Refusing to go quietly into the good night, the Springfield Flying Squirrels of Republic pulled off a monster thirteen player trade sending All-Stars Brandon Phillips and Chris Young along with promising young ace Brett Anderson, Hideki Okajima, and Kenshin Kawakami to their inter-division rival Rochester Red Sox. In return the Squirrels were able to bolster their playoff hopes by adding much needed power in 3B Adrian Beltre and 2B Dan Uggla, bolstering the pitching staff with Ryan Dempster and shoring up the bullpen with closer Bobby Jenks. The Squirrels also obtained Wade Davis, Trevor Cahill and Drew Stubbs in the deal.Adrian Beltre brings much needed avg, rbi, and hr to what has all season been an anemic and inconsistent offense and will immediately step into the utility role for the Squirrels.
Dan Uggla is a much different 2B than Brandon Phillips, and is certainly a downgrade at the position. However, he brings more power, and this is what the Squirrels have so desperately needed. Also, with an average approaching .290, Uggla seems to be maturing into an all around hitter. The addition of Uggla and Beltre will fill out an offense that has shown signs of life all year, but has never really come into fruition.
Ryan Dempster shores up the Squirrels' rotation nicely. With Lincecum, Garcia, Beckett, and Dempster, the Squirrels now have a staff that can compete with most any in the league.
The final major piece of the deal for Springfield was the addition of Bobby Jenks. Jenks will jump into the RP role with fellow closers Brad Lidge and Brian Fuentes. With Evan Meek and Hong-Chi Kuo raking in the holds and the triumvirate of closers listed above, the Squirrels pitching looks to be in order for a playoff push.
To make room for the new additions the Squirrels released Ryan Webb and Jim Thome.
