Notes From The Nat

The subject line above is apparently the only thing you’re allowed to write about former A’s minor league toiler Mark Kiger, or else his wife, a former Kits girl who calls herself "Bedhead Barbie", will post obscenities about you on her MySpace page.

Ah, where to begin this tale of joy?

Well, let’s start by warning those with tender constitutions that some of the language gets a bit raunchy below, and though that’s not my choice, it is necessary to keep it uncensored. So if you don’t want to deal with that, or the inherent trashiness of a public internet feud, I’d suggest skipping to the next post.

Otherwise, click the ‘more’ link and watch what happens when you start a fight you’re ill-equipped to finish.

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We get emails sometimes at NFTN, and the firing of HawkerRob last week prompted a host of them. I’ve been holding off on printing them all because I really had to get my head around the situation myself, and figure out what’s the best way forward.

Let it be known, personally, I wouldn’t have fired Rob. But I would have demoted him from Head Beerhawker, and would have suspended him for a month, so really I can’t complain too loudly about what went down. It sucks, but he put himself (and the team) in a bad spot, and here we are.

Of course, it took me a week to get to that point. That week basically saw me go from anger to annoyance to acceptance to understanding as I considered all angles, but not everyone has found the same path. So I figured, rather than print each email we’ve received on the topic, I’d tackle the loudest, most stompiest one as a means of saving time.

ANON from Parts Unknown says:

What’s up with you, man? You just going to take Rob losing his job lying down? Why don’t you get the fans together and rally them to protest for him to get his job back? The Canadians totally overreacted to a silly mistake and if we told them we are angry, they’d probably let him come back. It’s as if you’re resigned to this happening - fight back! Get angry!

Where do I start with this? (more…)

Let me start this post off by saying I don’t wanna be the guy who pisses off the new owners and gets booted from the press box and sits in the cheap seats throwing stones the whole season, claiming "it ain’t like it used to be"…

In fact, I’m kinda glad ‘it ain’t like it used to be’ in many respects, but there’s a balance that must be achieved when a new broom comes into an old establishment, and I like to think I’m impartial enough to be able to make the call when that line has been crossed without everyone getting hysterical about it and donning ‘us’ and ‘them’ jerseys.

But the new Vancouver Canadians, in my opinion, made two rookie errors this past weekend, and I’m going to weigh in on what they were, and how they’re wrong.

First, the less controversial but totally avoidable error. Matt Baker, the C’s multi-season webcaster, had applied to get the gig full-time this season once his old position was posted as a vacancy. Of course, there were new duties attached to the job that made him somewhat less of a certainty than you’d hope, but he put in his application and hoped that, even if he couldn’t get the gig, that there might be a spot somewhere for him to continue polishing his game-calling skills.

Alas, he didn’t get the gig. No biggie, the C’s tapped News1130’s Rob Fai for the role, and you can’t argue that a polished pro like Fai isn’t a good choice, even if sentimentality would lean Baker’s way.

So what’s the error? That Matt had to read about it in the Vancouver Sun.

No call, no email, no hand on the shoulder and box of tissues dropped in front of him. No "this is the hardest decision we’ve had to make." Nothing.

Frankly, a kid that worked for two seasons for free, and paid his own way in several roadtrips, rather than let the C’s webcast go dark, deserves better than that - especially if the C’s are going to present themselves as a now-professional corporate outfit that does things the right way.

But hey, growing pains, right? We’re bound to expect a couple of snafus when so much is going on, and even Matt would admit he was a long way from a sure thing… but man, it had to gut him to read that column.

Sadly, those fans of the old Baker/McGowan play-by-play combo will want to sit down and brace themselves, because the worst is yet to come - the other half of the best webcasting duo in baseball has also bit the dust.

Rob McGowan has been let go by the C’s, and for something that McGowan himself admits was "all my own stupid fault".

Here’s what happened, in Rob’s own unedited words:

Picture if you will the happiest time of year for hawkers, bar Opening Day, the call from new management that they will meet all of us in advance of the hiring fair, to assess who will be invited back. We met Nancy the new director of concessions at the park. In the office, she went over the parameters of what the team wants to do this year - hot roasted peanuts, sausage grill off Third base, sole beer provider - and we are all excited. [She kept apologizing for all these changes; we were like "I’m sorry - where’s the negative?"] So she offers us a tour of the renovations. As she was showing us the beer room, I noticed, among the construction debris and stuff stacked up, a few boxes of old cards. I thought they were going to the garbage, so I grabbed a pack for posterity.
 
Next day I get a call saying I’m not invited back, and it’s due to the cards.

I tried pleading my case, and got a promise of review. But, in the end, the hard line had to be taken regardless of circumstance, justification or longevity. I tried every ounce of apologia I could, and even sounded like the 16 year-old who doesn’t want the girl to break up with him. No dice; even if the cards were garbage, that was not my assumption to make. Had I asked, I would have been told they weren’t, and nothing would have happened; but because I proceeded to act cavalier during what was essentially a job interview with new management, there could be no good excuse for what I did.
 
So I am done for the year. It’s not fun having to eat that much crow and face the shame of having "thief" attached to what was my good name at The Nat. But it’s my own fault. I can reapply next year, but that will still be subject; I have to accept that; being bitter gets old quick, and who can I blame beyond myself?

Okay, commentary time: What Rob did was dumb. Sure, I probably would have thought about doing the same thing - when you find a stack of stuff amid construction debris, the obvious conclusion is that it’s going to be tossed. We’ve all worked at places where you come in one day and something has been thrown away, and you say "but I would have taken that home if I knew it was going to be thrown out! You guys are nuts!"

So Rob made a dumb call, and he was booted as a result.

But here’s the thing - for a $10 box of cards, the C’s just disposed of a guy who brings in THOUSANDS of dollars every year in beer sales, and THOUSANDS more dollars in ticket sales.

I’ve taken people to C’s games and watched them yawn through ten innings of shut-out ball, but stand and cheer Rob as he embarasses a non-tipper, or a Yankees fan, or a Tri-City Dust Devils fan (okay, one of those things don’t exist, but still…). I’ve watched hundreds of people sing along to the butthead song with him. And I’ve watched him spend half the year with an unruly mop of circa-1972 Elvis hair, just so he could raise a boatload of cash during the annual Hawker Haircut charity event.

Look, if you find a concession worker has been short-changing people, sure, cut ‘em. If you find a souvenir stand worker isn’t turning up for work on time, by all means, show them the door. If one of the greens crew is growing a crop of hydroponic marijuana in the umpire’s dressing room, bid them adieu.

But Rob McGowan IS the Vancouver Canadians. He’s been a fixture at the ballpark since before the two-storey fence was built. He’s been wearing that "I hate the" Mariners helmet since the days when Julio Franco was saying "Gee Mr DiMaggio, you sure made my first day in the big leagues a happy one!"

He was here when the Angels parked their Triple-A players in this town. He has stories that entertain entire sections, he emails the families of players to let them know how their kids are doing, and even when his body started packing it in and he was unable to carry the tray last year, he STILL came to the ballpark and did color commentary on the webcast every day.

He’s been to every NWL ballpark, both as a professional, and as a fan. He’s put his marriage through torrid times as he created new excuses to get out to The Nat when, really, he should have been at home explaining plot points of The Gilmore Girls to his missus. He’s driven the oldest Vancouver Canadians fan, 99-year-old Bernie, to and from the park for entire seasons, just so the old bugger could come and fall asleep during the 7th inning.

Rob McFuckingGowan is the heart and soul of the Vancouver Canadians and, mistake or not, error of judgement or not, stupid bastard or not, he deserves at least as much consideration as the team can muster in finding a way to keep him around.

Demotion from head-beerhawker? Fine. Suspension for a month of the season? He’d wear it in a heartbeat. You wanna double-check his cash float every night or make him wear a webcam on his cap so he can be watched like a hawk? Go ahead.

But holy crap, for a pack of baseball cards you’re going to let one of the major attractions of a day at Nat Bailey Stadium disappear into the sunset? Come on, Aileen (I’ve been dying to use that one, Dexy’s Midnight Runners fans), cut the guy a break.

And hey, Rob isn’t asking me to write this, just so people know. If anything, he’d prefer not to raise a fuss, because it’s kind of embarassing, but at the same time, the guy has hundreds of friends at the ballpark, and this blog is the best way of letting them know that, no, his kidney has not packed it in. He just isn’t there anymore.

I don’t want to be the guy who, as Will Ferrell put it, hangs out inthe school parking lot for three years after grad. I’ll reapply nextyear, and if the team will have me, I’d love to come back. But I have toaccept that I wouldn’t be in this position if I’d used my fucking headin the first place.

I feel worse about screwing over Delany and Lori. They were working hard on the haircut promo, but now they have no hawker to shear. I may have sentenced Lori to a year as Sinead O’Connor. Like she’ll forgive me after I turn her profile into that of a Ban roll-on.

I’m going to try and arrange something between the VSB and the Cancer Society. Like a good friend told me, nothing is stopping me from trying it on my own, even though I so wanted it to be at the Nat. At least something good can come from this.
 
I’m sure I’ll get to a couple of games this year. My birthday falls during July; the remaining old school hawkers have promised to teach the new ones a special song to sing in my honour. That will be especially bittersweet, as, while I didn’t invent the song, I’m known for performing it with gusto. And I’ll try to make it for August 3, because that’s Bernie’s (Isman) 100th birthday. He missed last season with a sore hip, but with a healthier arm than Mark Prior, he should be able to come out at least once.
 
Always remember that the beer hawkers love the blog, because it lets the parents of the players know who were are, and gives them someone to look for beyond their own kid when they come to the stadium. I’m sure the new guys and the old guys will get along famously. Hopefully, I’ll get to feel it once again next year.

See this guy to the left? That’s Bill The Beerman, a Seattle sports legend who was responsible not just for helping people enjoy their day at the stadium, but was also a large part of why people came back. He was so valuable to Seattle sporting franchises, in fact, that he was regularly paid to show up at everything from college football to minor league hockey, just because the owners of those teams knew he would increase the gate.

Rob McGowan is our Bill The Beerman, and has been for decades, and if that’s not worth being able to see past a silly mistake, then I’m a dutchman.

Please understand that I’m not demanding - I’m asking: isn’t there a point where we can go beyond the automatic trigger reaction? I know the corporate playbook says a person in a situation like this must go, but can’t we show ourselves to be more than just a ‘company’, and prove to the fans (of which Rob has, frankly, as many as the team) that the new owners, as professional and corporate and clean cut as they are, are not without heart?

Let me put it another way - until a month ago, I was working to start a single screen cinema in Vancouver - one that would serve beer and light snacks rather than just popcorn and soda. Part of my business plan involved convincing Rob McGowan to come be a beerhawker IN THE CINEMA on the weekends. For mine, that was what would have made the difference between it just being a movie house, and it being a place where people would come, irrespective of what movie was playing, because it was a great time. In the end I never asked him to make a decision on whether or not to take part, because asking would simply have put him in a position to have to say no.

I wasn’t going to get him away from The Nat, and that’s all there was to it.

Soul matters. Personality matters. Love of the game matters. And history matters.  And Rob McGowan is all of those things within the friendly confines of Nat Bailey Stadium.

He’s not a thief. He’s not untrustworthy. He bleeds red and blue.

In fact, if the team brings Rob McGowan back in some capacity this season, I’ll pledge that Notes From The Nat will donate $200 to the Hawker Haircut charity drive.

So, Jake, what do you say? Do it for the kids.

JOE NEWBY
The Noob has long been a friend to Notes From The Nat, and we in turn have been one of the 2005 Beer Hawker’s Player of the Year award winner’s biggest cheerleaders. In 2004, he was brought in as a non-drafted free agent by Oakland after failing to get drafted. In 2005, he (along with Joe Piekarz) served as a strong 4th/5th starter for Vancouver, and but for a couple of poor games, had a largely lights out year.

In 2006, Newby continued the fun, having a mostly great season in Kane County, coming out of the bullpen and putting up good numbers, but for some control issues over a couple of weeks of the year.

Anyhow, here’s how things stand for Noob, in his own words:

The season didn’t go as I had planned due to the bicepinjury at the start of the season slowing me down and not letting meget to High A, but I did improve this year, touched 95 a few times andgot my slider up to 84mph at times.  If i could take away one month ofwalking almost everybody I faced, I think I could have had an excellentseason, but the way things go, I did have that month and it kind ofmade my numbers look worse than they should have. 

 

I did improve though, my ERA was down from the pasttwo years, my strikeouts/9 were up, velocity was up, my inheritedrunners that scored was less than 10%, I felt really good about theseason, aside from my last outting of the year in the playoffs where Igot hot three times before actually going into the game. I felt like Ileft my fastball in the bullpen and I ended up getting pounded on fortwo innings and giving up 3 runs, and costing my team a chance at thedeciding game for the ring.

Hopefully I earned one more shot a spring training!

JIMMY SHULL
The same year Newby was rampaging on the radar gun, Jimmy Shull was dominant in a way few Vancouver pitchers have been in a long time. Quiet, unassuming, but a bulldog on the mound, Shull just motored through offensive lineups, with pinpoint control, nasty stuff, and a lightning arm. Unfortunately, he threw out his elbow and required Tommy John surgery early in the 2006 season, ending his year and putting in question whether he could come back as good (or even better, as some TJ patients do).

Thankfully, the Shullacker is another former player who has stayed friendly with Notes From The Nat, and today we received a short note from him giving us an update on his recovery from surgery.

The elbow feels incredible. I haven’t had pain since the first week after surgery, and right now I’m just starting some mound work after last week getting out to 150 feet.

The only things that occasionally slow me down are just muscles that are not used to throwing, flaring up here and there, but it’s really hard not to throw the ball 95mph right now because it feels like I can. It’s taking all my self control not to air it out right now.

At this pace, I should be ready to go right around spring training. I’m training back at Cal Poly SLO at the moment, doing everything I can to make that happen.

I’m working on getting an extended interview happening with Shull, but if he’s throwing 150 feet already, that’s great news right there. Forget the various prospects lists - if Jimmy Shull hits 95mph this season, I’m gonna say right here and now, he’s major league 3rd starter material within two seasons.

Book it. 

If any other former Vancouver players are out there and would like to give us a shout and let us know what you’re up to - just drop a note to oz at notesfromthenat dot com. 

On occasion, we like to post a general wrap-up of questions and answers sent in by readers, along with interesting news bits that we’ve found floating around the web. This usually happens when, frankly, I’m bored.

Today, I’m bored like a beetle-infested pine tree.

"Hello, I live in Prince George, and I have been looking for some game worn Vancouver jersey from the 1995-1999 seasons, any information on how I can find them? Thanks, Winston.

Gotta say, I have no idea. I don’t think the C’s have any of the old Triple A shirts in stock, but you occasionally see them sold on eBay.

Frankly, I think it’d be a great idea for the C’s to not only have some old school Canadians shirts manufactured for sale to fans, but also some old Mounties and Capilanos jerseys.In fact, if they did that, they could have a ‘Retro Day’, during which the team would play in the old shirts, which could then be auctioned off for charity. I’d TOTALLY grab one of those bad boys, if they existed.

So, sorry Winston, wish I could be of more help, but if anyone is looking to sell a second hand old school Vancouver ball shirt, drop us a note at the blog.

EDITOR’S NOTE: The beerhawkers, who always know such things, tell me that the old Canadians jerseys went with the old Canadians team to Sacramento. Two hawkers managed to souvenir a shirt each - game worn, no less - so they may be open to offers, but otherwise your best bet is either eBay or contact the Sacramento Rivercats directly.There’s more… (more…)

You may have noticed we did a little redesign on the site justrecently. Actually, it’s not done yet, but the PostNuke software we usefor the blog is a little hard to work changes into when it comes to thesite header, it seems.

Regardless, the changes allowed us to see much more easily whether ornot a comment has been left in a thread. Previously, you’d have to gofishing into each column, and that took a long time. But now you cansee nice and easily, which has allowed me to go back and find a wholeboatload of previously unnoticed comments.

So rather than simply answer them where they sit, I figured we’d shinea little light on them and crank out a Notes From The Nat mailbag.

Comment in a story about Ty Bubalo’s switch to the Frontier League:
"Shawn Martinez also plays for them."

Actually, the anonymous commenter was right, though he/she isn’tanymore. Martinez signed on with the Otters before Bubalo did, back inJanuary, but when it came time to start the season, he opted instead toretire. More’s the pity. Who knows what sort of damage theBubalo/Martinez combo could have done in the indies? Bubalo, for hispart, is currently hitting .250 for Evansville, with one dinger on theyear.

Comment from The Shullacker:
"Hello this is jimmy shull. Thank you for the nice things you have saidabout me last year and now after this injury. It is true that I amgoing to have Tommy John, looks like sometime next week. And you areright, anything that I can do to come back better, WILL BE DONE."

I don’t know what a guy could add to that, other than "GO GET ‘EM, SHULLACKER!"

And it’s always nice to find another NTFN nickname has found apermanent life beyond a player’s time in Vancouver. I look forward tohearing the name "Shullacker" spoken by Oakland’s announcers some timein the near future, as Jimmy Shull bounces back from TJ and continuesto dominate hitters.

Comment:
"OZZZZZ, Whats up? Ive been following the new blog and love it. Hopeall is well and keep me posted on how you are doing and if there isanything new with the book from the ‘Couv. Thanks for the love on thesite. - Drucker"

And a big howdy to the man with the world’s largest collection of Air Jordan’s, current Stockton starting pitcher and 2004 Vancouver Canadians perma-grin, Scot Drucker.To answer your question, Druck, the book I was writing on the 2004Canadians has so far had a home at three (count ‘em) three differentpublishers, two of which had second thoughts after the guys whooptioned the book got fired (such is life in Canadian publishing), andone of which went bankrupt a week after scheduling it for a release.

So right now it’s in cotton wool, but the book lives on. It’s increasedin scope, and will now look at several years of C’s teams, where theywent after Vancouver, the stories they collected while in V-Town, lifein baseball, etc etc. Look for it some time around 2008-9.

Or 2010-11. Or 2016-17…

There’s more in the mailbag, after the fold.
Comment:
"JR Pickens is going to play for the Qu?bec Capitales in the Can-AMleague this year. If you don’t believe me go on their website, hisprofile is up in their roster."

You’re right. Or, you were right. The 2002 Oakland 10thround draftee, who had struggled mightily, spending four years in Aball or worse, was released at the end of last season and took rootwith the Capitales, before being traded to the Coastal Bend Aviators ofthe American Association of Independent Baseball. So far, he’s lightingthings up, with a line showing 4-1 with a 2.35 ERA over 11 gamespitching relief. He’s holding opposition bats to a .205 BA, whilestriking out 15 and walking just 3 over 11 innings pitched.

Interesting side note: It seems the Lincoln SaltDogs picked up 2004-5Vancouver pitcher, Clay Tichota, in February of this year, beforecutting him a few weeks ago. The only mention I can find of how he did on the Saltdogs website, doesn’t sound like he had fun:

"In the bottom of the eighth, Fort Worth answered back and regainedthe lead off Saltdog reliever Clay Tichota, who hit the first batter hefaced and walked the next two to load the bases with no outs."

Six days later, Clay was sent home.

Comment:
"Any information on Jess Lacasse?"

Not really. The Bellevue University division III All-American pitcher,27th round draftee, and teammate of 2005 Vancouver pitcher Ron Madejwas unceremoniously sent to Arizona, then cut, without getting much ofa chance to show his wares last season. According to the searching I’vedone, he hasn’t resurfaced anywhere in a baseball uniform. Maybe ifhe’s reading this, he can drop us a note with an update, but that’s allI have.


Comment:
"Just linked to your site from Athletics Nation. Very nice. Wellwritten and well laid out. I am an A’s fan currently residing in SanJose, but in the process of relocating to South Carolina. In additionto getting satellite radio, I’m compiling a list of the blogs I’ll bechecking out. Yours is now on the list. I thought this three-partseries on your visit here was especially well done, although I thinkyou were a little too hard on Oakland. You nailed Palo Alto. It couldbe I like your stuff so much because I share your opinion of the Giantsand Bonds."

Yeah, Bonds is an absolute ass, isn’t he? I don’t think I’ve seen himbreak a jog this season, even trailing deep flyballs in left field withthe game on the line.

It’s true that I gave Oakland a rough time in my three-part series, butyou have to understand, I live in Vancouver. Next to this city, therearen’t many cities that match up well.

Comment:
"Shawn Callahan awaiting duty due to only catching under 50 games in his life. "

Yeah, it sure seems as if Cally will be back in Vancouver this season.He hasn’t shown up in Kane County or Stockton, and though he was reallycoming along last season, especially towards the end, if Oakland draftscatchers in the opening rounds of the draft, we’re going to see DirtyHarry stuck in another season of short season roster merry-go-round.

Comment:
"Not a shocker that Bubs and Tietje are gone, considering Chalon didn’t play that last half of the season in 05"

I disagree. I thought that Oakland would stick with Bubalo for anotheryear, due to the fact that they drafted him out of high school, so hewasn’t exactly ancient. Granted, he was progressing slower than they’dlike, but the guy can send the ball long. Sometimes.

With Tietje, he sturck me as the kind of guy that you want to keeparound to keep the kids in line. .A well-behaved, honest, smart,happy-to-help individual who could hit the cover off the ball at times,but really didn’t get a great shot at proving himself last season dueto a roster logjam of older players, which saw him taken off theroster, even though he was still with the team.

I honestly hoped that Oakland would do with him what they did withBenny Winslow - stick it out for another season, and if he didn’t spikein stats, then simply ease him into a coaching role, which he wouldhave been great for. But I guess there’s only so many of those spots aclub can give…

There’s been a lot of correspondence coming in to our email address at nat_comments@yahoo.ca of late, and most of it indicates a growing awareness of all things Canadians-related.

The questions have moved beyond "what’s a slider" to "will Mike Massaro’s OBP make him a genuine prospect in the eyes of the A’s, or is he just too small to ever be considered to have Major League potential?"

To answer that last question, I’m not entirely sure, Mrs Massaro (just kidding), but last season the Canadians stocked a second baseman by the name of Ryan Ruiz, who was barely 5′9", and when I asked Oakland Director of Player Development Keith Lieppman about Ruiz’s future, he said there’s no reason a guy that size shouldn’t make the Show if he has the tools, and that indeed others have previously. To reinforce that opinion, the 155lb Justin Sellers was drafted in the 6th round this year, so if little guys are to be feared, that’s a funny way of fearing them.

My guess is, if Mike Massaro can model his game on Ichiro Suzuki’s, and utilize that smaller, faster frame to slap balls both ways, lay down strong bunts, steal on the bags, and draw patient walks, he’ll be a VERY valuable man at higher levels, even if only off the bench in pinch-hit/run situations.

We’ve got more questions, including what’s happening with Wes Long, after the jump. Click it!Rubntug_T asks:Where has Jeff Gray been the last few weeks? Every time I hit your blog I see him as the player of the month in June, but I haven’t seen him at any games since mid-July or so. Has he been promoted? Demoted? Injured?

Notes From The Nat says: Hey, nice observation, R’n'T. Jeff Gray was tagged for a few runs on his last start, grinding his way through a couple of innings before a twinge in his arm became more than a twinge. He’s strained an oblique muscle according to the C’s front office, and the most recent report I heard (a few days ago) was that "it could be a few days before he’s right to throw again, or it could be a few months."

So my guess is the C’s are assuming it’ll be closer to a month before Gray is ready to throw off a mound, which means Joe Piekarz gets another three or four starts at least to prove he’s worthy of a spot in the organization next season.

Gray, who was a 32nd rounder last year, looks pretty content watching games from the bullpen at the moment, but he’ll undoubtedly be looking forward to getting another game or two in before the season ends, so that he can stake a claim for a Kane County slot next season.

K-Girl asks:What’s up with your slamming Danielin Acevedo at every turn? He’s doing the best he can, I’m sure, and he doesn’t need you saying he’s not trying. Maybe you should try out for the team before you criticize.

Notes From The Nat says:Okay, so by your rationale, every sports writer out there has no grounds for criticism of any player of any sport unless they themselves can out-throw, out-run, or out-hit the person they’re writing about?

Wake up to yourself. Notes From The Nat is unique in that I’ve yet to find a single other minor league team ANYWHERE in North America, including Triple-A clubs, that has anything even closely resembling the attention to detail, the content, and the depth that this club’s unofficial blog has.

And that HELPS the players, whether they realize it or not. Think about it - they’re out there giving their all, trying to get a hundred things right at once, but just being a part of things isn’t enough if you’re going to move up the system. There’s nobody in the C’s roster right now who will be content with just having played short-season ball - they all want something more. They all want Kane County and beyond.But if they manage to make that upward shift, the media attention focused on them becomes more intense. When they get to Stockton, it gets more intense still. Midland will get you on ESPN if you’re throwing hard enough, or a featured piece on MiLB.com - last year’s Vancouver reliever-turned starter Dallas Braden was discussed on ESPN by Peter Gammons as a potential piece of tradebait to Cincinnati to bring Adam Dunn to Oakland.

If he goes up to AAA ball, he becomes even bigger news, and in the Majors, just ask Huston Street, you spend more time in front of cameras as you do asleep in bed.But it all starts here. Danielin Acevedo, if he’s going to make it, will learn how to deal with the press by having boneheads like me write about him on blogs like this, and if he screw up a play, or a series of plays, or exhibits a lack of focus or drive or even ability, I’ll talk about it loudly, because this is NOTHING compared to what he’ll get in higher levels of ball.

Last season, Vancouver reliever Zak Basch received the following as his sole piece of media coverage for the season: "Zachary Basch (RHP) released: No real loss here. The 23 year-old rightie put up a 6.45 ERA in Vancouver and had a 19:14 K:BB in 22 1/3 innings. A career outside of baseball may be best for him."

Do you really think Basch wouldn’t have wanted something like this blog trumpeting his triumphs last season, rather than one simple matter-of-fact, never-seen-him-play piece of commentary like the one above? I doubt it very much.

For the record, I pounded on Acevedo because Acevedo was playing like he was asleep. But sure enough, he woke the heck up and started throwing the sort of stuff that got him up to High-A ball in the first place. Was it my discussion of his lazy attitude that kicked his backside into gear? Was it the coaching staff that made it happen? Was it Acevedo himself, finally realizing that he needed to get his act together? Nobody really knows but Acevedo, but one thing is for sure, he’s throwing some of the best stuff in the bullpen right now, and if there’s a scintilla of a chance that my harsh words pushed him into making a change, then it’s been worth it on this end.

Acevedo will do great things with a baseball sometime in the future. And when he does, my bet is he’ll be happy that he was being reamed for his attitude by a tiny blog in short season ball, rather than Peter Gammons or the San Francisco Chronicle.

HaasFan1 asks:Okay, you’ve been talking about good news for Wes Long for a while, so what is it?

Notes From The Nat says:Okay, I’ve been holding out because the club hadn’t yet decided to release details, for fear of getting people overly concerned about Wes’ well-being. But here’s the scoop: Wes Long is doing great, took batting practice earlier in the week, and last night he STARTED AS DESIGNATED HITTER IN ARIZONA.

The deal was, Wes had foul-tipped a ball into his own eye on the road about a month back. At the time he was ripping up NWL pitching and looking worthy of a push upwards, but the foul tip cracked his orbital socket and, ultimately, when the swelling around the eye wouldn’t go down to a point where he could see out of it, doctors recommended surgery to fix the problem.

Wes has reportedly said that the ball hit him so hard and fast that he literally didn’t have time to blink, and felt the ball actually hit his eyeball, which makes it all the more remarkable that his eyeball now seems to be 100% fine.

The surgery traditionally performed on this kind of an injury (skip ahead if you get queazy easily) is to remove the eye ball completely, do the repair-work on the orbital socket, then reattach the eye and undergo some serious rehab on getting it back to working order. The downside with that kind of surgery is, if the eye isn’t put back exactly right, it would sometimes need to be repeated, or at the very least mean some long term alteration in vision for the patient, which is a nightmare for a hitter, as you can imagine.

Oakland, however, don’t skimp on the medical side, and so they (according to second-hand info) found a surgeon who could work around the eye with microsurgery-style procedures, and fix the bone behind it without needing to be overly dramatic with the eyeball itself. What this means to the layman is, Wes has bought himself a faceshield for his batting helmet, and had four at-bats in Arizona last night, going 0-3 with a walk in a game where the A’s rookie managed only one hit all night.

Yes, you heard right, he had orbital surgery two weeks ago, and he’s swinging at pitches already.Now, despite the extra eye protection he’ll be donning, there’s no need to fear Long will be hit in the same spot and do critical damage to himself, as, according to people I’ve spoken to at the club, the bones in such a case tend to knit together stronger than they were to begin with.

Bottom line: Wes Long’s career could well have been over, but the Oakland organization protects its kids as well as is humanly possible, and pulled out all the stops to make sure not only that Wes had the best chance of a return to baseball, but also that he could return to baseball this season, rather than sometime next year. Congratulations Wes, and we hope to see you back in V-Town soon.

WilliamH asks:Yesterday, you said that the Canadians are going to build a new stadium in downtown. If that is true, why did they save Nat Bailey Stadium?

Notes From The Nat says:I think you need to read what we wrote again, William. We never said the C’s were planning to build a new stadium, we said they would be fools if they weren’t preparing for such an eventuality down the road, and that looking into the distant future, they’re either going to need to refurbish Nat Bailey in a big way, or if there’s to ever be a time when Triple-A ball comes to Vancouver again, they’ll have to think about some sort of new facility that includes year-round playing ability.

The fact of the matter is, Nat Bailey Stadium will never have a roof, and thus will never support year-round baseball to the point where a Triple-A team will need it to. Short-season ball allows the team to bypass the Spring thaw, where Vancouver gets rainy for weeks at a time, and the ground becomes waterlogged and unfit for play.

Those sorts of delays cost a team a lot of money in lost ticket sales, rescheduled games, emergency drainage procedures, repairs to the grass… the only way you could possibly have all-season ball at the Nat to a AAA standard would be to rip up the field entirely and install state-of-the-art drainage equipment across the length of the field, and if you’re going to do that, you’re spending a whole lot of money that at present the C’s do not have.

Make no mistake, I love The Nat. In fact, I offered up a chapter I’d written for an upcoming book about baseball at The Nat for use on the Friends of Nat Bailey Stadium website, which makes a very clear case that, while Nat Bailey Stadium is old and outdated and worn and broken, it needs to be restored, because once history is leveled, it is inevitably forgotten.

The fact of the matter is, new stadiums all over North America are incorporating the history of the old ballparks that stood before them, even to the extent of manufacturing ‘historic looking’ facades on completely new ballparks. The Nat, if refurbished and added to, would be a jewel in the crown of Vancouver’s sporting history, and would draw in fans from far and wide - something the existing facilities do already.

But, if we’re honest, and we actually want AAA ball to come back to Vancouver (or even Major League ball down the line one day), The Nat will eventually need to be either abandoned by the Canadians, or moved to a location where people can walk down after work, or during a lunch break, and enjoy a game of baseball without a cramped bus ride up Main Street or negotiating parking with annoyed local residents.

I’m an optimist - I’d love to think that the Vancouver Parks Department will spend some money to restore The Nat to its former glory, but I’m also a realist - they haven’t spent a dime on the facility in nearly twenty years, and are unlikely to get generous now.The Nat should always stand at 30th and Ontario, and it should always be a place where young ball players can have a game and immerse themselves in the history of the those who swung before them.

But right now, when the Canadians aren’t playing on The Nat, hundreds of non-profit groups, youth teams, companies, little league tournaments and local leagues make use of the Nat Bailey playing surface. If the C’s do happen to leave sometime down the road, that’ll just leave more days for the community to use the facility, and will have meant that every ounce of energy used to save the stadium was energy well spent.

Nat Bailey Stadium will remain Nat Bailey Stadium for many years to come. And no matter whether the Canadians stay or go, years down the line, it will always be the Canadians that saved this piece of local sporting history from destruction.

George asks:I’ve just moved to Vancouver and had no idea there was a baseball team here until I found your blog. Nice work! But I have to ask, is short season baseball the lowest level of baseball out there? And is it A-level or is it rookie level or what is it exactly? And why do they only play a short season?

Notes From The Nat replies:Hey George, welcome to Vancouver, and congratulations on finding a new team to follow. The Vancouver Canadians play in the Short-Season A-level Northwest League, which has essentially been created because the college season eats into the opening part of the pro season.

The College Draft is held when minor league ball is already in play, and in fact the College World Series is held after the draft, which delays some signed players from joining their short season teams.The short-season league gives teams a place to put their college recruits, analyze them up close, figure out who are the prospects and who are the filler players, work out a few kinks in mechanics and hitting styles, and prepare them for life in the minors in the years ahead.

The Short-Season A-Level leagues (there’s another on the east coast) are not the lowest level of ball out there, in fact there are several levels of ball that don’t really work within the system as we know it. Each team has a rookie ball team down south, usually in Florida or Arizona, where they put rehabbing players, free agent signings, high school players that need fine-tuning, and rookies that are in poor form.

In Arizona, Oakland signees will basically get up in the morning, hit the gym, do some drills, play a simulated game where they’ll get advice and coaching as the game rolls on, then they’ll take a few hours to themselves before playing a game against another squad in the evening. It’s concentrated baseball, and generally considered a level below what you see in Vancouver.

In addition, there are indie leagues, amateur leagues, college ball, the Mexican League, Dominican Academies, you name it. In any major league system, you’ll find a whole load of players who have signed contracts and are paid a small amount each month, but aren’t anywhere on the baseball radar - like last year’s Vancouver players, Juan Ramirez and Braulio Santana. They’re in the Dominican Republic, still a part of the A’s system, but being kept in a place where they can improve their game, while staying out of trouble and not requiring a work visa.

Gyro asks:Did you ever find out what’s happened to last year’s Vancouver pitcher Mike McGirr?

Notes From The Nat replies: Actually, yeah. A commenter in one of the threads a few weeks back says that McGirr left the A’s organization because he wanted to make use of his college degree, and I guess figured his chances of moving through the A’s system and making it to the Majors were slim to non-existent.

McGirr starred for the C’s last season as a pitcher, at one point dominating the league for ERA and wins. But his promotion to Kane County wasn’t as successful, and faced with another year at the low-A level, it seems Mike opted for a career that would see him well paid, rather than paid league minimum. Fair enough, and thanks for the memories.

Mike!7Yeti7 asks: Who do you think are the biggest prospects in Vancouver right now? Who is likely to be playing for Oakland sometime soon?

 

Notes From The Nat replies:That’s the million-dollar question, Yeti-Guy. From what I’m hearing out of the clubhouse, Jeff Baisley (right) is considered the most likely to be promoted to Kane County in the near future, and I actually think that would be a good move for him.

In Vancouver, he’s the center of everything on the offense, meaning his job is to push runners home, but Baisley’s game has a lot more to it than that, and I think that if given a shot at hitting #6 or 7 in Kane County, he’d really start smacking the ball around to all fields with freedom, rather than having to gun for the fences in the meat of the order like he does now, or being walked two or three times a night.

The only thing keeping him back right now is the form of Kane County third baseman Myron Leslie, who is dominating the Midwest League and was recently named an all-star.

I also really like Mike Massaro’s chances of moving up the system, though he has plenty going against him in terms of purely physical attributes. It’s going to be hard to convince the big club to push him hard without his having gained a little strength beforehand, and though he’s really quick, really patient and really capable of using his pyshique in a positive way, he’ll begin to face down some seriously beefy mound-monsters in the upper levels who might be harder for him to slap around as he does in the NWL.

Massaro knows this, of course, and is no doubt making adjustments to suit, but in terms of raw ability and knowing his job well, I think he’s right up there.

If we’re talking who is a prospect, Justin Sellers, for mine, is the best raw prospect in the squad, but you won’t see him in Oakland green for at least four season, being as he’s just 19 and has the same physique as Massaro. He has all the tools, a lightning arm, tremendous range, great contact hitting, bundles of speed - all that’s missing right now is power, and to be honest, he doesn’t need it. I’d expect Oakland to bring him back to Vancouver next season, if they don’t have room to start him regularly in Kane County (and Gregorio Petit has the SS job wrapped up there next season, in my opinion).

On the mound, I think Brad Davis is money. He’s just the total package, and I’d see him skipping Low-A ball next season and going straight to High-A if he continues his present form. Ditto Jason Ray, who is starting to find his location and has a devastating fastball, but has only actually been pitching for a bit over a year now, having converted from the outfield.

Brad Kilby is a monster, but I’m not sure if he’ll be put in the prospect basket until he’s given another season of results like he’s shown this year. He was a late draftee, and though his form has been incredible, you just know that Oakland is waiting to see whether he’s over-achieving or not. Ditto Mayday Madej, ditto Jeff Gray, ditto Stephen Bryant.One other name that is coming close to prospect level is Mike Madsen, who is just untameable on the mound right now. He’s doing everything right, and his demeanor is as impressive as his results, which is important to the A’s as an organization.Does that help?

Got a question of your own? Send it in to nat_comments@yahoo.ca and we’ll answer it in the next mailbag!

Melillo burning through California League:Fans of last year’s crop of Vancouver Canadians will be pleased to hear that Kevin Melillo is going great guns as he rapidly climbs his way through the Oakland organization.

Melillo performed strongly at the Low-A Kane County Cougars earlier this season, hitting a healthy .286 with 8 home runs, which earned him a shift to the High-A Stockton Ports, where he then proceeded to light up the California League like few have before him.

Melillo currently boasts a batting average in Stockton of (cough, splutter) .398! He’s also got an on-base percentage of .451, and a slugging percentage of .759 - good enough to expect that he’ll be shift upwards again, this time to the AA Midland Rockhounds of the Texas League, some time before the season is over, but in the meantime he had a 30-game hitting streak going as he lined up in last night’s game for Stockton against the Lancaster Jethawks.

Sadly, Melillo’s streak was soon to be no more, as he went 0-5 in an 8-6 loss, but lining up alongside him were former 2004 Canadians outfielders Danny Putnam (.293) and Richie Robnett (.261), and former C’s closer Scott Drucker (3-0, 5.06 ERA). Drucker actually started the game, not to much success, but he’s been a strong performer all year and his place in high-A ball is assured.Robnett hit a homerun in the game, to bring his season total to 10.

Kurt Suzuki is also in the Stockton squad, as is Benny "The Jet" Winslow, who is getting upper-A experience in a player/assistant manager role with former C’s hitting coach and current Stockton on-field coach, Todd Steverson.Interestingly, only 1400 people turned up for the game, when Vancouver is averaging almost 3000 per game… perhaps Stockton and Vancouver should switch leagues, huh? 

Wes Long out for the season:The Canadians aren’t talking too much about injured infielder Wes Long’s situation at present, and from what I can tell, that’s because the surgery he’s enduring (or perhaps just endured) is tough to describe without making people think the worst.Rest assured, folks, Wes Long is in the best hands possible, and though the procedure required to fix his orbital socket, which fractured when he cracked a foul tip off his own noggin a few weeks back, isn’t exactly pleasant, it’s not life-threatening, and he will make a full recovery before he starts rehabbing for next season.

The potential downside in situations like the one Wes finds himself in, would be if his vision was affected in some small way that altered his perception of the ball, but medical staff assure us that he’ll (eventually) look like new, feel like new, and if all goes well, he’ll be swinging a bat in anger again for spring training in 2006.

Godspeed, Long-Gone. 

Midland’s ‘Diamond’ in the Rough:Diamond Dallas Braden, the screwball hurler who had NWL hitters flummoxed for most of last season as he pitched for the Canadians, continues to blaze through Texas League batters in AA-ball.

He burned Wichita on the 13th of July, throwing 4K’s and no walks in 5 scoreless innings of a 6-4 win, and he then destroyed Tulsa (where BC’s own Jeff Francis’ recently called home before being sent up to the bigs) by a score of 9-2, pitching 6.2 innings and surrendering only 2 earned runs while his team piled them on.

Braden’s scroogie got rocked in his most recent start, however, when he was touched up for 10 hits, 3 walks, and 6 earned runs in 4.1 innings of a 10-7 loss to Frisco, but he still boasts a line of 9-4, with a 3.34 ERA, which is incredible for a 20th round draft pick who was never considered a ‘prospect’ until he managed a 10:1 K:BB ratio..

In that same Midland team, 2004 Canadians pitcher Jason Windsor racked up his first win since coming back from injury. He’s currently 3-3 on the season with a 3.83 ERA.

Notes From The Nat continues to grow: We’re getting more and more mail from people who are enjoying reading the blog, which is outstanding from our point of view. In all reality, we never expected the blog to take off as it has, but obviously there’s a real demand for Vancouver Canadians news out there, not just locally but also across North America, as Oakland Athletics fans eagerly hunt down information on the kids who will one day line-up in the big leagues and shame the New York Skankees in the World Series.

Just last Friday alone we hit our heaviest day of traffic to date, doubling the number of visits from the previous day, and tripling the average from the week before. We’ve had messages from Arizona (go Sun-Devils), Oakland, New Jersey, Ottawa, Florida… and some of them are even complimentary!

In addition, this past week saw yours truly offered a spot writing a weekly Vancouver Notebook column for Scout.com’s Oakland Clubhouse (new edition posted today!), and though you need a password to read it all, in my opinion it’s well worth it. Especially (this week) if you’re related to Mike Massaro. 

Vancouver Mailbag:

Mr_Youpi writes:Hey, nice blog. I was wondering why Steven Sharpe got pushed down to Arizona and not Vancouver when he was sent down from Kane County last week. Any idea?

Notes From The Nat replies:Heya Mr_Youpi - Before we answer you, congratulations on changing your allegiance from the Expos to the Canadians. We just don’t get enough giant pear-shaped fluffy orange mascots out to the Nat these days.Okay, on Sharpe, he was dropped because he’s been having some real hard times on the mound in Kane County this season (3-4, 5.85), but you’re right, the natural progression would be to send him one level down, not two. The reasoning behind it is simple - there are just too many 23-year-old players on the Vancouver roster, and to add The Sharpee, they’d have to cut, promote or demote one of the others.

That would mean, essentially, sending Jeff Gray, Joe Newby, or Clay Tichota up (or down) a level.This presents a problem because Gray, while pitching strongly, is considered to be likely to get much more playing time in Vancouver’s rotation than he will in Kane County’s bullpen, and his current form warrants as many innings as possible. Newby has also been pitching well (his most recent game was a bit of a meltdown, but he has been strong all year otherwise), but not well enough to warrant promotion, and a demotion would be unlikely for him, because he was a non-draft free agent pick-up in 2004, which puts him more or less permanently (and undeservedly) in the "perform or get a plane ticket" category.

Mighty Joe Scott managed to work his way out of that category when he got promoted to Kane County, but he’s one of the rare ones. Just ask Steven-Ryder Carter.Tichota, on the other hand, started the season in Kane County, but picked up an injury and came here to rehab. Privately, Pigeons admits that he’s ready to throw, but with the team carrying one too many 23-year-olds with the addition of him to the line-up, the team look to be taking it slow getting him back into the game, seemingly hoping there will be an ‘older’ slot open soon if Gray, Newby or in-form first baseman Haas Pratt get moved. 

So, with all that going on in Vancouver, it’s hardly surprising that Steven Sharpe skipped the place altogether. Chances are, if Sharpe (who managed a 6-3, 4.60 season in 2004) performs well in ‘Zona, he’ll get promoted back to Kane County and skip the Canadians once more. Not out of choice, you understand… it’s business, that’s all. 

UPDATE: Well, it’s funny how quickly a situation can evolve in baseball… no sooner had I posted this answer than the Arizona Athletics added one Clay ‘Pigeons’ Tichota to their roster. I’m not sure if that’s good for Clay or not, because there are a LOT of pitchers down there (MiLB.com lists 28 currently, with only 14 assigned a number at present), but at least he’ll get a chance to throw and show that he’s back to form and ready to go play for those Cougars in Illinois.

In addition, a man who had gone missing from the Athletics system all season long, 1st baseman Don ‘Angry’ Sutton III, has made a start for the AZL Athletics. In 4 AB’s, he’s hitting .250. And, despite the Canadians in-house literature saying pitcher Scott Fairbanks was cut from the organization, I note he’s still listed on the AZL roster, so perhaps he’s still in the game. Here’s hoping. 

One last thing of note in the AZL team, Frank Martinez, who’s sudden and dramatic loss of form saw him dropped from the Canadians roster recently and sent to rookie ball, has continued that poor form down south. In 28 ABs, he’s managed four hits, for an average of just .143 - come on Frank, the ladies want you back in V-Town!

UPDATE II:Vancouver Canadians webcaster, Rob McGowan, while sending in a batch of new pics that he snapped of the C’s, made it clear that he thought the photo of him selling beer that we recently posted as not his best look. He insisted that, if he’d "known it was for the blog, [he] would have hammed it up far more than that."

So, in honor of Rob and his sterling comedic color commentary, his valuable contribution to the alcoholism of section 1, and his success in avoiding going on a road trip to Salem-Kaizer and Boise, we offer him this as a peace offering.

Ladies and gentlemen, the REAL Rob McGowan. 

Thank you… and G’night!!

According to Scout.com’s Oakland Clubhouse, Oakland’s recently signed high school draft picks have debuted in Arizona, and both had strong outings in limited action. Quoting their piece:

Lansford, Italiano Debut For Rookie A?sTop draft choices Jared Lansford and Craig Italiano made their much anticipated debuts on Friday night. Both debuts were successful, as each hurler threw a shut-out inning. Lansford started the game and he struck out two of the three batters he faced. Italiano relieved Lansford in the second inning and induced two groundouts and recorded a strikeout. Both will be brought along slowly in the desert heat.

Scout also has news on 2004 Vancouver second baseman Kevin Mellilo’s hot streak, which couldn’t be any hotter if he was lighting fireworks while doused in gasoline:

Melillo Still StreakingStockton second baseman Kevin Melillo (seen left) extended his hitting streak to 29 games with a hit on Friday night. Melillo has hit safely in all 17 games he has played in since joining Stockton on July 4. He came to Stockton with a 12-game hitting streak at A-Kane County. The plucky second baseman is hitting .313 this season. The Ports didn?t muster much offense on Friday night, however, as they fell to Lancaster, 3-2.

We’ve been receiving a little email of late - actually a lot. Some of it negative (for the record, Justin Sellers’ Spanky nickname does not refer to a physical act - it’s a L’il Rascals reference… because he’s young, you know? Sheesh!), most of it outrageously and surprisingly positive.But a lot of it isn’t so much commentary, it’s questions about ex-players, opinions on players, that kind of thing, and the reason they’re being sent to me is because NOBODY ELSE IN VANCOUVER COVERS BASEBALL.

Oh sure, Lyndon Little writes a post-game summary for a lot of the games in The Sun (which you can’t read online), and Terry Bell appears for the occasional nooner at The Nat for The Province (which you can’t read online), but if you want to get in-depth information about the team, there’s just nowhere that bothers.

I know this personally, because, as a freelance writer, I did the rounds of Vancouver’s new free street-newspapers (Metro, Dose and 24 Hours) at the beginning of the season to ask if anyone wanted coverage, and the answer was a uniform "no thanks." In fact, one of the editors of these supposedly Vancouver-based rags actually said "Vancouver has a baseball team?" Not surprisingly, he’s based in Toronto, where all the late breaking Vancouver news hits… Sigh.

So in an effort to keep it real for the Canadians fans, we started this here website. Got a question or comment? Send it in to nat_comments@yahoo.ca and we’ll do our best to find an answer for you.To the mailbag!

Tyrese writes:

Hey, I was at the game where Wes Long hit a foul tip into his own face, and though I’m not a Vancouver fan, I’ve been trying to find information on whether he’s okay. He’s not on the Oakland roster, so has he been cut or something? Do you have any info?

Notes From The Nat replies:

Yeah, actually. I talked to the Canadians Director of Media Relations, Leanne Cass, and she said he hasn’t been cut from the Oakland system (perish the thought), but that his name has been removed from the roster because he went into surgery yesterday to repair a fractured orbital socket. He’s been in Arizona at the Athletics rookie facility undergoing treatment, but the ball caught him square on the eye socket and did enough damage to warrant surgery.

The upside of it all is that, as far as anyone is saying, it doesn’t seem like there’s damage to the eye itself, and he should be able to rehab the season out and start next year afresh, if all goes to plan. It’s a damn shame for Long, because he was on a hot streak with the C’s and would certainly have been a candidate for promotion had his fortunes continued the way they were going, but he definitely has the talent to push forward regardless. Our thoughts are with you, Wesley. See you in High-A next season!

Underdawg77 writes:

I was wondering if you had any knowledge about what happened to Landon Powell? For a first draft pick, I expected him to be zooming up the charts this year, but all I can find out is he’s injured.

Notes From The Nat replies:

We were a little short on information about this too. We knew Powell had blown his knee in a training mishap during the off-season, and there has been much talk about whether or not he’ll be able to come back as a catcher or will have to shift to first base where his knee is less likely to flare up.

Yesterday we talked to a former Vancouver staffer who stays in contact with Powell and told us that he’s currently rehabbing at home with his fiancee, who he plans to marry in the coming weeks (congratulations Landon!). The way it was told to us, "he hopes to come back as a catcher", but it’s too early to tell if that will be the case.

Without reading too much into that wording, it seems to us that a shift to first base is still very much on the cards for Powell, and personally I tend to think that a year at first might be just what he needs to let his knee heal strongly enough to contemplate a switch back to catcher down the road.

In other Powell news, he’s reportedly built himself a two-level beachhouse (with an elevator!) that he plans to live in with his bride-to-be after their 800-person wedding extravaganza. Man, it’s nice to be a first round pick, huh?

HaasFan1 says:

I know it’s a little creepy, but I’m madly in love with Haas Pratt. I’m over 35, so I know it can never be, but I just wanted a way to let Haas know that he has a legion of female fans out there that turn up to every game and cheer him triple-loudly. This is the only way I could think to do it without feeling like a stalker. So, yeah. Let him know. Oh, and get more Haas pictures!

Notes From The Nat replies:

You’re right, that is creepy. And, even creepier, I think I know who you are… section 1 is a nice place to sit, huh?

Regardless, just for you, we’ll do a player profile on The Denver Bronco in the coming days, featuring an interview we did with him a couple of nights ago.

And, to be perfectly honest, I think Haas would be more than happy to hear you say the words above yourself. He’s a genuinely good guy, though the impression I got from talking to him was that his mind is very much on baseball, baseball and only baseball, and that the only cougars he wants to hang out with are the Kane County variety.

Sorry!

Carlea says:

I was a big fan of last year’s Canadians, but there are so many players I liked that aren’t in any of the Oakland teams now. Can you tell me what happened to the guys that aren’t around any more, specifically Mike McGirr, Josh Beauregard, Alexi Ogando, Don Sutton, Braulio Santana… and anyone else you can think of who isn’t in the system anymore?

Notes From The Nat says:

That’s a lot of players, but let me try to track them all down for you. First off, some players were cut in the off-season - namely Josh Beauregard and Zack Basch. Not sure what Josh is doing now, though I hope he’s looking for another team, because I enjoyed watching him as a player and thought he sparked up the C’s whenever he was given a shot at the plate.

As we reported a few weeks back, Zack is doing commentary for radio broadcasts in the Alaska League, and in fact was featured on ESPN two nights ago, and in an ESPN story about the annual Midnight Sun game as well. If anyone has the tools to be a commentator, Zack Basch is the guy, so here’s hoping he turns it into something permanent.

Ogando, Ramirez and Santana got themselves in a little trouble in the off-season, by getting a little too close to this scandal:

More than 30 players are believed to be under investigation for participating in the scheme, according to scouts and club officials familiar with the situation. The scheme involved players being paid $5,000-$7,000 to get married, with the new wife receiving a visa. The newlyweds do not know each other and divorce soon after arriving on U.S. soil. The woman would be left with a visa?possibly to be sold again on the black market?while the player was supposed to just go on with his life. ?All of a sudden,? said one club official, ?lots of guys were showing up to get a visa, and 30 all got married three weeks ago. That kind of raised some eyebrows.?

Were the three involved in the scam? I couldn’t (and wouldn’t) confirm or deny that, but the chance that they were has them tucked away from US authorities in the Dominican Republic league while investigations continue.

On the upside, Ramirez, Santana and Ogando (who is seen as a genuine prospect by the A’s) are still in the Oakland system, they’re just playing in the Dominican until such a time as the US government isn’t offended by the idea of them returning to North America.

That said, they might be waiting a while with the current 911-obsessed administration’s penchant for refusing visas…Braulio Santana was already in trouble with the Oakland organization after a series of events last season in which he swore at coaches in his native language, refused to warm up properly before pitching, and… well… affectionately bit several female employees of the Canadians. Yes, ladies, Braulio’s a biter.

Eventually those indiscretions saw him sent back to the Dominican Republic before the end of the season, and he’s not likely to return until he’s grown up a little more.

As for Mike McGirr and Don Sutton, I honestly don’t know what’s up with their situations. Both players were valued commodities by the A’s last season - McGirr as an NWL leading pitcher who was promoted to Kane County by year’s end, and Sutton as a player having, in the words of one A’s executive, "a higher upside than Tommy Everidge, in our opinion."

But then again, McGirr flailed in Kane County, and Sutton went from demotion to demotion all season long, while Everidge has excelled and trained hard and performed consistently, forcing the A’s to rethink their depth charts as a result.So maybe Sutton and McGirr are cut, maybe they’re injured.

The people at KFFL list McGirr as being in the organization but Sutton not, but who knows how accurate that is. If they were cut, there was no transaction reported, so I can’t give you any more than that. If anyone out there knows, drop us a line.

Crahzee_Helen33 writes:

Travis Buck is a different class, and supremely hawt. As an Arizona State fan located in Vancouver, I was pumped to hear he’s going to play here this season. More Buck coverage please!

Notes From The Nat replies:

Dont’ get too pumped just yet, Helen. Word on the street is that tonight may be the last time you’ll get a chance to see Buck in a Canadians uniform. Several Vancouver personnel I spoke to have hinted that the A’s are fully aware that he’s overmatching pitchers at this level, and that it might be better for him to move straight up to Kane County sometime during or after the next road trip.

Who might come back down is anyone’s guess, but last night Buck had a mediocre game and still hit 2-4 with a walk and 2 runs scored, so a move up the system wouldn’t be a silly one, in my opinion. I’ll be sad to see the guy go, if it does happen, but much like Danny Putnam last season, sometimes the blue chippers only come to Vancouver long enough to get rained on once.

That’s it for today’s Around The Bases - if you have a comment or question, send it on in to mailbag@notesfromthenat.com and we’ll get to it down the road.