my sleeve for '66 (maybe even two, I can't remember now...) and have decided to use it to declutter our OF and earn back one of the three Cutlass Club slots with a trade that the fans are not fans of:
I understand their chagrin, but this is all about moving us toward where we need to be as a club and the two things we have an excess of are outfielders and swingmen.
This is the second or perhaps even third time I have traded Mudcat Grant away, and I do so reluctantly this time as he was great for us out of the BP last year. Felipe is a quality guy who deserves his popularity, but the fact that he never played for us IRL always was going to work against him at some point in time. That point in time is now, with a plan currently in the works that needs that slot as part of it.
For them we get a guy who is a plus glove around the diamond who doesn't have much pop but makes good clean and regular contact, and for now he'll be our primary UT infielder. Maz is in his walk year, so a decision on him will have to be made soon. Should that decision go against his being retained, then Helms would ostensibly be the prime candidate to replace him.
A few weeks later, we use our FA ticket to bring Joe Gibbon back into the Pirates fold on a 3/144 deal. He'll slot straight back into his previous role as Stopper.
