Former Wild Things make impact in Game 1

The Southern Illinois Miners have three former Wild Things -- relief pitchers Nick Cicio and Steve Grife, and catcher Chris Anderson -- on their roster. Each played a big role in the Miners' 5-3 victory Wednesday night over Florence in Game 1 of the Frontier League championship series.

Anderson, who began the season as Washington's starting catcher but was released after beginning the year 0-for-13, hit a two-run homer that gave Southern Illinois a 3-1 lead in the third inning. Anderson was signed by the Miners in early August and hit .274 with one home run down the stretch in the regular season.

Cicio and Grife were acquired from Washington in an August trade for outfielder Darian Sandford and pitcher Anthony Collazo. Cicio pitched and Grife combined for 1 1/3 perfect innings of relief and two strikeouts in Game 1.

Since joining Southern Illinois, Cicio and Grife have given the Miners superb pitching in setup roles. They have pitched 30 2/3 innings (regular season and playoffs), allowing only 11 hits, four runs and six walks with 38 strikeouts.

They can still trade in the Frontier League

Though the nonwaiver trade deadline in Major League Baseball passed yesterday, the transaction deadline has not been reached in the Frontier League. The Wild Things made another trade Wednesday, sending relief pitchers Steve Grife and Nick Cicio to Southern Illinois in exchange for center fielder Darian Sandford (pictured) and lefty reliever Anthony Collazo.

The hard-throwing Grife (0-2, 6 saves, 4.79) and soft-tossing Cicio (0-4, 1 save, 4.25) each have been erratic this season. Though I like Grife as a power arm in a save situation, it seemed as if Grife was never a favorite of this year's Wild Things' coaching staff and his role has diminished in recent weeks.

Sandford, who leads the Frontier League in stolen bases, spent two years in the Kansas City Royals system before signing with Southern Illinois this season. He's a speedy switch-hitter who made the Frontier League All-Star game and is batting .256 with 45 stolen bases.

It seems that pitchers might have figured out Sandford as he ended his run with Southern Illinois on a 6-for-41 slide.

Collazo (3-0. 1 save, 2.28) has been a setup guy for the Miners. This is his first year of pro baseball. Collazo played at Howard Junior College and the University of Oklahoma.

By my count, with the addition of Sandford and Collazo, the Wild Things have had 55 players on the roster during the regular season. Yes, that's a team record. The previous record for most players used was 46, set in 2009, when Mark Mason was the manager.

The trading of Cicio meands that only seven of the 24 players who were with Washington on opening day in Evansville are still on the roster. The seven include five pitchers (Casey Barnes, Justin Hall, Jhonny Montoya, Chris Smith and Shawn Smith) and two position players (Michael Bando and Shain Stoner).

Lefty signed

The Wild Things continued their run of signings by adding pitcher Nick Cicio, a 5-9, 170-pound lefty from Baltimore, Md. Cicio was signed as a nondrafted free agent last summer by the Minnesota Twins after finishing his college career at Central Florida.

This is a signing that intrigues me. Cicio played two seasons at Central Florida and had a good senior year out of the bullpen with a 4-3 record and 2.23 ERA and four saves. He struck out 56 batters in 60.2 innings. Cicio also led the Golden Knights in appearances with 28.

Those are excellent numbers when you consider he pitched in Conference USA, which is a very under-rated league, better than some of the "BCS" conferences. One of Cicio's losses was in the NCAA tournament against Alabama, but he gave up only one run in five innings in that game.

Cico then put up good numbers in the rookie-level Gulf Coast League for the Twins. Though I've written about rookie league stats not giving a good indication of a player's ability in the Frontier League, Cicio's statistics make you wonder why he wasn't kept around by the Twins and invited to minor-league spring training. He pitched in 13 games and had a 2-0 record, gave up less than one hit per inning and struck out 20 batters in 20.2 innings. The most impressive statistic is Cico walked only two hitters. That should be enough to keep you in the organization for a few more months.

Remember the post about Jared Howton and the All-Decade Team? There's an interesting comment in there about left-handers who throw strikes, which is why Cicio is one of the most interesting players the Wild Things have signed this offseason.