[Westheim]

I see that the White/Banda trade may seem strange to you. I was motivated by a couple of thoughts here:

- White was slated to make $5.1M over the next six years (last year at $1.1M a team option, but that's still a ton of bucks), with $640k this year, which is about 10% of my budget after scouting and development and staff costs.
- Has White performed well enough to justify getting 10% of the salary cake? No. Clearly not. He was shipped in as a .340 batter and leaves with a .270 clip and an irate fan base.
- What can White play? LF/RF. He can't play center effectively as we saw in only a few games from him there. And the Raccoons have never had a centerfielder to speak of.

Now to Banda:

- Banda is in a contract year and makes less than half of White's salary: $310k;
- Banda has awesome defense in all three outfield positions, he has blistering speed and more than 1/3 of his hits are for extra bases, including many triples and home runs.
- Now, Banda is not even our starter in center: that is Raúl Herrera, who is much the same player, without the home run power, but more raw speed, and comes in at $190k and is arbitration eligible for two more years.

So, Banda and Herrera together come *cheaper* than White, and can hit about as much, yet I'm already covered for the backup there.

By the way, that prospect Bill Stevens is scouted as a 4-star potential player with some pop. He is 23, and starts at AAA this year for the first time. He also can play all three outfield positions, and who knows, he could be the main prize in the package one day.

Apart from that, there is some very mundane reason for dealing with the Warriors. Somehow, many teams were very short on budget this winter and could not take on the contract of White, which left only five or six teams to deal with. My original plan was to trade White for Herrera to the Blue Sox, but money made that one fall through.

Banda could start soon in right, if Green doesn't pick up his *defense*. We're not even talking about offense here. Three errors in just a few games is outrageous!

This has not been a popular trade with the fan base (-4 interest), but I already have my .270 batters, and they don't make $640k or more.

The only guy with a contract that big is Christopher Powell ($700k this year, runs through '87, his age 38 season, but that is a team option with zero buyout), the next is Mark Dawson at $440k.

Besides, I need the money to make extensions with Dawson and Kan, who contributed considerably more than White. White had to go, I got the most there was to get.

By the way, White is hitting .167 early on with Sioux Falls. But that don't tell much, Mark Dawson is hitting even less, but Dawson is an incredibly streaky guy, who bats .400 with four dingers in one week (CLCS against Oklahoma), then .150 the next week (World Series).