Lincecum wins Cy Young Award!

Frostbite Falls Flying Squirrels ace Tim Lincecum, 24, was named the National League Cy Young award winner today for the 2008 season. Lincecum received 23 of the 32 first-place votes, seven second-place votes and one third-place nod for a total of 137 points to easily best second-place Brandon Webb (73 points) and Johan Santana (55).

Lincecum finished first in the NL in winning percentage with an 18-5 record and led the majors in strikeouts. He had a 2.62 ERA that could have been better if not for some fishy scoring in his second-to-last game of the season.

"We are very excited for Tim," said Frostbite Falls owner Andrew Haynes. "He proved that he was the NL's best pitcher this season. No one was anywhere close to his dominance. We are very pleased to have him as a cornerstone of our franchise for many years."

"My reaction was, 'Woohoo!'," exclaimed Lincecum.

Squirrels acquire Iwamura

On Sunday, just hours before the B.A.R.B. trade deadline, the Frostbite Falls picked up 2B Akinori Iwamura from the Brooklyn MOABS for 2B Jeff Kent and RHP Pat Neshek.

"Akinori will step right in and help out in the middle infield," said Squirrels GM Jack Zduriencik. "We have Edgar (Renteria) and Mike (Young), but with Kent hurting and expected to be put on the DL we needed another second baseman. Giving up Kent also gives us a lot of salary cap room, so we can call up someone from AAA if needed."

Neshek, who is highly valued by the Frostbite Falls organization, was considered expendable because he is out for the season. He might also have been traded because of rumors that owner Andrew Haynes is thinking of retiring after this season and wants to win his fourth ring before going out.

Frostbite Falls makes another deal with "Farm club"

What is the relationship of the Frostbite Falls Flying Squirrels and Lexington Rebels? It might be something like that of the New York Yankees and Kansas City Athletics in the 1950s and 1960s: another farm club for the champions.

"We don't really see it that way," said Squirrels GM Jack Zduriencik. "They just make offers that are too good to pass up, and we accept them.

The latest Nomad desire was the bat and glove of #1 prospect OF Jay Bruce. The Squirrels picked Bruce late in the 2007 draft after he was overlooked by the rest of the league, and he was brought to the majors for his first B.A.R.B. at bats just less than a week ago. But with a small surplus of talented outfielders and needs both in starting and relief pitching, the Frostbite Falls front office decided Bruce was expendable when they received an offer of four very talented players.

Zduriencik, with the help of Assistant GM Andrew Friedman, negotiated the acquisition of RHPs Joakim Soria and Dustin McGowan AND two top prospects to be named, rumored to be an OF and another RHP, for Bruce, and Bruce alone.

"Wow," said Friedman. "I was not expecting to have our pitching staff bolstered by something like this so quickly. We've had a few pitchers performing poorly in the 'pen, and then Pat Neshek went down for the season. There have been some injuries and poor performances from our starters. But all of a sudden we have the youngsters Soria and McGowan, and we are much more comfortable. We also know we can probably pick up other talented players and trade them for Jay next season. That's just the way things happen with Trader Ron."

Both Soria and McGowan expressed their surprise and excitement about joining B.A.R.B.'s most successful franchise.

"That's the team everyone wants to play for. They had the Murderer's Row offense in 2003 and then a dynamite starting rotation in 2005 and 2006. I hope I can help bring the title back to northern Minnesota," said McGowan.

Though he didn't say much, Soria mentioned he was eager to work with all of the young talent in the bullpen.

The players to be named will transfer to the Frostbite minor league system at the end of the 2008 season, but it was not made known to the media who they were.

Jay Bruce left the Squirrels clubhouse in a huff after hearing about being traded and was not available for comment.

Squirrels get rotation boost

The Frostbite Falls Flying Squirrels further solidified an already talented rotation by adding LHP Cole Hamels to the team in a deal Tuesday night. With arms such as Brad Penny, Ben Sheets, Felix Hernandez and Tim Lincecum already going every fifth day, the Squirrels front office believes they have one of the best rotations in B.A.R.B. In return, the Lexington Rebels will receive OF Justin Upton and RHP Shawn Hill.

"Hamels was targeted for quite a while," said Frostbite GM Jack Zduriencik. "We actually talked about acquiring him in the Johan Santana trade before the season. Ironically, we picked up Upton in that deal. It was hard to give up a five-tool outfielder such as Justin, but we are already stacked in the OF and we got a great bargain for Hamels."

With the acquisition of Hamels, LHP Rich Hill will either move to the bullpen or be sent down to AAA.

Management very pleased with draft haul

Jack Zduriencik's first draft as GM of the Frostbite Falls Flying Squirrels went very well according to ownership. The Squirrels started the draft with two selections in each of the first two rounds and ended up selecting 17 players. The selections, in order from first to last, were:

OF Corey Hart

RHP Carlos Marmol

1B Carlos Pena

RHP Chris Carpenter

LHP B.J. Ryan

C J.R. Towles

RHP Tony Pena

RHP Chris Perez

LHP Brett Anderson

C Mike Napoli

3B Hank Blalock

LHP Eric O'Flaherty

2B Jeff Kent

RHP Tanner Scheppers

RHP Shawn Hill

RHP Russ Springer

1B Lars Anderson

Hart is expected to step in right away as the left fielder, replacing Barry Bonds. Pena will be a backup at 1B and play a lot of DH. The relief corps was strengthened by the addition of six arms, and four top prospects will bolster the already strong farm system.

Get ready for an exciting season of Frostbite Falls Flying Squirrels baseball!

Duhn Ewsguy

Another deal with Arizona

The Frostbite Falls Flying Squirrels and Arizona D-Backs have completed another deal, but this one is quite a bit smaller than the blockbuster including Johan Santana and Magglio Ordonez. In the third deal of the month for both teams, the Squirrels sent RHP Matt Garza and their 3rd round pick in the upcoming draft to the desert for OF Delmon Young.

"We're quite happy with this trade," said Frostbite GM Jack Zduriencik. "We picked up yet another top young (pun intended) outfielder. I challenge anyone to have a minor league team with an outfield as talented as ours. Jay Bruce in center, Justin Upton and Delmon Young at the corners. Watch out for our major league team the next few years."

The Flying Squirrels were clearly disappointed to lose a starting pitcher as promising as Garza, but they had a full rotation and they still have a few top unestablished pitchers in Tim Lincecum, Andrew Miller and Rich Hill.

Said Zduriencik, "And we might have a surprise up our sleeve to get another guy."

The Squirrels are also wondering how the water from Arizona got to northern Minnesota and made them max out on trades for the month.

Bay to Brooklyn

In their second deal of the new season, the Frostbite Falls Flying Squirrels have sent OF Jason Bay to longtime rival Brooklyn for SS Edgar Renteria.

The MOABS had been looking to move the high-priced veteran because of his salary and the plethora of talent they already had at the position.

Some were questioning the motives of the Squirrels, though. They traded a player with above-average speed and power who is a very good defender, and now they are left with a gaping hole in left field (Frostbite management has confirmed they will not be bringing Barry Bonds back for 2008).

But the chance to get such an accomplished shortstop couldn't be passed up, said Flying Squirrels Assistant GM Andrew Friedman.

"We felt Edgar was the best available option out there among all of the second basemen and shortstops. This will allow us to move Michael Young to second and makes the infield more talented overall than what we had at the beginning of the week (before projected starting second baseman Luis Castillo was traded to Arizona). And as for Bay, well, as the Commissioner said when describing another deal, there's no shortage of left fielders who can hit 30 homers a season. We will probably lose a bit of speed and defense with whomever the new guy is, but as a team we will be more well-rounded."

Although this deal didn't go along the lines of GM Jack Zduriencik's pledge to make the team younger (as the Johan Santana trade did), more trades to bring in young talent could come soon.

Monumental deal with Arizona

All good things must come to an end. Johan Santana was a very good thing for the Frostbite Falls Flying Squirrels. In his five years with the franchise, the hard-throwing lefty won 74 games, including a league-record 20 and a Cy Young in 2005, and helped the Squirrels to three B.A.R.B. championships.

But new Squirrels GM Jack Zduriencik decided the team would be better with Santana out of the Frozen Tundra.

"It's not that he's a bad teammate; in fact, he's great around the clubhouse. He's just so expensive and has already reached his peak. Because he's still one of the best, we were able to get a ton of talent for him."

The Squirrels have agreed to send Santana along with 2B Luis Castillo to the Arizona D-Backs for five players and a draft pick. The players coming to northern Minnesota are OF Magglio Ordonez (who played for Santa Barbara in 2003 and Frostbite Falls in 2004), RHP Felix Hernandez, 1B Conor Jackson, OF Justin Upton and LHP Andrew Miller. The Flying Squirrels also got Arizona's first round pick, number seven overall.

"We feel very good about this season and beyond," said Zduriencik. "Yes, we gave up the best pitcher in the league, but we filled a vacancy in the outfield, filled Santana's rotation spot with an outstanding youngster, got a very talented backup first baseman, and picked up two amazing prospects who could both help the big league team this year. Not to mention, we got that 7th pick. I think we got better with this deal."

Santana wasn't shocked to hear that he was dealt.

"I know I will be making lots of money the next few years, and they did the best thing for their team. I'll tell you this, I'm going to go into the Hall of Fame wearing a Frostbite Falls hat. In fact, I don't plan to be in Arizona very long. I'm going to have a month-to-month apartment. That Melkonian guy might trade me at any time."

During his 5-year stint in Santa Barbara and Frostbite Falls, Santana was 74-40 with a 3.29 ERA. He completed 24 of his 143 starts, six of which were shutouts. The ace struck out 1012 batters in 1038 1/3 innings and had a 1.15 WHIP.

The Squirrels are rumored to have another few deals done or nearing completion that include the pick from Arizona and Jason Bay, and earlier today an official who chose anonymity said there could be a bit of division re-alignment in the cards.

Squirrels make front office changes; keep manager

Ever since the end of the first non-playoff season in Santa Barbara/Frostbite Falls franchise history, it had been rumored that some changes would be made within the organization. Owner/GM Andrew Haynes was expected to relieve Manager Mike Noakes of his duties and go with a fresh face.

But the Squirrels, who are expected to field a much younger team in 2008, decided to stick with Noakes.

"He is a great teacher of fundamentals, and we expect to have a few young guys who will need that kind of instruction," said Haynes. "We think the collapses at the end of almost every season had more to do with the players getting complacent and the older guys getting tired of Noakes' strict style. So, because we're getting rid of some of the "old guys" (Barry Bonds, for instance), we felt Noakes should stay and continue his run of success."

With the attempt to get younger, the Squirrels did make a few changes in the front office. Haynes is stepping down from his GM post and has chosen former Milwaukee Brewers Director of Scouting Jack Zduriencik (dur-EN-cik) to take over the day-to-day operations.

"Jack has a great eye for young talent," said Haynes. " He built the Brewers from nothing to a great young team. I am very pleased to have him running this team. Hopefully he'll put the focus on acquiring young, cheap talent that will give us a chance to win for a long time coming."

With that, however, Brian Sabean stepped down from the Assistant GM position he had held for the entire history of the franchise.

"We'll miss Brian. I hoped he would stay and help Jack, but he decided he couldn't work under a younger guy who had a different philosophy. He told me he had given 5 years to this franchise and thought he should have been rewarded with the top title, but since he was passed over he decided to seek new opportunities," said Haynes.

The search is still on for a new Assistant GM, with rumors of Tampa Bay Rays Executive VP of Baseball Operations Andrew Friedman being the top candidate.