ALL IN THE FAMILY

PART 1: TEAM RE-LOCATES, THEN RE-NAMES TWICE...AND RE-LOCATES AGAIN...THEN RE-NAMES AGAIN

Apparently Anthony Guerra has taken classes at the Ronald Melkonian School of BARB Team Management.

Guerra entered BARB in 2009 and took over his cousin's former team, the Lexington Rebels. He moved the team to the league's base in Fresno and decided on the "Regulators" for a nickname. But he went futbol-style in 2010 by becoming Oakland United. And then at the beginning of 2010-2011 offseason, Guerra felt a soft spot for the fresh mountain air, so he invaded the good state of Colorado and adopted the "Rocky Bighorns" nickname. That was later shortened just to "Bighorns."

All of this was announced at the 2011 BARB Draft, by Guerra's request. But he decided "Rams" would be a better fit for his franchise, so he made the change official in a phone call to make his final pick.

But please don't compare Guerra to his cousin. Ron only left ONE city high-and-dry this offseason.

That's right, Anthony Guerra decided to move his team again. From the Rocky Mountains, he went west to the southern Nevada desert and the bright lights of Las Vegas. This time, he chose an oxymoron for a team name: the Sin City Angels.

But that didn't last long.

Just two days later, and hopefully before any winged merchandise was produced, Guerra called a press conference and, in his best John Wayne imitation, announced his team was to be, for the rest of his BARB management career, the Cowboys.

PART DEUX: TRADES GALORE

Maybe Melkonian's "Management" class also gives you the "itch" for trading. So while it came as a surprise that "Trader Ron" didn't complete any deals during the draft and post-draft trading periods, Guerra's wheeling-and-dealing didn't sneak up on anyone.

Sin City--well, at that point, Colorado--made a deal in the seventh round of the draft with the St. Francis Friars. Scott Hatfield, in need of a corner infielder, had expressed interest in the "Greek God of Walks," Kevin Youkilis. Before the draft the two teams were unable to reach agreement, but finally Hatfield sent OF Aaron Hicks, C Wilin Rosario (who he had just drafted), and his 8th-round selection to the (now) Cowboys. That pick ended up as UCONN OF George Springer.

The trade was Hatfield's second of the day. Just before the first pick of the draft, held by the New England Yankee Stompers, it was announced that the Friars and Yankee Stompers had agreed to a deal for that initial selection. To acquire the #1 overall pick, and take 50-home run hitter Jose Bautista, Hatfield parted with his original first-rounder (#4 overall), the Toronto Blue Jays battery of C J.P. Arencibia and RHP Kyle Drabek, and, as a player-to-be-named after the draft, oft-injured OF Carlos Quentin.

"We believe we have a future #1 starter in Drabek," said New England GM James Herndon. "We also feel we can get our projected #1 pick with the fourth selection. We saw this as a win-win situation to make us competitive in our division immediately while still maintaining youth in our starting rotation. We feel that opposing pitchers now wont be able to keep the ball in the park and opposing hitters will never know what hit them."

Hatfield, meanwhile, proclaimed confidence that his team could compete despite fielding a less-than-average pitching staff.

"I play in the Central, and I have plenty of offense, and this year I can contend. With a few breaks, even, I might make the playoffs."

The swap of two of the top four picks led to another deal. It was conditional--if a certain player wasn't selected in the top three picks, the trade would go through.

Bautista, Brandon Belt and Jaime Garcia weren't the player the Frosbite Falls Flying Squirrels were hoping to draft, so they finalized a move up in draft order and selected SS Manny Machado at #4 overall.

"We were very happy with how the first few picks fell," said Flying Squirrels GM Andrew Friedman (who was recently promoted from Assistant GM with Jack Zduriencik's contract not being renewed). "Machado was a guy we've looked at for a while. We have a good farm system and already had a good shortstop (Jiovanny Mier), but this was a talent we just could not pass up."

To get Machado at #4, Frostbite Falls sent their first-rounder, #11 overall, and LHP Gio Gonzalez to New England.

"It was tough to part with Gio. We feel he's just starting to come into his own. But we already have a deep rotation, so it was worth it," said Frostbite Falls Owner Andrew Haynes.

James Herndon's plan was to pick up pitching. He felt his rotation needed the help and had personal interest in Gonzalez, so he quickly agreed to the trade. With the #11 pick, he selected RHP Tim Stauffer.

Trades started rolling in again a few days after the draft, and it soon became clear Anthony Guerra wasn't content to simply sit on his current talent. The Sin City Cowboys made four deals that brought in nine players and sent seven packing.

In the first trade, RHP prospect Jenrry Mejia went across the desert to Yuma for utility man Chase Headley and lefty Phil Coke.

Yuma GM Billy Beane explained his side: "We had no plans to keep Headley or Coke, so we got another young pitcher with a ton of upside."

Guerra was simply happy that he had picked up depth, for immediately after that another pair of trades rolled off the presses: both Yuma and Sin City had agreed to deals with the Brooklyn MOABS.

Sin City sent a pair of prospects--C Derek Norris and LHP Christian Friedrich--and a different utility player, Ben Zobrist, to Brooklyn, and in return two high-priced veterans, RHP Francisco Rodriguez and OF Corey Hart, accepted Cowboys unis.

Brooklyn GM Eric Caskey intimated that the deal wouldn't go through unless he received Zobrist, who will likely take the place of injured second-sacker Chase Utley.

After acquiring Norris, Caskey felt safe dealing his seventh-round pick, C Yasmani Grandal, along with shortstop prospect Jurickson Profar and righties Scott Baker and Matt Guerrier, to the Firebirds. In return, Caskey picked up much-needed bullpen and infield depth in Huston Street, Ryan Madson, Ryan Theriot and Adam LaRoche.

"Our pen was incredibly deep, and...we lacked young, projectable middle-infield prospects. We also think we found a future backup for Buster Posey," said Yuma's Beane.

The aforementioned James Herndon, still trying to bolster his rotation, made another trade, this time for right-handed starter Dan Haren. Guerra had been attempting to deal Haren for a while, and this time he was able to ship him and SS prospect Tim Beckham to the Yankee Stompers for pitchers Rich Harden, Jameson Taillon and Brian Duensing and outfielder Austin Jackson.

"We acquired backup outfielders in the draft, so Jackson was expendable," said Herndon. "At this point we feel we have a solid starting lineup offensively and defensively, as well as a young, but effective pitching staff...we feel we are in a position to contend this year."

Guerra, though, had another angle.

"We wanted to cash in and get our max return for Haren while his stock was climbing."

Finally, the last Sin City trade was a small one. Catcher Kurt Suzuki, who was going to be cut by Central California, was instead dealt for infielder Jesus Guzman. Ron Flautz was happy that he got something out of nothing, while Guerra liked adding more depth.

Pottsylvania and St. Francis also swapped players they would have released, with long-time Creepers OF Felix Pie becoming a Friar and RHP Randy Wells going to Pottsylvania.

WORCESTER DEALS STALWART

The final deal announced was a biggie. The Worcester Eliminators, trying to fill out their starting rotation after losing Adam Wainwright to injury (and then in the draft), traded SS/3B Derek Jeter to New England. In return, two left-handed hurlers joined the defending champions: Ted Lilly and Wandy Rodriguez.

"We have confidence in Jack Wilson as a fielder; however, we needed a proven offensive and defensive shortstop and we believe we found one," Herndon said. "We may have sacrificed some of our anchors in our starting pitching rotation, but we have confidence that our young arms acquired in the draft can immediately fill that role."

Matt Caskey thanked Jeter, who hit .290 with 74 HR and 103 SB in his seven years in Worcester.

"Jeter was a great person who played well in an Eliminator uniform, but in order to repeat, we needed pitchers."