Examining the roster

Spring training is less than two weeks away for the Wild Things – the season opener is 27 days from now – but their roster is far from set. Yes, this is a busy time for Frontier League managers and coaches as they scramble to sign players cut during minor-league spring training and released by other independent leagues. Teams also will be adding players from tryout camps, including the Frontier League tryout May 2-3 in Florence, Ky.

A check of the Wild Things' roster shows there are still spots that must be addressed before spring training begins. The most obvious is catcher, where only Blake Ochoa and Greyson Schram are on the roster. Billy O'Conner was placed on the suspended list last week. You can't go through spring training with only two catchers, so expect one or two more to be signed.

The same can be said for the outfield, where only four players are on the roster. Though some of the infielders have position flexibility (a Mike Tomlin term), here's thinking that at least one more outfielder will be signed for spring training, if only to make fewer infielders play out of position during intrasquad games.

One other spot that appears to be quite unsettled is starting pitcher. Judging by the quotes from manager Darin Everson in Wild Things press releases, many of the pitchers signed by Washington seem ticketed for bullpen duty.

Of the 20 players who had their options picked up in December, five were starting pitchers last year. Another, Jason Neitz, did not play last season but was a starting pitcher for Washington in 2009.

Of those six starting pitchers, I've heard that one (Billy Muldowney) won't be coming back, though you never know for sure who will and won't return until camp opens. I've seen guys be no-shows at camp, and at least one who wasn't expected to return arrive several days into camp (and woefully out of shape).

Another starting pitcher (Justin Edwards) is coming off shoulder surgery and won't be back until midseason. Two others (Zach Groh and Steve MacFarland) ended last year on the injured list and aren't even listed on the Wild Things' roster on the Frontier League's website.

The other starting pitcher is Jeff Sonnenberg, who developed into the staff ace last year.

It looks like the other starting options could be lefty Joe Rodriguez, who was selected in the Oakland County dispersal draft after making four starts for the Cruisers, and Sean Keeler, who had some starting experience (three games the last two years) in college at Franklin Pierce.

Depending on the status of MacFarland, Groh and Neitz, this could be a position the Wild Things are actively trying to address. My guess is there's a starting pitcher or two who Washington is waiting to receive a contract from in the next 10 days.

Tuesday night leftovers

If Darin Everson has proven anything in his short stint as the Wild Things' manager, it's that he's not afraid to call for a squeeze play, whether the suicide or safety variety. It was the latter that produced the winning run Tuesday night in Washington's 6-5 victory over Gateway.

Billy O'Conner put down a bunt on the first pitch he saw from Grizzlies reliever David Miller to score Luis Rivera from third base and give the Wild Things a 6-5 victory.

It's at least the second time Everson has used the squeeze play in the season's first three weeks. John Massarelli called for a couple of squeeze plays -- I recall one was with Brett Grandstrand batting and beat Kalamazoo -- with success during his four years as the Wild Things' manager. I don't recall any squeeze bunts called by Washington's other managers. I asked one of those managers why he never uses the squeeze and his response was "Scouts want to see hitters drive people in, not bunt them in."

Everson has shown he's playing to win and isn't afraid to try anything to get a victory.

* For the past week, the best job in the world was to be a Gateway Grizzlies relief pitcher. During a six-game homestand, while the Gateway starters toiled just about forever, the Grizzlies' hitters outscored the opponents 73-18 and hit eight home runs in a 25-1 rout Sunday over Lake Erie. The guys out in Bullpenville had less to do than the night guard at a sewerage treatment plant. David Miller, the Grizzlies' 6-foot-10 reliever, could have visited the family in Fort Worth for a week and nobody would have noticed.

So when Grizzlies were finally locked in a close game Tuesday, you had to excuse reliever Eric Gilliland if he was a little rusty when it came to recognizing the signal to enter a game. While Grizzlies manager Phil Warren held court on the mound during the bottom of the seventh inning, Gilliland trotted into the game from the left-field bullpen at Consol Energy Park.

The only problem was that nobody had called for Gilliland to enter and replace starter John Flanagan. Gilliland nearly made it to the infield before Warren and several Grizzlies began waving frantically for him to get off the field and return to the bullpen.

* One item of concern for the Wild Things has to be left-handed hitting Jacob Dempsey's .059 batting average (1-for-17) against lefty pitching.

* While Washington won in the 10th inning Tuesday, the key frame for the Wild Things was the fourth. That's when they scored two runs after having two outs and nobody on base. O'Conner, the No. 8 hitter, singled to right field and Chris Raniere followed with a line-drive single up the middle. O'Conner made it to third base on the play.

Chris Sidick then chopped a risky two-out bunt past the pitcher's mound for an infield single that scored O'Conner, and Michael Parker hit a sharp single off the glove of sliding Gateway shortstop Tyler Heil to give Washington a 5-3 lead.

Thoughts through 3 games

Some notes, observations and thoughts after the Wild Things' season-opening homestand:

* There were plenty of lasting images from the season's first three games and not many were positive for the Wild Things: Washington's baserunning blunders in the opener, the muddy and water-logged outfield, the empty seats ...

* On the positive side, you have to be impressed with the hitting of Adam Amar and Mark McGonigle. They could be two impact hitters. Chris Sidick is off to a better start than last year, which is a good sign. Michael Parker, who had a 24-game hitting streak last season, seems to be hitting the ball as well, if not better, so far this season.

* The Wild Things have to be concerned about attendance, or the lack of it. The 1,624 on hand for Sunday's game was the second-smallest crowd in franchise history. The 6,311 for the series was the second-smallest attendance for a three-game series. The opener didn't sell out -- for the first time. During the first inning of the opener, there was one section of seating along the third-base line that had four empty rows at the top. The same section had one person seated in the front row. The next section down the line also had one person seated in the front row.

There did, however, seem to be more people in the box seats for the opener than last year.

* The pace/length of games have gotten ridiculously long. And don't blame it on the between-innings promotions. Blame it on the "Moneyball" era and umpires.

Hitters today are taught to work the count like never before, and the umpires help them by refusing to call a strike a strike. The rulebook says the upper end of the strike zone is the midpoint between the top of the shoulders and the top of the uniform pants, and the lower level is the hollow beneath the knee. The strike zone, however, has become the bottom of the belt to the top of the kneecap.

I have some video/DVD copies of baseball games played in the 1960s and 1970s. The thing that jumps out to me when watching them is the strike zone. The zone was actually called correctly back then, players had to swing and the game moved at a quicker, more fan-friendly pace.

* Have you ever seen an outfield that was only partially mowed on opening day? I hadn't until Friday.

* This is the best Oakland County/Midwest team. The Cruisers/Sliders have more speed than ever before, Zach Pace is always on base, Joash Brodin and Jimmy Baker can hit, Luis Fernandez looks like a good defensive shortstop and pitchers James Albury and Kevin Asselin have track records of success. Too bad the Cruisers/Sliders are playing 51 of their first 57 games on the road. It's hard to stay in a playoff race with that kind of disadvantage.

* Washington catcher Billy O'Conner probably earned a few more starts by going 4-for-5 Sunday.

* Best line of the weekend came after Sunday's game, when someone brought a plate of alligator from the exotic foods stand into the Wild Things' clubhouse for the players and coaches to try. "We got the alligator from left centerfield," the person said. That might be where they'll find next weekend's entree: shark.

* There was no reason to play the Saturday night game. It should have been postponed. The outfield was a swamp Friday, and all the rain early Saturday made it worse.

* According to the Frontier League website, the Wild Things' July 31 game at Oakland County has been postponed and rescheduled as part of a doubleheader Aug. 1.