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.

Same time next week

Washington pitcher Zach Groh touched on a subject Wednesday night that has puzzled me since the Wild Things joined the Frontier League back in 2002: the schedule. He said it was unfair to pitchers. I agree.

Groh was Washington's starting pitcher last night against Rockford. His most recent start also was against Rockford. It was the fifth time this season that Groh has faced the same opponent in consecutive starts. He also faced Traverse City three times in a four-start stretch. Jason Neitz has made consecutive starts against the same opponent four times.

This is a result of the Frontier League's scheduling method, which could use some improving. What I don't like about the schedule is each FL team will play two interdivision teams one week, then play the same teams the next week at the opposite site. This causes the same pitching matchups in consecutive weeks, which is good for the hitters and bad for pitchers (Groh's performance last night being an exception). To quote from the M*A*S*H* episode in which Hawkeye tries to make Radar a "Corporal-Captain" before entering the officer's club, "I don't like it. I don't like it at all."

The Frontier League does this because it makes scheduling easier. Simply copy and paste one week from the the master schedule and reverse the sites. It's scheduling made easy.

The FL isn't the only league that has done this. Major League Baseball did it for years. You might recall the Pirates making trips to the West Coast to play the Dodgers, Giants and Padres, then playing the same teams at home the next week. MLB started going away from this scheduling trend when they went to three divisions in each league.

Six-man rotation?

The Wild Things have used six starting pitchers - Andy Schindling, Jason Neitz, Zach Groh, Brian McCullough, Aaron (A.J.) Jenkins and Craig Snipp - since the all-star break. In those starts, the six have combined for a 2.40 ERA, which is a large reason why the Wild Things are 6-1 since the break.

But can a team go with a six-man pitching rotation? Washington doesn't have a pitcher who can be considered an ace, so why not try a six-man rotation?

Manager Mark Mason says that's not a possibility, at least next month.

"If we did that, it would be almost like a seven-man rotation in August, when we're off for four consecutive Mondays," Mason said. "Not enough rest is bad, and sometimes too much enough rest is bad too."

Mason did say that he'll likely continue with the six starting pitchers for one more trip through the rotation.

"We might have to do that because of the rainout and doubleheader we had at Southern Illinois," Mason said. "If we go with a five-man rotation, we'd have to bring someone back on short rest and I don't want to do that."

So who gets dropped from the rotation late next week? The most likely candidate is Jenkins because he would give Washington a left-hander in the bullpen. Another possibility is McCullough, who pitches exclusively from the stretch position and has extensive experience as a reliever.

Here's guessing that Jenkins goes to the bullpen, but if he makes another strong start it will make the decision doubly difficult.

It doesn't matter who wins, it's how fast you play the game that counts

The headline for this post is the sportswriter's motto. The last thing you want when covering a night game is to be writing on deadline after a four-hour game.

The Wild Things-Traverse City game Thursday night was a sportswriter's delight. It lasted only one hour and 46 minutes. Think about that – it ended before 9 p.m. Jason Neitz needed less than 90 pitches to beat Traverse City on a two-hitter and improve his record to 4-1.

It was the fastest nine-inning game in Wild Things history – by a whopping 10 minutes. The previous fastest was played last July at Kalamazoo, a 3-0 win for the Kings. Trent Lare pitched that game for Kalamazoo against the Wild Things' Brooks Dunn.

This season, we've had only two nine-inning games played at Consol Energy Park that lasted less than three hours. The fastest was Tuesday afternoon against Midwest (two hours and 28 minutes).