BURLINGTON — The Colorado Everest and Burlington Phishheads just finalized their second deal of the inaugural season; Burlington shipping 26-year-old power-hitting first baseman Tim Lee and AAA starter Dave Drader west for prized shortstop prospect Tim Stewart and third baseman Zach Shaffer.

Lee, the cornerstone of the deal, thanked Phishheads GM Larry Hockett.

Larry Hockett

“When they drafted me after drafting Big V (Angel Vazquez), the team told me to be ready to step aside when he was ready to play in the bigs,” Lee said. “They told me that in return, even though I was under contract, they would try to move me when there wasn’t a major league job for me in Burlington. With Colorado, I hope to start regularly, so they did the right thing by me.”

Vazquez was ready right away, hitting .316 with 38 homers, but with the team out of contention, Hockett brought Lee up from AAA for a platoon cameo in September. Lee did his part, with a sensational September callup (.338 with 7 homers in 71 AB) making him a hot commodity as GMs converged on the first CBU World Series.

Hockett was also complimentary.

“It’s not that we don’t like Tim,” he said. “He never once lollygagged. But as good as he was this year, he wasn’t going to take Angel’s job. In Colorado, in that bandbox and at that altitude, he could hit 70 homers. Good for him. But we filled two holes by trading a back-up, so we’re happy.”

Drader’s control is suspect and he bombed in his big-league trial. At 29, Hockett has him pencilled is as no better than a bullpen arm in the CBU.

Hockett also laughed off questions about whether there was a Colorado-Vermont trade pipeline. “Maybe Pat’s just a fast typer,” he said. “He got there first with the best offer. We did have more than one team interested, but Colorado is always willing to trade quality for quality.”

In return, the Phishheads got Stewart, who they project will be ready by the end of 2010 or spring 2011, and Shaffer, expected to fill the right-handed half of a platoon at third base with Miguel “Little V” Vazquez until Jorge Trojillo arrives. Trojillo, 22, was the team’s first pick in this summer’s draft and is expected to compete for a job in 2011.

The Phishheads didn’t offer a contract to 36-year-old backup shortstop Carlos Rodriguez this year, and the team wants some depth at the position. Starter Brian Walker, 28, is both streaky (he hit .211 in July, .388 in September) and terrible against lefties (.551 OPS versus .752 against right-handed pitching). Kiminobu Baba looked like he might be the answer despite tepid scouting reports, but after hitting .265 and .362 his first two months, he pretty much stopped hitting (.233 in August, .194 in September).

With Stewart and all-glove-no-hit Zuo-qian Niu in the pipeline, with three quality second basemen competing for a job in the big leagues, Angel Vazquez and soon Trojillo at the corners, Hockett says he’s set for infielders for the forseeable future.

Starting pitching and a veteran catcher to help Angel Cruz adapt to the majors are the team’s priorities for the rest of the off-season, he said.