Wild Things swing trade

Outfielder Phil Laurent, who helped the Wild Things climb back into the playoff race last July before suffering a season-ending knee injury, has been traded by Washington to the Normal CornBelters, the Frontier League's newest team.

In exchange for Laurent, who batted .335 with eight home runs in 49 games for the Wild Things, Washington receives the rights to first baseman Paul Chmiel and infielder Pat Kenny. Neither team announced the trade Monday but it was listed on the Frontier League's homepage.

Laurent suffered the season-ending injury in a play at home plate during a game at Florence in late July.

Chmiel (6-5, 200) was drafted in the 22nd round by the Baltimore Orioles in 2005 out of Mount Pocono High School. He spent four seasons in the O's system with his best year being 2006 when, as a 19-year-old, he batted .286 with 13 doubles in 44 games for the rookie-level Appalachian League. An Internet search revealed no statistics for Chmiel in 2009.

Kenny (6-4, 215) appears to be a former player at Madonna University, an NAIA school, and Saginaw Valley State, an NCAA Division II program. Both schools are located in Michigan. He played third base for Madonna.

With the addition of Chmiel, the Wild Things have acquired three first basemen in the last month. The others are Robbie Wine and Adam Amar.

Laurent out for season

Washington received some bad news late Tuesday afternoon when left fielder Phil Laurent was diagnosed with a torn ACL and slight tear of the meniscus in his right knee. He will be out for the remainder of the season.

An MRI revealed the extent of the injury, which was suffered in a game at Florence during the recently concluded road trip.

"I feel bad for Phil," Washington manager Mark Mason said. "The MRI showed the slight tear in the meniscus, and they couldn't even find the ACL it had been torn so badly. When they drained the knee they found blood, which means a torn litgament."

Laurent has been a valuable pickup for the Wild Things. He was signed early in the season after being released by River City. In 49 games with the Wild Things, Laurent was sixth in the league in hitting with a .335 average, 8 home runs and 40 RBI. Against left-handed pitchers, the lefty swinging Laurent was batting .515 (17-for-33) with three home runs.

Laurent was injured while trying to collide with the Florence catcher on a play at the plate. Some might say it was a "turf injury" because Florence's Champion Window Field is an all-turf surface. Even the dirt areas of the infield are turf.

"Phil tried to plant his right foot, and when he did that he felt his knee turn to the inside," Mason said. "We were hopeful that it wasn't bad. There was only a little bit of swelling."

Mason said he is actively looking for an L2 who can play the outfield. In the meantime, Josh Blackstock will play left field. Blackstock played 32 games in the outfield last year for Mason while with the Chillicothe Paints.

"We'll look for the best player available," Mason said. "If we find an experienced guy, we'll go that route. If not, we'll rework what we have."

Washington made several roster moves Tuesday. Pitcher A.J. Jenkins (1-2, 9.53) was released and right-handed pitcher Chris Kupillas was signed. Kupillas was 0-1 with a 3.86 ERA in 9 games with Traverse City before being released.

On the Mark

During the Wild Things' game Tuesday against Southern Illinois, Wild Things manager Mark Mason made some interesting decisions that paid off with a 4-1 victory.

One of those decisions was to replace starting pitcher Andy Schindling with one out in the 8th inning, though Schindling had allowed only one run (unearned), four hits and one walk. The pitching change wasn't popular with the crowd at Consol Energy Park, but Mason explained that Schindling was bascially in his private no-man's land. he was a reliever for 4-plus years in the Baltimore Orioles' system and didn't pitch more than nine innings as a high school player. Pitching in the eighth inning was new to Schindling, and Mason wanted a pitcher with more experience in the game at that point with a tie score.

"I was debating whether to send him out or not there for the eighth inning," Mason said. "He had done a good job against their 9-1-2 hitters all night, so I let him go back out there and face the No. 9 guy (Travon Jackson). Once they turned the order over, I said that was it."

Mason didn't replace Schindling with one of his regular relief pitchers. He went with Keith Meyer, a Pittsburgh native who had signed with the Wild Things earlier in the day. It's risky, when the game is tied 1- in the 8th, to bring in a guy who you haven't seen pitch in a game.

"The guys we had in the bullpen were overworked last week," Mason explained. "Even with the day off Monday, it still wasn't enough rest. We had some guys throw more than two innings at Kalamazoo and some pitch two days in a row. I wanted to see someone new at that point. of the guys we brought in, Meyer's the most experienced."

Meyer retired five of the six batters he faced to get the win.

Mason also mentioned that he has pushed for outfielder Phil Laurent to be one of the manager's additions to the East Division all-star roster and that infielder Chris Raniere will be activated from the DL sometime this week. Raniere is eligible to be activated today but Mason said he hasn't ruled out giving Raniere another day or two to recover from a hip flexor injury.

UPDATE: There was a note on here earlier in the day about a telephone call I received. I was told that Consol Energy Park is being sold to a group in Pittsburgh. That is NOT true. That much has been confirmed to the O-R by BSI's attorney. The ballpark is not for sale. However, my guess is the tipster to the O-R was confused on what is being purchased. I wouldn't be surprised if the mentioned Pittsburgh company – which has ties to Major League Baseball - is interested in buying into the Wild Things' ownership group. Stay tuned. And no, it's not Mylan.

Cleaning out the notebook

Some random thoughts, opinions and notes from the pressbox at Consol Energy Park:

* The Wild Things made one roster move Saturday, releasing pitcher Matt Maradeo. In his second season with Washington, Maradeo had a 1-0 record and 8.22 ERA in 12 games. The sidearming right-hander has been plagued by inconsistency and his numbers in Washington did match those he put up in the Chicago Cubs' system.

* Pitcher Justin Edwards, who left Friday night's game with back spasms, will not go on the disabled list. According to manager Mark Mason, the spams were related to Edwards being dehydrated. Edwards is expected to be out for two days. Opponents are batting only .222 against Edwards, who has 21 strikeouts in 20 2/3 innings.

* To fill Maradeo's spot on the roster, Washington will sign relief pitcher Aaron Guinn, a 6-5 right-hander from Mesa (Ariz.) State, which finished the year ranked No. 5 in NCAA Division II. Guinn had a 5-2 record, 9 saves and 1.40 ERA this year.

* It sure looks like center fielder Chris Sidick has lost his confidence when hitting against left-handed pitching. Sidick is only 2-for-25 (.080) with 10 strikeouts against lefty pitchers, but the average isn't the big concern. It's that many of his swings against lefties have looked bad.

* If you're going to attend a Wild Things home game and stay from start to finish, plan on being there a long time. Washington has played 12 home games with 11 going at least nine innings (there was a rain-shortened game against Gateway). of those 11, only one has been played in less than three hours, that being a 2-hour, 59-minute game against River City June 6. The Wild Things' nine-inning home games are averaging 3 hours and 8 minutes.

* Washington will have to drop a player from the roster Monday when Craig Snipp comes off the disabled list to pitch against Midwest.

* Phil Laurent doesn't get cheated on any of his swings. There's no check-swings or half-hearted swings with that guy.

* With the 13-run output Saturday night, the Wild Things are now in a three-way tie for the most runs scored in the Frontier League, though their record is only 10-17. Of all professional baseball teams that have played at least 27 games this season, only two (Midland of the Class AA Texas League and High Desert of the Class A California League) are averaging more runs per game than the Wild Things.

* Here's the humbling statistic: No team in pro baseball that has played at 27 least games is giving up more runs per game than the Wild Things (7.04).

* Manager Mark Mason on his team's 6.63 ERA: "I want a team ERA of 4.00 or under. If that's what our ERA was, then our record would be reversed. We've hit enough to win almost every game. The pitching has to come to the party."

* Has anyone noticed that closer Nick Peterson has 23 strikeouts in 11 1/3 innings pitched?

* Here's one that's hard to do: Chris Demons had two singles last night, which were his first singles all season. Demons had two home runs and a double but no singles in his first 32 at-bats.

* I forgot to mention this when I originally posted this article: Am I the only one who thinks the umpiring has gotten significantly worse this year? Talking to people from visiting teams, it seems to be that way around the league, not just in Washington.