Roster moves begin

Matt Phillips

The Wild Things already have started to shape their roster for 2014.

Last week, during his column on the Wild Things' website, manager Bart Zeller announced that the player to be named who was acquired from Joliet in the Darian Sanford trade is pitcher Mike Barsotti (6-5, 230). A native of Philadelphia, Barsotti has played two years in the Frontier League and was with Zeller on the Slammers' 2011 championship team.

Barsotti was 2-1 with a 7.33 ERA as a rookie in 2011. This past season, Barsotti pitched in 24 games (5 starts) and had a 2-3 record and 3.16 ERA in 25 games. He gave up only 49 hits in 62 2/3 innings. Barsotti played college baseball ta Wesleyan University, an NCAA Division III school in Middletown, Conn.



Danny Poma

Washington also traded two key members of their bullpen, sending right-hander Amalio Diaz (0-2, 6 saves, 2.00 ERA) and lefty Matt Phillips (3-3, 1 save, 2.95) to Laredo of the American Association in exchange for outfielder Danny Poma.

Poma had a tremendous college career at Hofstra, where he stole 49 bases and hit 48 doubles over two seasons. He batted .430 as a senior. He was a highly regarded player coming out of college and was drafted in the 10th round by the Arizona Diamondbacks in 2012.

He never did live up to expectations during a brief stay in the Diamondbacks' system. Poma hit only .228 in a short-season Class A league in 2012 and was released this year after playing only four games for rookie-level Missoula.

After thinking about this trade for a few minutes, one thing struck me as being unclear. The Wild Things traded Diaz, who is a player who ages out of the Frontier League because he's 27 years old. I thought that a 27-year-old who is not classified as a team's Veteran becomes a free agent at the end of the Frontier League season. I must be wrong on this because Washington traded Diaz, who I thought was a free agent.