For each team that I review I will present a simple analysis about the moves entitled trending. It will be trending up, down, or neutral. All of the moves are based off of what I have seen on the Frontier League transaction wire which is updated as teams send information to the league. Some of the players who I have not seen sign, retire, or be released are listed as questions for the season and have no bearing on the direction. It is possible that I may have missed some things but this is my best analysis and of course has no bearing on how a team will perform on the field. Teams will also likely do a lot of shuffling at the end of affiliated spring training as players get signed or released from those clubs. It is tough to gauge rookies or if there any injuries that can change things in a hurry. The Beach Bums will be the last team evaluated for hope of getting the most up to date information on the team. Some moves on the transaction wire have not been announced by the club yet.
Lake Erie Crushers
Manager: John Massarelli
Career Record of 229-143 in Eight seasons
Pitching Coach: Chris Steinborn
Hitting Coach: Dave Schaub
Lake Erie inherited Chillicothe’s roster after the Paints decided to exit the league and help create the Prospect League for college athletes that Beach Bums' Director of Baseball Operations Jason Wuerfel will manage in this summer. What the Crushers did with those players was up to new Lake Erie Manager John Massarelli, who had seen a lot of the players when he piloted the Washington Wild Things in 2007. Several of the released players have surfaced in Washington where they will reunite with former Paints Manager Mark Mason.
For all players their pertinent 2008 stats are listed below their name...
Returning
OF – Montana Dye
40 Games; .197, 4HR, 20RBI, 4SB
IF – Josh Blackstock
75 Games; .251, 3HR, 33RBI, 69BB, 8SB
IF – Drew Saylor
89 Games; .276, 3HR, 48RBI, 17 2B
RHP – Andy Polk
22GS, 8-5, 4.08, 132.1IP, 85K
Newcomers
OF - Luke Hetherington
(Acquired in a trade with Evansville for 1st Round Pick in 2009)
45 Games; .305, 4HR, 24RBI, 8SB
OF – Adam Matos (True Rookie from Univ. of West Georgia)
2008 All-Gulf South Conference Baseball Team First Team
47G, .400, 4HR, 33RBI, 7SB
OF – Wayne Bond (True Rookie from Ball State)
2008 All-MAC First Team
52G, .327, 14HR, 55RBI, 16 2B, 14SB
OF – Scott Billak
(Acquired in trade from Windy City for IF Drew George and Future considerations)
91 Games; .291, 7HR, 55RBI
IF - Jesse Gibson
Rumor mill has him coming from Winnipeg last year but I didn't see any stats with the team
IF - Gordon Gronkowski (Angels System -- Will be an LS-2)
Played one game with Southern Illinois after getting released in 2008 from Cedar Rapids (A-ball - stats below)...Hit .344 at Orem (Rookie Ball) in 2007...
56G, .219, 2HR, 18RBI
IF – Arden McWilliams (Pensacola Pelicans -- American Assoc.)
Will be a Rookie-2 after playing in 13 games in the American Association
13G, .172, 0HR, 2RBI
IF – Jodam Rivera (Padres System -- Veteran)
Appeared briefly in Double-A during the 2006 campaign when he was also a teammate of Beach Bums' outfielder Mike Epping at Eugene and again in 2007 with Ft. Wayne...Spent 2008 in High-A Lake Elsinore
79G, .218, 1HR, 16RBI
IF – Levi Cheshire (True Rookie out of Madonna University)
50G, .303, 5HR, 17RBI, 18SB
IF - Andrew Davis (Will be an LS-1 from the Giants system)
Played all of 2008 in the South Atlantic League that Beach Bums Manager Gregg Langbehn coached in with the Augusta GreenJackets...
121G, .253, 3HR, 56RBI
LHP – Paul Fagan (Veteran from Mariners System)
A fourth round pick of the Mariners in 2003, Fagan spent five years in the Mariners system, peaking at High-A High Desert in 2007 as a reliever. Fagan spent 2008 in the American Association with Sioux City and struggled.
5G, 4 GS, 0-4, 10.62, 20.1IP, 15K
LHP - Mike Grady (Played with Washington in 2005)
Grady pitched for Massarelli in 2005 and has not pitched since, serving as the pitchign coach at Malone University. He is the oldest player on the roster at 26. His Washington stats are below from 2005
26G, 3-2, 3.67, 2SV, 49IP, 20BB, 15K
LHP - Rob Savarese (Rookie-2 from the Corpus Christi BeachDawgs)
Following his college career at Farmingdale State, Savarese went to the Continental Baseball League, a four-team independent circuit.
8G, 3 GS, 0-3, 7.20, 25IP, 12K
LHP – Brad Davidson (True Rookie from Florida Southern College)
14G, 13 GS, 5-4, 3.58, 73IP, 60K
C – Brad Griffiths (True Rookie from Lee University)
45G, .323, 1HR, 12RBI
C – Nick Maragas (True Rookie from Louisiana-Monroe)
35G, .317, 6HR, 30RBI
C - Brandon Ketron (LS-2 from Southern Maryland BlueCrabs)
UPDATE: Lake Erie released Ketron on April 23
Ketron was a Frontier-League All-Star catcher under Massarelli at Washington in 2006after hitting .330 with five homers in 52 games. He spent two years in the Yankees system before returning to the indy circuit by joining Southern Maryland last year in the Atlantic League.
50G, .199, 3HR, 19RBI
C - Brett Mieras (Rookie-2 from the Bay Area Toros)
Was a member of the Continental Baseball League's champion in his first pro season.
20G, .261, 0HR, 4RBI
RHP – Brent Lysander (Rookie-2 from the A's System)
Peaked at Kane County in the Midwest League last season. Stats are from his stint there, but he was also sent to Vancouver for two appearances.
24G, 1 GS, 1-3, 4.53, 51.2IP, 27K
RHP - Jordan Craft (LS-1 from the Red Sox system)
There are two Jordan Craft's listed so I am hoping this is the one. He spent parts of two seasons in the South Atlantic League with the Greenville Drive.
17G, 0-5, 7.29, 33.1IP, 24K
RHP - Steven DeFratus (Rookie-2 from the Bay Area Toros)
Debuted in the Continental League last season.
12G, 5 GS, 0-3, 2.50, 39.2IP, 19K
RHP – Nick Tisone (LS-1 from Southern Illinois)
DNP in 2008
19GS, 8-3, 3.82, 127.1IP, 79K in 2007
RHP – Hayden Lackey (Rookie-2 from the Tigers system)
Submarine reliever who spent 2008 in the Gulf Coast League
14G, 0-0, 4.84, 22.1IP, 18K
RHP - Greg Byron (True Rookie from Bethany College in Kansas)
Lake Erie will be his first professional shot but he played semi-pro in Toronto, his hometown.
13G, 13 GS, 11-1, 1.30, 69.1IP, 41K
RHP - Jacinto Gonell (Rookie-2 from the Yankees System)
A Dominican Republic native, Gonell spent four years in the Yankees system and reached High-A in 2007 but spent all of 2008 in the New York-Penn short season team as a reliever.
17G, 4-1, 4.05, 26.2IP, 23K
LHP - Darwin DeLeon (Rookie-2 From the Tigers System)
I discovered that he is also from the Dominican Republic and pitched in the New York-Penn League last year with Oneonta after being signed from the Dominican Summer League. He struggled at times with his command.
14G, 13 GS, 6-3, 4.20, 55.2IP, 42K
LHP - Kevin Skogley (LS-1 from the White Sox System)
Made four starts in the South Atlantic League before being placed at Great Falls in the Rookie Pioneer League. Spent two seasons in the White Sox organization. Stats are from Great Falls in 2008.
15G, 15 GS, 4-5, 4.98, 86.2IP, 88K
Departed
IF – Joe Spiers (Traded to Washington)
44G, .215, 0HR, 9RBI, 11 SB
IF – Drew George (Traded to Windy City)
15G, .154, 0HR, 0RBI
IF – Adrian Cantu (Released by Chillicothe on September 4)
92G, .276, 5HR, 53RBI, 22 2B, 7SB
OF – Jeff Vincent (Released)
94G, .243, 4HR, 33RBI, 13 2B, 8 3B, 25SB
OF – Sean Anderson (Released)
25G, .197, 0HR, 1RBI
OF – Nathan Faulkner (Released)
29G, .273, 2HR, 14RBI
OF – Zach Rodehero (Released)
25G, .207, 0HR, 8RBI
C – Bubba Garcia (Released)
40G, .184, 2HR, 7RBI
C – Jerry Verastegui (Released)
38G, .295, 0HR, 13RBI
LHP – Tommy Vrzal (Released)
17G, 6 GS, 2-2, 7.20, 40IP, 41K
LHP – Joe Brown (Aged Out of the Frontier League)
35G, 4-2, 3.74, 5SV, 43.1IP, 47K
RHP – Mike Rocco (Released)
15G, 10 GS, 1-9, 5.66, 62IP, 46K
RHP – Stephen Spragg (Released)
32G, 3 GS, 2-1, 4.48, 68.1IP, 48K
RHP – Jeff Michael (Released)
23G, 2-1, 6.64, 39.1IP, 26K
RHP – Marty Wiesler
(Traded to Florence for 1st Round Pick and then sent to Evansville)
38G, 6-3, 4.97, 67IP, 56K
RHP – Ryan Flanigan
(Traded to Gary of the Northern League for Future Considerations; Then traded to Grand Prairie of the American Association)
27G, 10 GS, 1-10, 6.23, 7SV, 73.2IP, 55K
LHP – Edwin Walker
(Traded to Gary of the Northern League)
35G, 5-3, 1.79, 5SV, 45.1IP, 51K
RHP – Andrew McCormick
(Released on April 24)
20G, 18 GS, 5-9, 4.57, 100.1IP, 70K
Questions
LHP – Brian Gartley
23G, 21 GS, 3-11, 6.88, 103.1IP, 79K
Keep Your Eye On
The Pitching Staff
Andy Polk was an All-Star for Chillicothe and at times was one of the best pitchers in the league. He shut down the Beach Bums in the second to last series of the season with a complete game, almost single-handedly ending the Traverse City playoff hopes. The addition of Nick Tisone helps to bring some stability to the pitching staff if he can show his 2007 form. A very interesting story in 2008, he spent the first third of the season on the injured list before being released after he was unable to regain his velocity. Tisone spent two seasons with Southern Illinois and was the pitcher who in 2007 carried a perfect game into the eighth inning against the Beach Bums. He is also the owner of the first win in Southern Illinois history, could he accomplish the same feat with another team?
The Outfield
The outfield may be the strength of the team. Luke Hetherington was solid in Evansville last season, Scott Billak was overshadowed on a pair of championship teams in Windy City but brings that championship experience to the Crushers. Montana Dye played well in spurts with Chillicothe. Add to that the mix of true rookies Wayne Bond and Adam Matos and Massarelli has a diverse and experienced group.
Trending
Neutral
Tough to make a judgment on a team that hasn’t taken the field yet as a member of the Frontier League. The hiring of John Massarelli brought instant credibility. One of the winningest managers in Frontier League history, Massarelli has responded by parting ways with a lot of the players who struggled from the league’s second worst team a year ago and has started to shape the Crushers his way. With the Washington Wild Things, Massarelli never had a team miss the postseason so you can be sure that if things don’t work early he will make the changes to keep the Crushers in contention in their first year.
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