Ch-ch-ch-changes

The revolving door on the Wild Things' clubhouse has been in full swing the last two days.

As manager Chris Bando said over the weekend, he's a patient man, but not that patient. He saw enough of the Wild Things' struggling offense (league-low .191 team batting average) during the six-game homestand and made several roster moves leading up to tonight's series opener at Windy City.

Gone is catcher Chris Anderson, who was off to an 0-for-13 start, and veteran outfielder Luis Rivera, who was batting .227. Rivera's average is fourth-best on the team. Third baseman/catcher Davis Page (1-for-5) was traded back to San Angelo of the North American League to complete an earlier trade. Page apparently was traded for himself. Washington acquired him five days ago from San Angelo.

Re-signed was catcher David Peters, who joined Washington in the offseason from the Florida Marlins system and then was dealt to the Pecos League before spring training. Peters has played in two games in the Pecos.

Also signed was outfielder Jeriel Waller, who was drafted in the 47th round last year by the Marlins. I can found no evidence that Waller played in any games in the Marlins' system after being drafted out of Grossmont College, a JC in California. On Waller's Facebook page, it says he attended San Diego Christian College.

Waller is the son of Reggie Waller, a former San Diego Padres scoring director, and nephew of Tye Waller, the Oakland A's first-base coach.

Left-handed relief pitcher Shawn Smith was put on the suspended list, apparently to make room for Steve Grife, who can be activated from the same list Friday. Washington also could activate pitcher Gary Lee, who has been serving as the bullpen coach.

Washington still has one open roster spot (assuming Grife or Lee fill one) and has room for an Experienced player.

The biggest surprise for the Wild Things this season is the trouble at the catcher position, especially when you consider Bando is a former major-league catcher. Washington has played four different catchers in nine games, and has had eight catchers on the roster since the start of spring training.

UPDATE: Shawn Smith was placed on the 7-day injured list and Gary Lee was activated for tonight's game.

First glances

Wild Things fans get their first glimpse of a Chris Bando-managed team tonight when Washington hosts Lake Erie in an exhibition game at Consol Energy Park. It's the first of four games in four days between the teams -- tonight and Friday in Washington, Saturday and Sunday in Avon, Ohio.

Between now and Wednesday, when opening day rosters must be set at no more than 24, the Wild Things must drop 16 players -- if nobody is added between now and the regular season. So there will be many players in Washington's dugout the next two nights who won't be here for the home opener May 22.

With a record number of players in camp, and no numbers on the back of the practice shirts, it was hard to tell who was doing what during the two days I spent at camp. There were, however, a few things I noticed:

* Outfielder James Simmons is big and fast. Make that very fast, especially going home-to-third or first-to-third. Most impressive position player in camp.

* The one player who appears to be a much better hitter than I expected is catcher Michael Surina. In two seasons of independent ball, Surina has a .214 career batting average. He doesn't have a .214 swing. The ball jumps off his bat and he could be an impact hitter in the middle of the lineup.

* Outfielder Luis Rivera has been bothered by a hamstring injury suffered early in camp. He sat out some intrasquad games but will play in the exhibition contests.

* Wish I could tell you more about the pitchers, but I only saw four of them throw, and two were Casey Barnes and Justin Hall.

Useless information, V2.0

Some random thoughts and notes about the Wild Things and Frontier League:

* Has any Wild Things player ever had a better road trip than the one Chris Sidick (pictured) is having? In the first five games of the current six-game trip to Traverse City and Rockford, Sidick is 14-for-21 with 11 runs, 5 RBI, 2 home runs and 5 stolen bases. He has raised his batting average from .243 to .286.

A few other guys I recall having good road trips were Josh Loggins, Chris Carter and Mike Arbinger.

Loggins had a trip to Evansville and Chillicothe in 2003 in which he went 7-for-17 with 3 home runs and 9 RBI and was signed by Colorado during the trip.

When Washington ran off a 13-game winning streak in 2005, Arbinger and Carter were the catalysts. During a nine-game road trip to Gateway, River City and Mid-Missouri, Arbinger was 17-for-44 with 2 homers and 16 RBI. On the same trip, Carter went 15-for-38 with 5 homers and 15 RBI.

* According his Twitter account, Chris Smith, a right-handed pitcher who has been playing with the White Sands Pupfish of the independent Pecos League, has signed a contract to play with the Wild Things. Smith, who is from Louisville, was Lake Erie's first-round draft pick in the Frontier League draft in 2010. He played two games for Traverse City this year, including a rough outing out of the bullpen against the Wild Things at Consol Energy Park in May. Smith later signed with White Sands. In the Pecos League, Smith had a 3-0 record and 1.39 ERA in four outings. He struck out 28 in 26 innings.

According to the Twitter post, Smith said he will be a starting pitcher with the Wild Things.

* Former Wild Things relief pitcher Alan Williams, who was signed by the Milwaukee Brewers early in the Frontier League season, has been promoted from rookie ball to Class A. Williams was sent from Helena (Mont.) to Appleton (Wisc.), where he will play for the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers of the Midwest League. Williams pitched in nine games with Helena and had a 1-1 record, 4 saves and 2.57 ERA. He struck out 28 in only 14 innings.

* When Luis Rivera homered in the fifth inning Wednesday at Traverse City, it was the first time all season the Wild Things received a home run from the cleanup spot in the batting order. That one came 52 games into the season.

* Remember Steve MacFarland, who pitched for the Wild Things last year until an injury ended his season? McFarland was the Pittsburgh Pirates' 9th-round draft pick in 2006 but never made it past low-Class A with the Bucs. He was traded by Washington to another independent league last offseason. Since then, MacFarland has been released from three different indy leagues but is back in the Frontier. He was signed this week by the Florence Freedom.

Series leftovers

Some notes, thoughts and numbers that didn't get into the print edition during the Wild Things' series against Windy City:

* Surely, in all of baseball's written and unwritten rules, there has to be something about teams shouldn't wear the same colored jerseys. Prior to the opening game of the doubleheader Friday night, Windy City walks onto the Consol Energy Park field wearing royal blue jerseys and blue caps. The Wild Things, meanwhile, opt for their royal blue jerseys and blue caps. The uniform selections made it look like Trinity High School was playing an intrasquad game. Whatever happened to wearing gray on the road? At the very least, the visiting team shouldn't wear a colored jersey that matches any of the home team's jerseys.

* After the game Saturday, Washington signed Ryan Morrow, a switch-hitting catcher out of St. Mary's University in Texas. He has no professional experience. Morrow was drafted in the 44th round by Atlanta in 2010 but did not sign. As a junior, he batted .366 with 14 home runs and 65 RBI but his numbers dropped off (as they did for most players because of the change in bats) this year. Morrow hit .277 with three home runs and 29 RBI. It seems Morrow might have a decent arm because the opponents for St. Mary's stole only 39 bases in 59 games.

* From the How Did That Happen Department? comes this: Washington right fielder Luis Rivera entered the second game of Friday nigth's doubleheader with zero walks in 61 at-bats. Rivera then walked in each of his first three plate appearances against Windy City starter Luis Rivera.

* Former California University pitcher Randy Sturgill made his pro debut Friday night with the Lake Erie Crushers. Sturgill pitched one inning of relief in the Crushers' 3-2 loss at Rockford. He gave up two hits, one run and one walk.

Sturgill, a left-hander from Leechburg, was a two-time PSAC West Division West Pitcher of the Year. He holds Cal's single-season and career records for wins. He led the PSAC in wins, innings and strikeouts this spring, going 10-2 and two saves with a 2.23 ERA and 107 strikeouts in 84 2/3 innings.

Sturgill had another year of eligibility remaining at Cal but opted to leave early. There is a connection between Cal's athletic department and Lake Erie manager John Massarelli that got Sturgill a look from the Crushers.

* The Wild Things' rained out game in Joliet has not yet been rescheduled. It will be played as part of a doubleheader either Aug. 16 or 17 when the Slammers play their first series in Washington.

* Rough week with the bats: Washington hasn't scored more than two runs in an inning since last Sunday's win over Normal.

* When you have a team that is struggling to get hits and score runs, such as the Wild Things have been all season, is it better for the manager to pick a batting order and stick with it for an extended period, or should he change the order nightly? There are different theories about this. Washington's Darin Everson has opted to change the order with each game. He has used 25 different batting orders in 26 games, and five players have hit in five different spots in the lineup.

* That the Frontier League has had eight players (including two from the Wild Things) sold to major league organizations in the first month of the season, shows that what we speculated on this blog last month was true - the talent level in the league was up this year. At this point last year, only one player had his contract purchased.

First day of camp

Saw roughly 2 1/2 hours of the Wild Things' first day of spring training Thursday (I was trying to put off mowing my lawn for as long as possible). The practice was notable only for what was worn and who wasn't there.

The players wore the traditional Wild Things hats with the familiar mascot-head logo on the front. The difference was the bill of the cap was royal blue instead of red or black. The socks that were visible on some of the players also were royal blue. I guess we now know why the "Wild Things" logo on the team's homepage is blue.

I didn't hear anything about a change in color schemes, and you'd think that wouldn't make sense when you have a red, black and white logo (the largest logo in baseball?) on the field behind home plate.

The biggest player news was significant. Right-handed pitcher Jeff Sonnenberg was not in camp. He was placed on the retired list. Word is he as a shoulder injury that required surgery and is out for the season.

That's a significant blow to the pitching staff, which is already short on starting pitchers with pro experience. A healthy Sonnenberg would have been expected to be the the ace of the staff. Last August, he threw what was the best game ever by a Washington starting pitcher at Consol Energy Park when he faced the minimum 27 batters in a two-hit shutout of Lake Erie.

I saw the first four innings of an intrasquad game. The dominant player during that period was left-handed pitcher Vidal Nuno, who threw four scoreless innings before being replaced. Nuno, who was signed after spending two seasons as a starter in the Cleveland Indians' system, worked fast and threw strikes. He gave up three singles, did not walk a batter and struck out five. He even picked off a runner.

The pitcher for the other team was another newcomer, Jhonny Montoya. The Miami, Fla., native looked good for three innings and struggled in the other (the third inning). In 3 2/3 innings, he gave up two runs (one earned) and three hits but walked four.

The best defensive play was made by right fielder Luis Rivera, who threw out Gerardo Caceres, who was trying to stretch a single into a double.

Hot Stove news

Here's some news that came out of the Wild Things' Hot Stove Banquet, which drew approximately 240 people Thursday night at the Holiday Inn Meadow Lands:

* Pitcher Justin Edwards had shoulder surgery in November. After experiencing pain after his last start of the 2010 season in Traverse City, a scan of his shoulder revealed a cyst on his lambrum that had caused a tear. Edwards was told he's at least a month ahead of schedule in his rehabilitation. He plans to start throwing in a couple of months and is hoping to be ready sometime in May. Here's thinking you won't see Edwards in a game until July. It's better not to rush a return from shoulder surgery.

* Only one player who had the option in their contract picked up last month has decided not to return to Washington. Eryk McConnell, who was the Wild Things' closer last year, has retired.

* The final phase of installing the ProGrass playing surface at Consol Energy Park will be begin when the weather breaks. There will be no dirt on the playing field. Both the mound and home-plate area will be turf.

* The Wild Things debuted their 10th anniversary logo (shown above).

* The Frontier League changed their roster classifications.

Previously, players were classified as Rookie-1, Rookie-2, L1, L2, Vet and Super Vet. Rookies had the equivalent of less than 1 full year of pro experience, L1 had 1+ years, L2 had 2+, Vets had at least 3 years of pro experience and the Super Vet (also known as the Vet-2) was a player older than 27, with at least 3 years of pro experience and had played at least one year with his FL team.

Now, the classifications are Rookie-1, Rookie-2, Experienced and Super Vet.

On a 24-man roster, each club must carry a minimum of 11 rookies (combination of R1 and R2 players) and a maximum of 13 players with unlimited professional experience. The rookie minimum will be 10 for a 23-man roster and 9 for a 22-man roster. All players with the equivalent of at least one year of pro experience will be classified as Experienced. The 21-year old rule will remain.

The parameters to qualify as a Super Vet have been modified so that he has played 100 games on an active roster over the previous two seasons within the Frontier League as opposed to with one specific team.

The advantage of this setup is obvious. No longer will teams have to dump as many guys from a previous season just to meet the roster rules. In the past, if you had seven L1s who were productive, you had to get rid of at least four of them in the next offseason because you could carry only three L2s - unless you went under the limit on veterans.

As I understand it, FL teams can, if they prefer, put together clubs with 10-12 rookies, a Super Vet and 11 guys who were classified in previous seasons as Veterans.

* If there is one Wild Things player who benefits from the roster classification change it's outfielder Luis Rivera. As a Veteran, his roster spot might have been shaky at best. Now, he seems much more likely to be here on opening day.

* The Wild Things will play two home exhibition games, May 12 and 13. That's a Thursday and Friday.

How good was that?

From pure baseball standpoint, there have a few really good Wild Things games played at Consol Energy Park, some real hard-to-watch clunkers and a whole lot of games that fall inbetween.

In this guy's opinion, Washington's 3-0 victory Thursday night over the Lake Erie Crushers was the best-played game at the nine-year-old ballpark. There have been more exciting games and wild finishes, but from a quality baseball standpoint that was the best-played game I can recall. There was tremendous pitching and enough outstanding defensive plays to fill a week's worth of games. If pitching defense is your game, that was one for you.

Washington's Jeff Sonnenberg, pictured, faced the minimum 27 batters in throwing a two-hit shutout with no walks. Only one Lake Erie batter reached a three-ball count. After each of the hits allowed by Sonnenberg, the next Lake Erie batter grounded into a double play. At one stretch, Sonnenberg retired 22 consecutive batters, getting 23 outs in the process.

First baseman Eric Stephens made two terrific defensive plays, going far to his right to snag a grounder by Jodam Rivera in the fourth and to a catch a liner by Raphael Turner to end the eighth. Center fielder Luis Rivera also tracked down Arden McWilliams' deep fly ball on the warning track in the sixth inning. Sonnenberg said he thought McWilliams' shot was going to be a home run.

The biggest defensive play came in the first inning when right fielder Mark McGonigle threw out Jodam Rivera, who was trying to score from second base on a single. Catcher Jared Dyer was able to block home plate with his left foot and make the tag.

Lake Erie also made some web-gem-like defensive plays, especially Rivera at shortstop and Andrew Davis at third base.

Was there ever a better performance by a Washington pitcher than the one by Sonnenberg? Washington pitchers have thrown two no-hitters -- Jason Hickman at Kalamazoo in 2002 and Eric Palmer in the second game of a doubleheader at Windy City in 2004 -- but neither was a shutout. Hickman gave up a run on a two-base throwing error, wild pitch and groundout. Palmer gave up a run on two errors.

Aaron Ledbetter had several outstanding games at home, as did Jared Howton, Ben Ally and Dave Bradley, to name a few. The one that stands out to me was Howton's game against Johnstown in 2002 when he threw a three-hit shutout with no walks and 13 strikeouts. Lake Erie, however, is a better team than Johnstown was in 2002.

While trying to think of a game that was better-played than last night's, I came up with a few possibilities. One was a pitcher's duel in 2006 when Rockford's Derek Roper beat Ledbetter 1-0. The other was in 2003, on Father's Day, when Ally pitched Washington to a 4-0 win over Cook County. Ally threw a four-hittter with one walk and 12 strikeouts in a game that lasted only 1:57. Cook County's James Clelland also threw a complete game and didn't walk a batter, striking out six.

Those games, however, fall short of the game played Thursday night because of defensive plays and Sonnenberg facing the minimum 27 batters. The latter, however, was odd because if you weren't watching the game closely or keeping score, you probably didn't know what was happening. After all, Lake Erie had two hits and Washington started the night with an error, the only one of the game.