Another trade
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Flight was in his second year with Washington. He has made 16 starts this season and produced a 3-7 record and 3.97 ERA. Flight has been a tough-luck pitcher, winning only one game since May. With the Miners, he will have a chance to pitch in the Frontier League playoffs.
Flight had been with Washington all season, and his exit leaves 12 players from the opening day roster who are still with the team.
Klein (6-4, 205) is a rookie out of Mercyhurst, where he was the PSAC West Division Pitcher of the Year this spring. He had a 8-3 record with a 2.24 ERA and 85 strikeouts in 68 1/3 innings. With Southern Illinois, Klein pitched in seven games (five starts) with a 3-0 record and 2.58 ERA.
Washington also placed catcher John Fidanza on the 7-day disabled list, released relief pitcher Jacob Westerhouse (0-0, 5.40), who was signed only last week, and signed catcher Eddie Sorondo and left-handed pitcher Scott Silverstein.
Sordono is a former Delaware State catcher who played 24 games this year with the Camden Riversharks of the Atlantic League, batting .250 with five extra-base hits.
The 6-6, 260-pound Silverstein is an interesting player. He is a former University of Virginia pitcher who won 11 games and saved four others last year for the Toronto Blue Jays' affiliate in the Class A Midwest League. This year, he struggled at high-Class A Dunedin and was released.
posted by Chris Dugan at
8:21 PM
14 Comments:
So, what else is new? What I am waiting to hear is that both Bobby B and Wacky Z has both been given the boot. With Wacky, it's long overdue. Giving the managing job
to Bobby was a hoot from the get-go. When are the WT finally get themselves together? This bunch is a fraud from top to bottom.
Tonights box score attendance is listed as 1002. I doubt if there were 300 paying customers in the park. Include are people like me as one of those who got in free thanks to WJPA free tickets.
I have been to several Rellion games and more people were in the stadium.
The ballpark was dead tonight.
The Wild Thing tried to rev up the crowd whith haveing any luck.
Included in the 3oo was Ima Fraid.
Chris have you witnessed fewer customers in the park for a Wild Things game.
I wonder if the attendence decline started the same year as the switch to taxpayer turf?
yes, have seen fewer customers.
Turf has had zero impact on attendance.
First years with drops in attendance were 2004 and 2005. Steady decline started in 2008 until an upswing last year.
Turf went in for 2011 season.
I think I've seen fewer fans once before but there were very few people in the park last night indeed. I don't see how the attendance was slightly over one thousand even counting the no-shows. The place was like an Egyptian tome. I dropped a penny and 45 kids all heard it fall and almost killed each other diving for it.
The Thunderbolts are the only team that actually make the Wild Things almost look good. I thought the Crushers were bad until watching the Bolts the last two nights.
On another subject; What's the problem with the League making some sort of determination on the Otter's situation? I don't think it would be right to allow other teams in the League to move up in the standings because of what happened. If you ask me the FL did not do due diligence when, and if, it verified the Evansville roster so, at least in part, they are also responsible for this mess. If teams are going to move up in the standings then they, including the Wild Things, should have to earn it on the field of play. I know that the faux manager of the Wild Things, Bobby B, would like to see his team get something without actually earning it but, I hope that doesn't happen. God, I wish we could get an affiliated team here. This Independent league fiasco crap with things like the International Tie breaker rules, second rate umpires (usually limited to two per game), Pete Rose nights, etc. is really not a top quality product. Well, I suppose you get what you pay for but with the Wild Things about all you get is some very nice (underpaid) employees, the mascot, and the ever monotonous drone of the cornball PA announcer with his never ending "dirtiest car in the parking lot" routine that we've been listening to every night for the last fourteen years. Let's not forget the equally boring announcement of "Danny.......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................Poma!" as the next batter. Really way past time for this guy to go, or at least have somebody write him a new script. However, I doubt if any MLB team would be willing to invest enough to ever bring an affiliated team here BUT, I can still dream! I would just love to watch some really talented young prospects, instructed by equally talented coaches, play here.
Anyway, this is my final post of the season. A season so bad that even Swiss Chedda isn't interested in posting here anymore. Good luck to the Wild Things the rest of the season.
Ima Fraid
Correction to my last post. I should have said - The place was like an Egyptian Tomb, not tome. So, as you can see, it's true that the mind IS the second thing to go. Hey, what more can you expect? I'm old!!!
Ima Fraid
Ima Fraid:
What is the first thing to go?
Just saw your post now, Ima Fraid. It's not so much that I'm not interested, it's more that I'm uninformed. I attended just 1 game, both this season and last season. And in 2012, zero. I would say that I'm a prime example of lost ticket sales. I used to attend about 15 games a season, remarkable considering the distance I'd drive. So that was at least 30 tickets or more a season. And now? 2. My family life pretty much exploded the past few years, just too much going on. So that meant less time reading the O-R online, keeping up to date with the team, and pretty much never listening to the broadcasts online. I haven't lost interest in baseball, it's by far the greatest game in the world. I watch a lot of Pirates games, but haven't gone to one last season or this one, either. But surely the biggest reason I haven't gone to any games is Parkway West construction. That's just a killer, I don't want to be sitting forever in traffic driving home. So I go to concerts each weekend, it's been a record year of discovering Pittsburgh's incredible pool of music talent.
But I don't blame the casual baseball fan for staying away. Let's face it, the Wild Things just plain stink this year. I'd be hard pressed to name 3 players off the top of my head. How in the world do you fall behind a travel team? That's near impossible. But I do believe that a fish rots from the head down. These last few seasons have been abysmal, even with the team reaching the playoffs last season. No sense relisting all the examples here, but the only way to bring excitement back to the team is to clean house, from ownership on down. And I don't believe that will happen. He'll relocate, and I'm sure he already knows when that will happen. Nobody owns 2 franchises in the same league, and it's not going to happen here. He's milked all he can out of Washington. I do think a different owner could revive the Wild Things. There's room for the Pirates, Black Bears, and Wild Things all to succeed. But most people want an electric atmosphere, not a morgue, which the House of Thrills has become. Ima Fraid's penny comment was hilarious. I always enjoy your posts.
I do not live in Washington or even the county, but whatever happened to all these non-baseball events that were coming to CEF, which was the reason for the rug? Have any concerts happened there this summer? Rodeos? Square Dances? Anything?
Sell the team. Lower prices, have free parking, advertise the hell out of the team during Pirate telecasts. Bring in the busloads of kids, and make the place fun again. I'm not holding my breath....
After reading Ima Fraird's comment, I felt compelled (or maybe I was just bored and needed something to do) to add/respond/clarify/give my opinion on some things:
1. I have no idea what is taking the Frontier League so long to act on the Evansville situation. I assume it has something to do with attorneys. The longer the wait, the worse it makes the league and the Otters look. You get the feeling that if it's taking this long to take action, then there was something to hide. If it was an honest typographical error or something like that, then you'd think a ruling would have been made by now. Because the FL put a gag order on the Otters, answers to important questions have remained a mystery. What year of birth was on Will Oliver's original contract with the Otters? What year of birth was on his contract for this season? Why was his year of birth changed multiple times on the roster? Who knew Oliver was too old to play in the league and when did they know?
2. I don't agree with the idea of opponents not be awarding wins if Oliver is ruled ineligible. That would mean you had games played and there was no winner. As was mentioned in another comment, if this happens do the fans who paid to see those games that resulted in no winner get their money back? It would be the same as a game rained out. If a team breaks the rules by using an ineligible player, especially one who is leading the league in ERA and wins, then it's a forfeit. Every league that has eligibility rules awards forfeits. One team gets a win and the other gets a loss. One overlooked part of this is Oliver's performance impacted more than just the game he pitched. Each of his superb outings prevented Evansville from overworking its bullpen and kept relievers available for the next night's game.
3. Affiliated ball will never come to Washington ... and never is a long time. That prospect died when Cam Bonifay was fired in 2001. Heck, why would the Pirates want to put a team in a town that hasn't been able to draw flies for almost a decade? The truth be told, Washington is not a good baseball town.
4. Bad promotional nights are not limited to the Frontier League. They happen all over the majors, minors and indy leagues. For example, Caucasian Heritage Night, 10-Cent Beer Night, Disco Demolition Night, Cash Dash Night, Wet T-shirt Night, Turn Ahead the Clock Night and any night that involves taking your pets to a game.
5. The Frontier League uses two umpires for all regular-season games. The crew is expanded for the playoffs. Rookie, short-season and Class A minor leagues also use two-man crews.
6. I haven't seen enough short-season or Class A games to feel comfortable saying this is 100 percent true, but from what I have seen and from what I've heard from players, the umpiring in the Frontier League is better than what it's getting credit for being. Keep in mind that many of the rookie and short-season leagues have umpires who are very young, inexperienced and fresh out umpire schools. The majority of FL umpires work major colleges such as the Big Ten, Big 12, Missouri Valley, Mid-American and so on, in the spring followed by the FL and college summer leagues. They do this because they can keep the day jobs or continue to run their own business. Guys who work the low affiliated leagues generally are not married and don't have a business or good day job to give up, so they can spend the spring and summer traveling and chasing that promotion to the next level.
Disa Pointed said...
Ima Fraid:
What is the first thing to go?
............................
Well, I can only relate my own experience and --- I'm not talkin'!
LOL!!
I know I said yesterdays post would be my last for the season. However, a couple of
other post require, at least to me, a response.
Swiss, it seems obvious the the Wild Things are not even trying to make things better.
In fact, it looks very much like they are deliberately trying to do exactly the opposite.
So, as much as I would like to see the team remain in Washington, I believe that at
the most, they will be here probably two more seasons.
When it comes to all the ‘events’ that were going to take place, let me say this; it sounded like BS at the time
and, as time has proven, that all it was, PURE BS and nothing more than that! Hell, to listen to all
the crap being slung at the season ticket holders meetings one would have thought that CEP
was going to be the entertainment center of ALL Western Pennsylvania, if not the entire eastern portion of the
United States!. As a matter of truth, Mr. Williams made almost just that very claim during those meetings. The ‘lemmings’ that attended
those meeting just ate that crap up. They sat there looking like a baseball bobble head with smiles
all over their approving faces. Yes, as hard as it is to believe, most of them actually believed the claims
of this charlatan. Well, as I suspected all along, and I have stated on this blog in the past, none of
those false promises have come to fruition, have they? The resultant disappointment has resulted
in fewer than ever season ticket holders, (BTW: Those meetings have now been discontinued or,
if they still have them they are keeping it a secret from me), dwindling attendance figures and a lot of
disgruntled fans. Whether it’s true, or not, it seems that the intention of the ownership is to pick the
pockets of as many of us as they can and, as a couple of people have suggested to me. sell the
property for some from of redevelopment in the foreseeable future. Most fans, including myself, thought that we might just be able
to experience the fun of watching a competitive team play here in Washington so we invested our time,
and money, only to see our faith in this management was misplaced.
Can we expect to see a winning team each season? Of course not, and it would be unrealistic for us to do
so. Should we expect to see some effort by management to make going to a Wild Things game a more enjoyable experience?
Absolutely. Am I old and grumpy? Sure! I’ve seen and heard enough BS in my long lifetime to fill CEP
several times over. I, as do many others, go to CEP just to mingle with our friends there. Having said that,
is it too much to ask Mr. Williams to pull his head out of wherever it is and perhaps deliver on at least a
few of the promises he’s make in the past in his zeal to make money from us? I think not.
As the old baseball adage goes; “We were robbed”. No problem for you Mr. Williams, because I like to watch baseball,
no matter how poorly it’s presented, I will be renewing my season tickets as long as the team remains here. However, I
should walk into the office with my hands over my head! Merely as a symbolic gesture, of course.
Ima Fraid
Chris Dugan said, in part;
Bad promotional nights are not limited to the Frontier League. They happen all over the majors, minors and indy leagues. For example, Caucasian Heritage Night, 10-Cent Beer Night, Disco Demolition Night, Cash Dash Night, Wet T-shirt Night, Turn Ahead the Clock Night and any night that involves taking your pets to a game.
...............................................................................
I was not referring only to the Frontier League, Chris.
There is a reason why MLB turns a blind eye to Indy leagues. The flimflam nature of the way things are promoted, and the carnival atmosphere created by many teams. Also, the embracing of the International Tie-breaker rule (I hope you can 'editorialize' against this really absurd rule) only adds to the almost non-professional (in my opinion) appearance of some Indy leagues. To put it mildly, I'm just not impressed with Indy leagues at all. But, living in Washington, that's what we are stuck with.
BTW: I have seen 'Bring your pets nights' in MLB. Since I love animals, I don't object to that.
Now, back into by cubbyhole until after the Frontier League is over.
Have the WT been eliminated yet?
No.
.... it seems obvious the the Wild Things are not even trying to make things better. In fact, it looks very much like they are deliberately trying to do exactly the opposite. So, as much as I would like to see the team remain in Washington, I believe that at the most, they will be here probably two more seasons.
Parkersburg Wild Things in 2017. You can count on it. Sayonara Washington.
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