Holiday shopping
The Wild Things have been unusually busy this holiday season, adding some veteran players to their roster for the 2013 season.
We know about the trade that sent starting pitcher Casey Barnes and first baseman Michael Bando to River City, but what about the flurry of other moves? Washington has traded for catcher Pat Trettel, signed corner infielder Coty Patte and second baseman C.J. Beatty, and today announced the signing of outfielder Mario Yepez.
So, who are these guys? And what do their signings tell us?
First, it's apparent the Wild Things have been shopping for some power hitting, and I suspect that a power-hitting third baseman or right fielder is still on their wish list.
Trettel, a North Allegheny High School and Seton Hill University product, had spent parts of two seasons in independent leagues, including 45 games last year in the Frontier League with Normal. After posting huge numbers for Seton Hill, Trettel was signed by Lincoln of the American Association and hit 11 home runs in only 38 games with the Saltdogs. He was named one of the top 10 prospects in independent baseball by Baseball America.
Traded to Normal last year, Trettel's production slipped as he batted only .245 with five home runs in 45 games for the CornBelters.
Trettel was sent back to the American Association and played 23 games with Kansas City. He hit three home runs but batted only .188. He was sent to Wichita and then to Washington in the offseason.
Trettel should make the opening day roster, but I'm guessing it's as a platoon catcher who spends more time at DH. Trettel has thrown out only 22 of 135 basestealers (16.3 percent) in his pro career and that number must improve for him to be an everyday catcher.
Patte is a rookie out of Mars Hills, a Division II school in South Carolina that also produced Wild Things pitcher Justin Hall. He put up good power numbers, leading Mars Hill in home runs each of the last two seasons.
Beatty is a veteran guy with more than 1,110 career at-bats between the St. Louis Cardinals' system and two independent leagues. He has some power for a middle infielder -- three times hitting at least eight home runs in a season. His high was 17 homers in the hitter-friendly North American Baseball league two years ago. One thing I like about Beatty is he draws walks, averaging better than one per every 10 at-bats for his career, though his strikeout rate is high for a middle infielder.
Yepez comes to the Wild Things after spending six seasons in the Seattle Mariners' system. He had a good year in low-Class A in 2011, hitting .332 with 17 doubles. Last year, however, he was used as organizational filler, playing six games at Triple-A, five at Double-A and 44 in Class A, where the batted only .219. He does have a career .279 average in more than 1,400 pro at-bats.
Washington also made a procedural move, picking up the club options on 21 players off last year's roster.
We know about the trade that sent starting pitcher Casey Barnes and first baseman Michael Bando to River City, but what about the flurry of other moves? Washington has traded for catcher Pat Trettel, signed corner infielder Coty Patte and second baseman C.J. Beatty, and today announced the signing of outfielder Mario Yepez.
So, who are these guys? And what do their signings tell us?
First, it's apparent the Wild Things have been shopping for some power hitting, and I suspect that a power-hitting third baseman or right fielder is still on their wish list.
Trettel, a North Allegheny High School and Seton Hill University product, had spent parts of two seasons in independent leagues, including 45 games last year in the Frontier League with Normal. After posting huge numbers for Seton Hill, Trettel was signed by Lincoln of the American Association and hit 11 home runs in only 38 games with the Saltdogs. He was named one of the top 10 prospects in independent baseball by Baseball America.
Traded to Normal last year, Trettel's production slipped as he batted only .245 with five home runs in 45 games for the CornBelters.
Trettel was sent back to the American Association and played 23 games with Kansas City. He hit three home runs but batted only .188. He was sent to Wichita and then to Washington in the offseason.
Trettel should make the opening day roster, but I'm guessing it's as a platoon catcher who spends more time at DH. Trettel has thrown out only 22 of 135 basestealers (16.3 percent) in his pro career and that number must improve for him to be an everyday catcher.
Patte is a rookie out of Mars Hills, a Division II school in South Carolina that also produced Wild Things pitcher Justin Hall. He put up good power numbers, leading Mars Hill in home runs each of the last two seasons.
Beatty is a veteran guy with more than 1,110 career at-bats between the St. Louis Cardinals' system and two independent leagues. He has some power for a middle infielder -- three times hitting at least eight home runs in a season. His high was 17 homers in the hitter-friendly North American Baseball league two years ago. One thing I like about Beatty is he draws walks, averaging better than one per every 10 at-bats for his career, though his strikeout rate is high for a middle infielder.
Yepez comes to the Wild Things after spending six seasons in the Seattle Mariners' system. He had a good year in low-Class A in 2011, hitting .332 with 17 doubles. Last year, however, he was used as organizational filler, playing six games at Triple-A, five at Double-A and 44 in Class A, where the batted only .219. He does have a career .279 average in more than 1,400 pro at-bats.
Washington also made a procedural move, picking up the club options on 21 players off last year's roster.
Labels: C.J. Beatty, Coty Patte, Mario Yepez, Pat Trettel
posted by Chris Dugan at
11:31 AM
15 Comments:
Chris: May I ask who is trading and signing these players? With Manager Bando in California, someone has to be making these selections. Any ideas? Also, did Manager Bando have his hip surgery, and do you think he will be returning for the 2013 season?
Looks to me like the Wild Cubs just signing players that have already proven that they are going nowhere.
These guys are so desperate to play that they don’t really care where the play. I see no benefit to the Wild Cubs from these signings.
So didn't this joke of a coach say at the end of last season that he felt he had a good core of young guys who are now experienced? And that he plans on keeping this group together for the spring roster? I remember reading that and laughing. Anyone who knows anything about independent baseball knows that these rosters have a large turnover each year due to roster restrictions and new players coming in. So, after this joke coach said this, he trades his best pitcher. (Which we all know was a scam with river city, the river city coach even said to Casey Barnes that he only wanted him and that he had to promise Bando that his son would have a "Ligitimate" opportunity to make his roster during spring training)Meanwhile, Brooks (river Coach) knows he'd be a laughing stock if he kept a .150 hitter on his team, and probably laughing it up with his office about how he acquired one of the most consistant pitchers in the league cause of Daddy Ball. Hopefully a team in the Atlantic League finds a way to roster Casey and give him a shot other than the Frontier League.
Not to mention, all the other moves JokeDoe has already made, which I hope he would have after the product he had on the field last season. Overall, good luck to wild things competing with that guy at manager. Did all his assistant coaches quit, leave, or get fired yet? Good leadership.
Why do people refer to them as the Wild Cubs. I'm new to the party here and am curious as to why.
Boo Stu
how is barnes the "best pitcher" when lee and c. smith had better numbers than him? where do you get this info on this "scam rc trade" as you say? we got 3 players for 1 pitcher, sounds good to me. i see the signings as positive, even chris likes them. they are alot better than the pecos signings buttons is gone, lets be happy the team is moving on.
The Wild Cubs sent 2 guys to affiliated ball already and had 5 of the top 20 indy prospects... First position player picked up in years...
Chris-- You seem like you have some faith in these signings, correct?
The real problems with the Wild Cubs are that the ones that are calling the shots (Stu and Steve) don’t know what the heck their doing and, almost worse than that, there is NO leadership in the front office.
Stu rules the place using the weapon of fear to keep people in line. Well, it’s his team; he owns it, so he can do as he whishes. But, it’s not working out too well is it?
I’m giving the Wild Cubs the 2013 season to show marked improvement. If I don’t see it, then I’ll join the legions that have fled CEP.
anonymous 12/6/12 10:25am; you really seem like a reliable source considering your brutal spelling and grammar #typical-illogical-rant
Stu has lost control of his investment. It's not even his team anymore. Zavacky and the little squirrely intern kid get to play GM and make "baseball moves", which amounts to them finding local kids who enjoyed high school success and professional cast offs and signing them to contracts.
This is what the good people of Washington doesn't understand. Halfway through the season, Stu took control out of Bando's hands to make moves because of the number of transactions he used up and gave the responsibility to Zavacky and Tony. Neither of them have any baseball background. The best players from last year were players that fell in their lap or were already there, not because they can evaluate talent.
The trades that have been made were awful. If you are a baseball guy, you will talk to people and know how he swings, what holes he has, how he fields, what kind of person he is, etc. Not just a stat on a paper. They don't get it. It's a half-hearted operation that Stu is running now and he has incapable people in the most important position, managing the talent on the field.
"little squirrely intern kid" That's and interesting comment. Who is this intern kid?
The only squirrely person at the Wild Cubs I know is Malcolm Smith.
I guess the blog sinks back to the gutter. It's really a shame when Mr Anonymous can hide behind his keyboard and hurl personal insults at Malcolm, who is a kid just doing his job. What a disgrace!
If you look at the last 2 seasons Barnes did have the best ERA(3.09). C.Smith had around 3.15 to 3.32 depending if you want to count the pitching he did at Traverse city and Lake Erie. Lee had a 3.48 ERA for 2011-2012. Every pitcher could have done better if they had a real pitching coach for the first half of the season. I saw bad defense and players being out of position, and that cost all of these pitchers in terms of ERA. And yes, I agree the team needs to move forward.
I’ve not been reading this blog very much lately. Yesterday I came across this statement. “Stu has lost control of his investment”. Do you actually know Mr. Williams? He is not the sort of man that will give up control of a substantial investment. I think you need to rethink that remark
As for the "little squirrelly intern kid" and the remark about Malcolm Smith – you should at least have the b***s to say it their faces. Come on Man!
Ima Fraid
BTW: Mr. Smith is NOT a kid, he is a grown man and should not be demeaned by calling him a "kid".
The "Little squirrely kid" isn't Malcolm. It's the intern who is "helping" Zavacky making baseball moves. His name is Tony Bucilli and he's posing as the "Baseball Operations Director of the Washington Wildthings". Google it. I implore everyone to.
Funny that everyone assumed the "squirrely kid" was Malcolm. Love how you all jumped to conclusions and insulted me and him, without actually understanding anything about the post, or baseball. Well done, everyone.
Signed (LOOK I'M SIGNING MY NAME?)
Bantumdleson
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