Magicians Add Third Ace; All-Star Left Fielder

The Herkimer Magicians have pulled off a blockbuster trade, dealing SP Joe Blanton, RF Brad Hawpe and a bunch of draft picks including the #3 overall pick to minor league partner Finger Lakes for All-Star starting pitcher Carlos Zambrano, All-Star left fielder Manny Ramirez, and top setup man Jon Rauch. "Along with the acquisition of Jeff Kent earlier this winter, we believe that gaining a couple more stars in Zambrano and Manny will deepen our lineup and rotation and give us arguably one of the two best one-two-three starters in the league, and putting Manny's bat in the middle of this lineup with Jeff will make it difficult to pitch around the middle of our lineup," Owner/GM Tim Farmer said in a press release. "With CC (Sabathia), John (Lackey), and Carlos anchoring our rotation, this gives us three extremely talented young starting pitchers to build around."