[mikev]

Guthrie, Bruno Acquired For Mora

A bit of a surprising move by the Crusaders, outfielder Carlos Mora has been traded to the Vancouver Mounties along with pitcher Francisco Perez. In exchange, the Crusaders acquired second baseman Byron Guthrie and 1B/DH Alejandro Bruno.

Mora, 27, is in the midst of a solid third year in the GUBA, with a .292/.382/.441 line so far this season, was the main piece sought by Vancouver. After looking over the Mounties roster, Guthrie was the main standout. 24 years old, decent defender, good contact and won't strike out much. Low eye rating and power, but his avoid K and high contact should make up for those, we figure he'll be a guy who's OBP is very batting average dependent, but that's OK. A .300/.340 line from him wouldn't be out of the question, and with Robinson Leyva in a walk year, it made a ton of sense to look for a replacement.

Bruno is more of a wild card. He's bounced around the league, with California being his 4th team since 2016, though until this year he's never appeared in more than 31 games. His contact just dropped from 13 to 12, but his gap, eye, and avoid K ratings are all 13 or higher. We feel like he'll put up decent numbers given consistent playing time.

The issue now is the lack of outfielders in California. Inigo and Soto are the only starting caliber guys left, so we'll need to look for something at the trade deadline. I'd also like to acquire another arm for the rotation. Not that losing Perez is meaningful at all, but with only 2 good starters this team won't be long for the playoffs.

Stay tuned. I'm (hopefully) not quite done yet.