The Mike Sweeney Trade
�October 19, 2002
Just Days after beating Savannah to win its fourth Shoeless Joe League shoe, Moline made its first post-season trade, shedding salary to acquire Eric Karros, Colby Lewis, Jason Grabowski, and two first-round draft picks from expansion New Orleans for starting first baseman Mike Sweeney and infield prospect Omar Infante. "The fiscal climate continues to be difficult in this region," commented C.F.O. Mary Lamon-Smith. "I expect more rough sailing ahead." Moline general manager Rolf Samuels explained that Nick Johnson, acquired in the Carlos Delgado trade of July, 2001, was ready to assume first-base duties and that Sweeney's coming free agency made him too expensive to keep. Sweeney, drafted in the first round in 1997, never became the team's catcher of the future, but his strong bat helped the team off the bench while Delgado was with the squad and anchored the lineup in the last two years. If a bat can anchor.