LEXINGTON ACQUIRES GONZALEZ

The Horned Toads have made a deal!

Slumping Casselton 1B Adrian Gonzalez (.209, 11 HR, 39 RBI in 70 G) has been dealt to (dum-da-dum-dum) the Lexington Rebels, their second trade of this week. The Rebels used just-acquired IF prospect Mike Moustakas, OF prospect Fernando Martinez and their own starting 1B, James Loney (.303, 4 HR, 42 RBI in 70 BARB contests) to make the deal.

The Horned Toads, in talking up their first mid-season deal as a franchise, remarked: "This is the first of many moves we plan on making before the end of the season. Adrian has been great for us and he definitely is a great young player, but looking ahead, we see alternative options at first base and also see potential in all three of the young players we acquired."

As for the Rebels, they maintain that "today, we are showing just how serious we are about winning this year and years to come. With a balance of powerful arms and bats, we can win. We have the arms, but we needed that one power bat. That is what we found in Adrian Gonzalez, who will provide more power to my line-up than Loney. Loney is good, but Gonzalez is better, only like a year or two older, is a gold-glove defender, but most of all a .300 AVG, 30 HR + lefty bat so it was a perfect fit. I strongly believe that he will help give the push my offensive needs."

Keeping in mind that the Rebels dealt RHP Brandon Lyon straight-up to acquire Moustakas, this really represents a prospect and two major-league starters for Gonzalez. This also has to be a major blow of sorts to division rival and defending world champion Yuma, which has been attempting to acquire a power-hitting 1B for some time with Travis Hafner hobbled and the Firebirds offense in the freezer. We can expect that the Firebirds will probably redouble their efforts to acquire help at first!