In a move that was both expected but also somewhat surprising yesterday, Crawdads GM Mike Voelker announced that star centerfielder
Eric Davis had been traded to the Las Vegas Hustlers.
That was the expected part.
The slightly surprising part was the player who would be coming back to the Bayou in exhange for Davis: All-Star outfielder
Sean Bockus.
Bockus brings a high level game to New Orleans, albeit a slightly different style than Davis. While Davis relied mostly on 400+ foot longballs, Bockus is more of a doubles hitter with some pop on occasion. This season, he's having a bit of a down year, as he's currently under an .800 OPS for the first time since becoming a full time starter in 1990. He's also approximately 6.5 million dollars cheaper than Davis, though he is a free agent at season's end and reportedly was seeking 8 figures annually from Vegas. That seems like it's an awfully rich asking price, but then again he's a Slick Fielder caliber player at all 3 outfield positions with a career .820 OPS.
Some members of the media have questioned the move, wondering aloud if this will block a potential callup of prospect
Jason "Ogre" Stucky, who has shown considerable development this season at AA Shreveport. When asked about the situation, Voelker did not dodge the question.
"Yes, I knew that I'd get some heat about aquiring another outfielder and not calling up Jay, but the bottom line is we're not ready for him to lose a year of service time to come up and be a platoon player against left handers. We feel he'd be better off staying in the minors and continuing his development this year so he can come into Spring Training with a chance at a starting job in '96. Quite frankly, we're not going to be keeping up with the Birmingham or Des Moines of the division this year, so we feel it's best to keep our chips for as long as possible."
A noteworthy item in the transaction log is that Stucky was promoted to AAA Baton Rouge. Hopefully his development will continue against the higher level of competition.