Lions Welcome New Blood, Bid Fond Farewell To Franchise Icons Granderson, Greinke & Teixeira

Mohawk Valley beat reporters could sense an air of bewilderment in the Lions clubhouse as franchise icons Curtis Granderson, Zack Greinke and Mark Teixeira cleaned out their lockers as they prepared to meet their new employer halfway across the country.

The three distinguished veterans, plus the Lions' second-round pick in 2014, all belong to the St. Louis Maulers now, having been exchanged for center fielder Andrew McCutchen, first baseman Adam LaRoche and trade throw-in Javier Lopez, a lefty situational reliever. The transaction will take effect in time for Block 2 games in May.

Lions GM Matt Eddy acknowledged the difficult decision to part with three of the top talents in Mohawk Valley franchise history.

New Maulers righthander Zack Greinke

"Our rotation depth allowed us to make this trade," he said, referring to the starting-pitcher collective the local press corps had dubbed the $100,000 Rotation. "Trading Zack, Mark and Curtis hurts, but we knew our club's offense was deficient, and we feel that adding McCutchen and LaRoche makes it a little less so."

Following the trade, Derek Holland moves into the Lions rotation on a full-time basis, joining David Price, Yu Darvish, C.C. Sabathia and Stephen Strasburg.


Successive high draft picks over a three-year span, first baseman Teixeria (first overall in ’04), righthander Greinke (third overall in ’05) and center fielder Granderson (22nd overall in ’06) leave Mohawk Valley owning virtually every franchise record worth owning. The trio played on five playoff teams together in the past seven seasons, helping to drive M.V. to its first-ever postseason berth in 2006.

Teixeira holds the Mohawk Valley all-time records for homers (327), RBIs (970), hits (1,465), doubles (317), runs scored (912) and games played (1,457). He established the single-season club records with 46 homers in 2006 and a .419 on-base percentage in ’09.

Greinke compiled a 4.30 ERA and 1.29 WHIP over eight seasons and 1,359 innings with Mohawk Valley, finishing with an exemplary strikeout-to-walk ratio of a tick more than 3-to-1. His magical 2010 season established a slew of single-season franchise standards, including wins (20), ERA (2.54), strikeouts (259), WHIP (1.01), shutouts (three), walk rate (1.65 BB/9) and strikeout-to-walk ratio (5.63-to-1).

Granderson leaves the Lions as the all-time franchise leader in on-base (.364) and slugging (.531) percentage as well as OPS (.895). His 2008 season could be considered the best in franchise history. That year Granderson batted .341/.413/.674 with 23 homers, 35 doubles, 26 triples and 111 RBIs, with more than half his 160 hits going for extra bases. He established five single-season club records in ’08, including batting average, slugging percentage and OPS (1.086).