| Feature News |
Wish List: Weymouth Shaddupu
Shaddupu plans to continue their post-season dominance
By Conor Intabedd / The Weekly Reno Rag
The defending champion Weymouth Shaddupu just won their 4th out of 5 possible championships. You'd think that would be cause for celebration. And as true as that is with team owner Nick Bruce rubbing it in every GM's face that he can over the past few months, it doesn't mean management thinks they'd win another championship with the team they fielded at the end of the 2005 season. GM Yukon Cornelius was nice enough to sit down with me to talk about the past, the future, and their current off-season plans. He's a difficult man to get an honest answer from...
Conor: Thanks for taking the time to talk with us. I'm sure things have been hectic in Weymouth camp. Let's get right into it. What would you say was the best and worst moves you made last year, may it be a trade, a drop, a pick-up, or a draft pick.
Yukon: I think picking up Cano solidified our 2B position for the year. Also getting Hafner, Blanton and Bonderman helped this season as well as the years to come. We gave up some talent but you have to give up some to get some. We feel we got a lot. We made a couple of moves last off-season that seemed right at the time but didn't pan out. Trading away a 20+ game winner in Willis is not what we wanted to do but we had no idea he would have a season like that again. You win some and you lose some.
Conor: There has been a lot of trading going on this off season. Which o your players would you say have a figurative "no-trade clause"? In other words, which players will teams have to completely overpay for.
Yukon: I always look to get $2 for every $1. So basically in order to trade for one of my players I have to feel like you are overpaying.
Conor: Which players would you be more willing to let go than others.
Yukon: Byrd, Timlin, Carrasco, McPherson.
Conor: What position(s) are you looking to upgrade this off-season, either through trades or the draft?
Yukon: Well, we upgraded 2B with Soriano and that's the only position I feel we could upgrade.
Conor: Ok, name 5 players you'd like to acquire this off-season that you feel you could.
Yukon: Albert Pujols, Miguel Cabrera, Alex Rodriguez, Dontrelle Willis, Roy Oswalt.
Conor: Hmm, all players with figurative "no-trade clauses". Good luck with that. How important is the major and minor league drafts for your team?
Yukon: I don't put a lot of importance into the major league drafts and I'll be looking to trade them all. I put more importance into trading, the waiver wire and the minor league draft, and I'm looking at stockpiling young talent this year.
Conor: Where do you feel Shaddupu will finish the regular season in 2006?
Yukon: On Top. No Excuses. With the talent we have coming back and the moves we have lined up there is no question in the entire Weymouth Nation that we will win our 5th ACC title.
Conor Intabedd writes an opinion column for The Weekly Reno Rag. Rumor has it he will be spending the next 6 months planning minor league mascot races.
