Tuesday, May 29, 2012

Ch-ch-ch-changes

The revolving door on the Wild Things' clubhouse has been in full swing the last two days.

As manager Chris Bando said over the weekend, he's a patient man, but not that patient. He saw enough of the Wild Things' struggling offense (league-low .191 team batting average) during the six-game homestand and made several roster moves leading up to tonight's series opener at Windy City.

Gone is catcher Chris Anderson, who was off to an 0-for-13 start, and veteran outfielder Luis Rivera, who was batting .227. Rivera's average is fourth-best on the team. Third baseman/catcher Davis Page (1-for-5) was traded back to San Angelo of the North American League to complete an earlier trade. Page apparently was traded for himself. Washington acquired him five days ago from San Angelo.

Re-signed was catcher David Peters, who joined Washington in the offseason from the Florida Marlins system and then was dealt to the Pecos League before spring training. Peters has played in two games in the Pecos.

Also signed was outfielder Jeriel Waller, who was drafted in the 47th round last year by the Marlins. I can found no evidence that Waller played in any games in the Marlins' system after being drafted out of Grossmont College, a JC in California. On Waller's Facebook page, it says he attended San Diego Christian College.

Waller is the son of Reggie Waller, a former San Diego Padres scoring director, and nephew of Tye Waller, the Oakland A's first-base coach.

Left-handed relief pitcher Shawn Smith was put on the suspended list, apparently to make room for Steve Grife, who can be activated from the same list Friday. Washington also could activate pitcher Gary Lee, who has been serving as the bullpen coach.

Washington still has one open roster spot (assuming Grife or Lee fill one) and has room for an Experienced player.

The biggest surprise for the Wild Things this season is the trouble at the catcher position, especially when you consider Bando is a former major-league catcher. Washington has played four different catchers in nine games, and has had eight catchers on the roster since the start of spring training.

UPDATE: Shawn Smith was placed on the 7-day injured list and Gary Lee was activated for tonight's game.

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19 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

new players, same results, no offense even when given five walks...how bad is thennis that ph takes his spot with game on the line....

May 29, 2012 at 8:03 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

and the team .191 ba goes down tonight with the 4h in 28AB showing...

May 29, 2012 at 8:04 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

So this is what we can expect on this blog with the new rules? More boring than talking about the CEP price situation.
Now, we we want to include the Pirates this could get interesting but I thought it was a WT blog.

May 30, 2012 at 8:59 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Everyone relax. Just keep it about baseball. Not about selfish agendas. If the team is winning, talk about why it's winning. If it can't hit, like it can't right now, talk about that. Either way, Chris, please keep the blog.

Even though I don't typically comment on it, it's an easy way to follow the team during the season with transactions and other goofy things that happen (taping a sketch against an outfield wall, for example). Plus, the Wild Things aren't exactly savvy when it comes to media relations, or using the scoreboard for sports information.

May 30, 2012 at 10:02 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

can't blame the blog....the team is boring....

through six innings today, 3 balls out of the infield. that's a total of 7 plays for outfielders to make over the last 12 innings. and six more strikeouts today. it seems cy young is pitching for every team the wild things play, every day...

May 30, 2012 at 10:16 AM  
Anonymous Natural Grass said...

The Wild Things lost again today. That is 5 games in a row and one away from a double sweep.
Last night's attendence at Windy City was 1140 compared to Windy City's season average of 1650.
It looks like wherever and whenever the Wild Things play, the fans stay away. By the way the Wild Things season attendence average at home is 1190, right on par with last night.
Chris, is this type of conversation allowed by the new rules?

May 30, 2012 at 11:36 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Bando went 0 for 4 today. Good thing he is the manager's son because he could not hit with a $10 Wild Things hot dog.

May 30, 2012 at 3:05 PM  
Anonymous Natural Grass said...

The Wild Things avoided another 3 game sweep by being rained out tonigh.
Go Things!

May 31, 2012 at 5:35 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

another inning with a strikeout (2 actually) and no ball out of the infield. and then joliet scores on a 2-out single...

June 1, 2012 at 5:24 PM  
Anonymous Disa Pointed said...

6 loses in a row. What is the Wild Things record?
Chris, if you have enough courage, could you ask Manager Bando how the current Wild Things team would do in a 3 game series with the college team he manages.

June 2, 2012 at 4:53 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Just another season with the same old bull as always. I actually thought they were serious about bring a winning team to Washington this season.
The minute I walked into CEP and saw the same brain dead usher working there that was there last season, I knew it entire off-season hype about how good things were going to be was bovine dumpings.
Loon A. Tick

June 2, 2012 at 11:03 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

An example of just how seriously The Frontier is can be found by a visit to the Frontier website The fan page has not had an entry since last November. The Company Store has not added a new item in several years, a prime example of just how popular this rip-off League is.

June 2, 2012 at 11:51 AM  
Blogger Chris Dugan said...

The fan site is NOT run by the Frontier League. It's a page operated by a guy from the River City area. When he was in Washington when the Rascals played here two years ago, Tim told me that his new job commitment was preventing him from spending much time working on the site. That's a shame because there's some interesting things on that site.

June 2, 2012 at 2:44 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Well, as usual Mr. Dugan can find an excuse for everything. The fan site is on the Frontier League website therefore...... Just the same, no one posts anything on it, interesting, or not.
If your interested in reading about some of the many past failures of this League, you can find a lot of the checkered history of this so called professional baseball league.

June 2, 2012 at 3:42 PM  
Anonymous Disa Pointed said...

The Things got gored tonight. According to Radio Randy, the 7 loses in a row ties the frachise record.
It would be good for them to lose an 8th game and set the franchise record.
That way, they would have accomplished something this year.
Something to "STU" about.
I wonder what effect this will have on attendence when they get back to CEP?

June 2, 2012 at 6:47 PM  
Blogger Chris Dugan said...

The franchise record for consecutive losses is 9. Washington lost the final 8 games of the 2010 season (2 at Windy City, 3 at Lake Erie and 3 at Traverse City) and the opening game last year (at Joliet).

June 2, 2012 at 7:07 PM  
Blogger Chris Dugan said...

To Anonymous 3:42: The only person who can post on it is Tim. It's his site.

June 2, 2012 at 7:08 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

another 4 hit, 7 strikeout night for the mild things...this is absolutely pitiful.

June 2, 2012 at 7:52 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I guess Radio Randy is wrong. He needs Bob Gregg to guide him. For the record, I would count 8 within the regular season.
However they have a good chance to set the single season and multiseason record for loses.
If not this streak, they sometime in the season.
The year the manager and coaches are made up of ex major leagers. It looks like they are doing no better or worse than non major league staffers in the past.
So then, what is the reason for the poor quality of teams in Washington.
Lets "Stu" on it!

June 3, 2012 at 4:21 AM  

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