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.

Did I say slow season?

The Wild Things made two more roster moves Monday, re-signing first baseman/outfielder Doug Thennis and acquiring another catcher, Michael Surina.

The re-signing of Thennis is important not only because the right-handed hitter led the team with a .304 batting average and 23 doubles, but he was the only position player last year who seemed to be on the upswing of his career. Thennis batted .338 from July 4 to the end of the season and his power numbers increased dramatically. He also showed some speed by stealing seven bases.

Surina fits the mold of what the Wild Things have signed in the offseason. He's a native Californian who played at an NCAA Division III school, La Verne College located near Los Angeles. He had a nice career, batting .401 as a senior. Since then, he's played briefly for three teams in two independent leagues and has a .214 career batting average.

Surina was acquired from Abilene of the North American League as the player to be named later in a trade made a few weeks ago that involved pitcher Mickey Jannis. Though we haven't seen either Jannis or Surina play, on the surface it appears the Wild Things got the short end of the trade as they dealt a pitcher who has two years of affiliated experience and pitched a couple of games at the high-Class A level.