Isom back in Frontier League

Former Wild Things and Traverse City manager Jeff Isom is back in the Frontier League. Isom was hired Wednesday as manager of the Lake Erie Crushers, succeeding John Massarelli.

Isom was the Wild Things' original manager. He was retained after the team was purchased and moved from Canton, Ohio, to Washington and spent the 2002 and '03 seasons with the Wild Things. Washington won one East Division title under Isom and made the playoffs in each of his two seasons.

Isom left Washington for Joliet of the Northern League in 2004, then returned to the Frontier League as Traverse City's manager in 2006. Then Isom went to the Milwaukee Brewers' system for six years. He managed several teams, including Brevard County in the high-Class A Florida State League and the West Virginia Power in the Class A South Atlantic League.

When Isom left Washington, he was replaced by Massarelli. Now, the roles are reversed.

"Isom will be a great addition to the Crushers organization, both on the field and in the community," said Crushers managing partner Steven Edelson.

Cleaning out the notebook

Received an email notice today that the Wild Things are holding a snowman contest. Build a snowman wearing Wild Things gear, take a picture, send it to the team. Winner gets something.

Maybe the winning snowman will be named manager.

* An interesting trade from earlier this month had the Kalamazoo Kings sending shortstop Kyle Higgins, outfielders Jeff Grose, OF Brandon Anderson and OF Josh Short, third baseman Amos Ramon, second baseman Joe Ramos and right-handed pitcher John Brownell to the Lake County Fielders in exchange for three pitchers, an infielder and future considerations.

Basically, Kalamazoo sent six starting position players from last year and their best pitcher to Lake County to be reunited with former Kings manager Fran Riordan. Kalamazoo is starting from scratch under new manager Jamie Keefe.

* The Rockford Riverhawks, formerly of the Frontier League and now of the no-age-limit Northern League, have signed Randall Simon.

That's the same Randall Simon who played for the Pittsburgh Pirates and is best known for using a bat to plunk Guido the Italian Sausage during a between-innings sausage race at Miller Park in Milwaukee.

* There are 81 days remaining before Frontier League spring training and the Wild Things still don't have a manager.

* Former Wild Things outfielder Matt Sutton has signed a contract with the Lake Erie Crushers.

* Yancy Yeater, who worked for the Wild Things for four years and coordinated the audio and video at Consol Energy Park before being let go during the offseason purge, has started a Frontier Legaue blog. You can view it at http://frontierleague.blogspot.com/

* Former Wild Things manager Jeff Isom (2002-03) is returning as manager of the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers, the Milwaukee Brewers' affiliate in the Class A Midwest League.

* Former Wild Things second baseman Ryan Ellis will be the hitting coach of the Savannah Sand Gnats, the New York Mets' affiliate in the Class A South Atlantic League.

On Wisconsin

Former Wild Things manager Jeff Isom (2002-03) will be the manager of the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers, the Milwaukee Brewers' affiliate in the Class A South Atlantic League, in 2009.

This will be Isom's third year in the Brewers' system. Last summer, Isom guided the West Virginia Power of the Class A South Atlantic League to an 80-59 record, a second-half division title and spot in the league championship series. West Virginia won its first-round playoff series before losing in the best-of-three finals 2-1, dropping the decisive game by one run.

The West Virginia Power will be a Pirates farm team next season as the Brewers moved their low-Class A affiliate to Wisconsin.