Thoughts On the Burroughs/Sabatella Trade
The Bluefish are currently in an intense battle for first place with the Somerset Patriots. This may or may not have brought on a head scratcher of a trade recently. On August 10th, this early morning tweet from Bridgeport Bluefish GM Jamie Toole popped up:
Big news coming later this morning regarding @BPTBluefish roster! Can't SabaTELLya yet but stay tuned. #GeauxBluefish
As expected, even from my vacation in Plymouth, MA, I was on it. Before the announcement, Bryan Sabatella was the only name I came up with, but a quick glance at his profile left me wondering why the acquisition called for a pre-announcement. To start with, it was an intraleague trade, those usually aren’t anything to get worked up about. What made it even more of a head scratcher was that he was on the Long Island Ducks. The DUCKS--Bridgeport’s “cross-sound rival”, the team that needs Somerset to keep Bridgeport out of first place so they can ride the wild card to the post season, and of course, the team that holds first place in Frank Boulton’s heart. Bridgeport, historically, has been his ugly step child ever since his ownership group took the team over in October 2008. For all those reasons,
By about 9:30 am, the details were announced. The Bridgeport Bluefish traded 3B Sean Burroughs for OF Bryan Sabatella. Social media chatter about the trade was immediate and plentiful. A few people asked what I thought about it, so here goes.
At a glance, the Bluefish were losing one of their best hitters this year (.321/.389/.389) and last (.344/.401/.430). They were gaining a rightfielder with decent production (.277/.338/.338). What I was really hoping to see when I checked out Sabatella’s stats was a homerun hitter, now THAT would have warranted some excitement, THAT’S what could help the wavering starters. No such luck.
Fans that follow the teams a little more intensely, however, know that Sean Burroughs probably has about 20 more healthy games left in him this season. He performs when he’s on the field, but any given day, he’ll go down and not be able to contribute to the team for the next 5 games. It was the same story last year when he only played in a hair over 50% of the games. This season Burroughs is on pace for the same number of games. At this point in his career, Burroughs should have been a full time DH in an attempt to get more games out of him.
On the other hand, with Sabatella the Bluefish FINALLY have 4 (legitimate) outfielders and a healthier body than the one they lost. Ultimately, I have no real complaint about the trade. Its just hard to let go of the icky feeling that Long Island gave a guy to Bridgeport that can potentially help keep themselves out of the postseason. Is Frank Boulton sacrificing his Ducks to let Bridgeport bring a championship back to HarborYard? Or, since the Ducks already have the best offense in the division, maybe the trade is trivial for them. Maybe they’re just clearing the way for the return of OF Lew Ford.
Ultimately, the deal is done. We won’t know who was on the plus side of the trade until the rest of the season plays out. There will be plenty more roster changes to come. Bridgeport has its own outfielder that might return at the end of the Mexican League season as well. Long Island is so far ahead in the Wild Card standings that their fate is really left up to the Bridgeport Bluefish and the Somerset Patriots. The Bluefish are in charge of their own fate and that’s how it should be. The postseason will only come with a grand improvement in their starting pitching. After that, actually winning a championship will require a slugger and plenty of heart.