The Monterrey Campeónes have acquired veteran starter Enos Garciaparra from the Seattle Picards for two minor leaguers. Garciaparra will strengthen an underachieving rotation for Monterrey, as the club tries to claim its eighth consecutive AL South division title. Garciaparra was 2-7 for the Picards so far this year, with an ERA above six. "We think he's really much better than his performance so far," said Campeónes skipper Pépe Fuerte. "He'll be closer to what he's done the last five years once he gets settled in."Garciaparra is likely to slide into the third starter role behind Livan Lee and Rock McCarty. Commenting on the deal, GM Onan Divine said, "We looked at what had happened the first third of the season, and it didn't measure up to where we thought we'd be. Our club has a history of very slow starts, but there were elements we saw that we weren't sure would bounce back. The back end of the rotation was one of those elements, and we're glad we've been able to shore it up." Fifth starter Benj Iannone was designated for assignment, and is ticketed for AAA Matamoros unless his agent can find him big league work elsewhere.
Garciaparra's salary comes along to Monterrey along with Enos, and reduces somewhat the payroll flexibility the Campeónes enjoyed coming out of spring training. "We hated to lose Darren Owens, but as it turns out the same payroll money we offered to Darren was turned into Enos, Melvin [Hernandez] and Quinton [Bird]. In retrospect, those three players may have a bigger impact on our playoff chances than Owens would have had by himself."
Going to Seattle in this deal are catcher Charles Dunn and reliever Willie Segiugnol. "It's hard to part with good young talent," said Divine, "especially when our minors are weaker than where we want them to be. Enos is just an enormous talent, though, and we had to make this deal. We wish Chuck and Willie all the best out West."
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