THE HOT CORNER
Baseball coverage from the inside Sacramento Prayers and the FBL
By Claude Playball | Baseball Insider & Analyst | Host, "Hot Corner" Podcast
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July 28 August 7, 2003 | Sixty-Eight and Forty-One | Front Office Busy at Trade Deadline | Jeon and Jang Both Chasing Twenty Wins
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ERIC OUTLEY TRADED TO COLUMBUS
Sacramento Prayers traded away a thirty-year-old outfielder hitting .289 with fifteen home runs to fix a hole at shortstop that had been bleeding this team for months.
Eric Outley leaves this organization as one of the more productive complementary pieces of the last two seasons, and his departure on July 30th was the single most consequential transaction of this stretch. Sacramento sent Outley, twenty-year-old minor league second baseman Yong-sung Choi, and four draft picks to Columbus, receiving thirty-three-year-old shortstop Manuel Rodriguez, three high draft picks of their own, and four hundred thousand dollars in cash, with Columbus retaining the full remainder of Rodriguez's 2-year contract. It is exactly the kind of trade "Hot Corner" argued for two weeks ago addressing a genuine lineup weakness while simultaneously improving the organization's financial and draft position and Rodriguez has looked entirely at home in his new uniform from the moment he arrived. It should be mentioned that trading Outley takes a dubious contract off the books a contract, that was perhaps too long, and probably too expensive.
Sixty-eight and forty-one. Seven games up on San Jose. This roster keeps winning, and now it does so with its middle infield finally resembling something other than a patchwork.
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DID YOU CATCH THOSE GAMES? WHAT THE SCORECARDS SAY
@ Los Angeles, July 28-29 (0-2)
Jordan Sepulveda outdueled Jeon in the series opener, and Andy Oliver's two-out single in the fifth put the Saints ahead for good. "I just tried to attack the bottom of the zone," Sepulveda said. Five to four, Los Angeles.
The trip got worse before it got better. Andy Oliver delivered again in Game Two, a two-run single that broke the game open, and Sacramento's own bats went quiet against a Los Angeles bullpen that had no business shutting anyone down. "I just tried to see the ball and put a good swing on it," Oliver said. Three to one, Los Angeles, a rough finish to a road trip against one of the league's worst teams.
vs. St. Louis, July 30-31 (2-0)
The trade landed on an off day, and Sacramento's bats erupted the moment the games resumed. Alex Bojorquez went four for five with a home run in an eleven-to-two rout, and Jang picked up his eleventh win. "We had some nice at-bats at the right time," Jimmy Aces said, in one of the great understatements of the season.
Manuel Rodriguez made his Sacramento debut in the deadline-day finale and delivered immediately a double, an RBI, part of an eighteen-run explosion that also featured two Navarro home runs and six RBI. "Alejandro leaves the last at-bat behind him, whether it was good or bad, and goes up there and competes on every pitch," Aces said of Navarro's monster day. Eighteen to seven.
vs. Charlotte, August 1-3 (3-0)
Rodriguez hit his second Sacramento homer in the series opener, part of a seven-to-five win that also saw veteran infielder collect his 2,000th career hit. "Looking at the list of all the great players who have done this is humbling," Manuel Rodriguez said afterward, having gone two for four to reach the milestone.
Jeon was nearly untouchable in Game Two eight and one-third innings, three hits, ten strikeouts in a twelve-to-nothing demolition. "They did pretty much every facet of the game better than we did," Charlotte manager Jorge Diaz admitted.
Morales closed the sweep with seven shutout innings, and Lozano's early ground out started the scoring in a seven-to-nothing finale. "A team effort," Lozano called it, extending Charlotte's losing streak to five.
vs. Baltimore, August 5-7 (2-1)
Tony Villalobos was the story of the series opener, two home runs and three RBI leading Baltimore to a five-to-three win despite Rubalcava's three and one-third scoreless innings in relief. "It was a good effort all around," Villalobos said.
Sacramento answered with a genuine thriller in Game Two, Choi's fifth-inning homer part of a rally that Edwin Medina and Andy Benson closed out in relief. "Our guys played hard," Aces said. Six to five.
Jeon closed the series and this entire stretch with a complete-game shutout, five strikeouts, four hits, no walks. Van Ham drove in five runs, including two home runs. "He just had us in his thrall," Baltimore manager Miguel Lopez admitted. Fourteen to nothing, and Jeon's ERA settled at 2.56 third-best in the entire FBL.
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THE OUTLEY-RODRIGUEZ TRADE WHAT IT MEANS
The plain financial logic of this deal deserves attention alongside the on-field impact. Columbus absorbed one hundred percent of Rodriguez's remaining contract through 2004, meaning Sacramento acquired a starting-caliber shortstop at effectively no additional payroll cost, while also collecting four hundred thousand dollars in cash and three draft picks. Outley, a productive but replaceable piece hitting .289 with fifteen home runs, was the price a reasonable one given the alternative was continuing to run Bojorquez and various fill-ins through the middle infield during a pennant chase.
Rodriguez himself was hitting a modest .238 in Columbus before the trade, but his early returns in Sacramento have been excellent two home runs, a milestone 2,000th career hit, and steady defense at a position that had been this roster's clearest weakness for two months. Whether his bat sustains this pace remains to be seen, but the trade has already addressed exactly the structural need this column flagged before the deadline: a genuine lineup upgrade, acquired without meaningfully damaging the organization's financial flexibility or draft capital.
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WHO'S HOT, WHO'S COLD
Who's Hot: Jang has gone eight and one with a 1.78 ERA over his last fourteen starts. Navarro is hitting .424 with three home runs over his last eight games since returning from injury. Van Ham has been scorching at .414 with four homers over his last eight.
Who is Cold: Dave Schmitt's strained oblique, suffered running the bases against Charlotte, will keep him out roughly three weeks a real loss for a player hitting .257 with sixteen home runs before the injury.
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AROUND THE LEAGUE
Detroit's Oscar Saavedra received a two-game suspension on August 7th for aggressively arguing a called third strike, reportedly making contact with the home plate umpire's cap. "I don't remember billing him," Saavedra said. Long Beach and Las Vegas remain the two best teams in the National League Pacific, both comfortably above .630. Washington's Colt Washburn leads the FBL in batting average at .387, a genuinely extraordinary number this deep into the season.
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THE INBOX
From Fatimah Osei-Poku of Sacramento's Meadowview neighborhood, a seamstress, who asks: "The Outley trade addressed shortstop, but does it leave a real gap in the outfield now?"
It creates a rotation question rather than a true gap. Shinohara, Choi, and Van Ham remain firmly entrenched as the primary outfield trio, and Outley's departure mostly affects bench depth rather than the everyday lineup. Julio Vasquez has already been absorbing extra outfield and DH at-bats capably. I'd call this a manageable trade-off rather than a genuine new hole especially compared to the shortstop problem it solved.
From Anezka Novotna of Sacramento's Woodlake neighborhood, a violin maker, who asks: "Columbus took on Rodriguez's full salary. Why would they agree to that as part of the deal?"
Likely because Columbus's own competitive position made moving Rodriguez's contract more valuable to them than keeping him productive on their own roster. Rodriguez was hitting only .238 in Columbus, and if that organization saw its own playoff odds fading, converting an underperforming veteran into younger talent, draft picks, and full salary relief for their books is a completely rational rebuilding move. Sacramento simply happened to be the contender willing to pay for exactly what Columbus was giving away.
From Ingvar Sigurbjφrnsson of Sacramento's Robla neighborhood, an electrician, who asks: "Jeon and Jang are both having historic seasons. Is either of them a realistic Cy Young candidate at this point?"
Genuinely, yes, for both. Jeon's 2.56 ERA ranks third in the entire FBL, and Jang isn't far behind at 2.69, with twelve and eleven wins respectively and both still climbing. Having two legitimate Cy Young-caliber seasons from the same rotation is remarkable, and if either sustains this pace through September, this column expects a serious award conversation for both by year's end.
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Sixty-eight and forty-one. Seven up on San Jose. Rodriguez settling in at shortstop, Outley off to Columbus, and a trade deadline that addressed exactly the weakness we flagged two weeks ago. Jeon and Jang both chasing something historic. Portland at home next, then San Jose comes to Sutter Health Park. The deadline is behind this roster now. Everything that matters from here happens on the field.
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Claude Playball is a baseball insider and analyst and host of the Hot Corner podcast, based in Sacramento, California.