Miami Marlins send off John Baker to San Diego Padres for Wade LeBlanc -MLB Update
In one of their first major moves ever since the season came to an end, the Miami Marlins sent off catcher, John Baker, in exchange with the San Diego Padres for young left-hander, Wade LeBlanc, on Tuesday, November 22, 2011.
To the relief of many Marlins fans, the franchise did not announce any trades to the big name free agents which they signed in order to change around the look of their teams for the upcoming season.
The main reason for trading players was that the Marlins were looking for some pitching depth, which they believe that the 27-year-old LeBlanc can provide to them.
"When you haven't established yourself you have to fight every year," said Larry Beinfest, Miami's President of Baseball Operations, after the trade was officially announced. "We'll put him in the mix. It was an opportunity to add some pitching depth."
LeBlanc might not have had the best of seasons last time around after finishing. 5-6 with a 4.63 ERA, he hopes that he can start afresh and give it his all when given the chance to make a spot on the team.
“Baseball’s a big confidence game,” said LeBlanc. “And anytime you can ... string a few games together like that, that shows yourself that you can do it and more importantly shows your team and your coaching staff, gives them confidence in you going forward.”
In assurance of his claims, Beinfest also spoke to the media while reconfirming that LeBlanc will be given a chance for a spot on the roster for the new season due to his performance against the team when he faced them earlier in 2011 with San Jose.
Baker on the other hand, only appeared in 16 games last season due to a reconstruction surgery on his elbow earlier in September of 2010, and was 2 for 13 throughout.
With the exchange of players, both the Miami Marlins and San Diego Padres hope that this change will be able to help them in adding the respective needed depth on the playing field when the time comes to perform.
It will certainly be exciting to see how these players perform in the new season with their new teams.
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