Friday, April 19, 2013

What's been happening ...

Catching up with news from the Wild Things and around the Frontier League:

The Wild Things made a flurry of roster moves this week, including re-signing Jim Vahalik, their starting catcher from last year, and trading four players in three separate deals and acquiring more Experienced pitchers.

Vahalik (6-2, 192) was acquired by Washington last July in a trade with the London Rippers. The deal was finalized minutes before the London franchise ceased operations. The former University of Toledo catcher batted .239 with three home runs and 33 RBI in his first year in the Frontier League.
After the season, Vahalik had his contract purchased by the Baltimore Orioles, but he was released late last month in the final round of cuts during minor-league spring training.

“He had a good spring with the Orioles, but they decided to make him a first baseman,” Wild Things manager Bart Zeller said. “Jim wants to catch and will receive every chance to be our backstop when the season starts. Jim is definitely a gamer and brings great intensity to the game.”

With Vahalik returning, Washington then traded catcher Pat Trettel and pitcher Chandler Barnard to the El Paso Diablos of the American Association in exchange for right-handed pitcher Shawn Blackwell and a player to be named.

Trettel, a North Allegheny High School and Seton Hill University product, was acquired in an offseason trade. He played in the Frontier League for two seasons with Normal and then to a team in the American Association. Barnard was 1-4 with two saves and a 2.47 ERA in 25 games with Washington last year.

Trettel became expendable after Vahalik was re-signed. Barnard, I noticed, was one of two players on Washington's roster that had not been listed in the Frontier League transaction as having signed a contract for 2013 (the other is first baseman Corey LeVier).

"Chandler Barnard had requested to be moved to a more experienced league because of his age, and we wanted to see if we could oblige," Zeller explained. "El Paso called about their availability of Pat Trettel because they needed an everyday catcher. With the release of Jim Vahalik from the Orioles, this deal had to be made."

Blackwell (6-5, 195) was drafted in the 24th round out of high school by the Texas Rangers. He spent three years in the Rangers’ system, pitching in 20 games at the Class A level last season. He had 127 strikeouts and only 43 walks in his career.

“Shawn Blackwell is a strike-thrower,” Zeller said. “He has three years of experience in the Rangers organization and comes highly recommended by their scouting team. Shawn is only 22 with tremendous upside.”

The Wild Things also traded outfielder Matt Fleishman back to the Long Island Ducks of the Atlantic League in exchange for a player to be named. Fleishman played in 17 games with Long Island last year. He signed with Washington in December.

* Washington reacquired pitcher Jhonny Montoya from Lancaster of the Atlantic League, but only for a brief period of time. Montoya wasn't going to to make Lancaster's opening day roster -- the Atlantic League began Thursday -- so he was dealt back to the Wild Things, who traded him to Kansas City of the American Association in exchange for a player to be named.

The Wild Things seem to be cornering the market on players to be named. In a little more than a year, they have made trades from which they are still owed 9 players (4 from Roswell of the Pecos League, 2 from Alpine of the Pecos League, 1 from Kansas City, 1 from Long Island and 1 from El Paso).

* Washington announced today the signing of Will Scott, a right-handed pitcher from Marietta, Ga., who spent three years in the San Diego Padres system. Scott was drafted three times by three teams before singing with San Diego out of Walters State Community College in Tennesse. He pitched in three games last year for the Padres' Class AAA affiliate in Tuscon.

* Trettel and Barnard each were classified as Experienced by Frontier League roster rules. Blackwell and Scott also are Experienced, but Vahalik is an R2. The Wild Things are still 4 over the opening day limit for Experienced players.

* The Southern Illinois Miners made a splash Thursday by signing pitcher Hayden Simpson, the Chicago Cubs' first-round draft pick in 2010. Simpson spent two forgettable years in the Cubs' system after being drafted out of Southern Arkansas University. He had a combined 5-17 record in two seasons and never advanced past Class A.

Simpson was the 16th overall pick in 2010, the same draft that yielded Jameson Taillon in the first round for the Pirates. Simpson was taken nine spots behind Matt Harvey, who is 3-0 with an 0.82 ERA for the New York Mets.

I can recall at least two former first-round draft picks -- outfielder Kellen Kulbacki (Lake Erie) and first baseman Jon Poterson (Chillicothe) playing in the Frontier League, but at No. 16 Simpson is the highest such selection. Kulbacki and Poterson were compensatory picks at the end of the first round.

Simpson received a reported $1.06 million signing bonus from the Cubs.

* Wild Things ownership's plan to put a franchise in Bridgeport, W.Va., seemed to get a boost last Saturday night when the West Virginia legislature failed to pass the Morgantown Tax Increment Financing Plan. Actually, the bill never advanced to the point where a vote was taken.

The TIF was to create a special tax district to generate funds to help pay for a new ballpark for West Virginia University and a New York-Penn League team that will begin play in Morgantown during 2015. A new interchange on I-79 also would be funded by the TIF.

The bill seemed to die when it was tied to a pay raise for magistrates across West Virginia. That was good news for the Wild Things and Bridgeport, which is trying to secure funding for a yet-to-be-built ballpark. However, that good news didn't last an entire week.

A special session called by West Virginia's governor Wednesday resulted in the TIF being passed.

15 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

So are the wild things relocating? I wouldm't think so after all the changes they made. New field new concessions. Last year I went for the opener got a program. Went back in July. Still same program same players who weren't there sam ad's.

April 20, 2013 at 6:42 AM  
Anonymous Section 103 said...

We picked up our season tickets at the CEP open house last Saturday. Not many people there, but it was cold and windy. Staff seemed to be ready, answered all our questions, we even bought a couple shirts on sale. I have a good feeling about this year. Looking forward to opening day.

April 20, 2013 at 9:45 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Last year was a bad team but why are the Wild Things bringing back everyone from last year's bad team

Chris who is responsible for making baseball moves because theres no way they are qualified to do so

April 20, 2013 at 7:10 PM  
Anonymous Jeff said...

@ Anon 7:10pm - - It seems to me that after the Rippers went belly up and some of the last minute signings the WT had, for the last 1/4 of the season a fairly good team. I'm not at all displeased with having some of the some or most of the players back to start this season.

April 21, 2013 at 7:36 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Roster looks like it has to be close to set. What will be the lineup chris? whos playing where and whos pitching?

April 21, 2013 at 10:27 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Of the 34 players coming to camp only 15 are returning players, so I'm not sure why you think "all the bad players are coming back". Dead weight players like Buttons and BP Blackwell are long gone. 2013 seems to be totally different.

-Brian

April 21, 2013 at 10:29 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I think a lot of people do not realize that they were above .500 the second half last year
i believe 28-24?

April 21, 2013 at 1:26 PM  
Blogger Chris Dugan said...

Were 26-23 after the all-star break.

April 21, 2013 at 7:02 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I'm sure there have been more, but here's a few 1st round picks in the Frontier League:

2003: David Mead (Rangers 1st round supplemental-47th pick in 1999) was signed by the Otters then picked up by the Padres in Frontier League Spring Training.

2006: Ben Diggins (Cardinals 1st round supplemental-32nd pick in 1998) played for the Windy City Thunderbolts.

2007: Steve Obenchain (A's 1st round supplemental-37th pick in 2002 *MONEYBALL DRAFT*) pitched for the Otters.

April 22, 2013 at 10:12 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Is this really what the Wild Things have become? Everyone in Washington is cool with them being 3 games over .500 for half a season now? Thats pathetic. Your franchise set league records for wins in a season. Now everyone is just cool with mediocrity. The team that is currently assembled would be destroyed by the 2002-2007 teams. Those teams could play this Washington team 100 times, and this team MIGHT win 10 of those. Maybe. What the team needs is some vision on the baseball ops side of things on how to get players of that caliber back again.

Only 15 returning players? Teams are only allowed 24 on a roster. The players that arent returning were successful arms in the Frontier League. Given away for nothing. You fans need to stop cheering that you got rid of a mistake and worry about whats actually left.

You know who's really excited for this season?

Still, Flagg, Burch, Vargas. Traverse City's lineup laughs whenever the Child Things come to bat.

Go Blue

April 23, 2013 at 7:02 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

How do you make a Beach Bum choke? Answer: Say the word "playoffs"

April 23, 2013 at 8:57 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Yes with all those championships Washington has. Pot, meet kettle.

April 24, 2013 at 10:23 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Gotta love tough talkin individuals behind Anonymous nametags.

If you want to know who I am, you can find me in Section 110 on a daily basis.

April 24, 2013 at 11:50 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

It's not anonymous. I can leave any name I want on here. The point is you know I'm right. Not calling out anyone, just saying a fact. These are facts. And they are undisputed.

April 25, 2013 at 9:56 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

You mean those 2002-07 teams that always lost when it mattered? The ones the front office reused to let players move on to affiliated teams because they wanted to keep the teams intact and win a championship ( we all know how that turned out).

April 25, 2013 at 2:25 PM  

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