With the Philadelphia Mud Hens aiming for a second half run at the SJL pennant, they made a move yesterday to bolster their injury riddled rotation, trading shortstop Malachi Person to El Paso for righthander Zachary Shackleford, who last year led the SJL in wins, games started, and innings pitched. Shackleford is a quality four-pitch starter who induces groundball outs and has strong control. Still, some question the move given Shackleford's propensity over the years for being injury prone, particularly with chronic back issues.
As for Person, he is a definite upgrade for El Paso over current shortstop Brennan Anderson and his career slash line of .207/.289/.275 (over 937 plate appearances). Both Person and Anderson are excellent defensive shortstops but Person has a decidedly better bat and although he has sub-par foot speed he is a savvy base runner and base stealer. On the other hand, he has a reputation for selfishness and is due to be a free agent at the end of the year, so it is hard to know what the Dawgs long-term plan is with this one. The Mud Hens certainly saw Person as expendable, with the talented Mineto Kato ably handling the position and providing better clubhouse value with his keen and somewhat mischievous sense of humor (prankster). And in Dan Venegas the Mud Hens got themselves a young player who could develop into an acceptable big league third baseman and has the leadership qualities of a captain.
On the whole this trade looks like a bit of a white flag raising for the reigning WPK Champion Dawgs and a strong move for the Philadelphia club as they look to challenge the three teams currently ahead of them in the SJL pennant race.