The “unofficial” Ottawa Lynx blog

Elsewhere, the Chiba Lotte Marines said they have acquired the services of infielders Chase Lambin and Gary Burnham.

Neither player has major league experience but both had tryouts in Lotte’s fall camp last year. Lambin, 29, will make ¥20 million while Burnham, 34, will earn ¥13 million after both tied up one-year deals.

Bobby Valentine’s team also said it has released infielder Jose Ortiz, right-hander Winston Abreu and left-hander Wu Si-yo.

For someone who’s likely never made more than $50,000 in his 11 years in the minor leagues, $13M Yen (roughly $135,000 US) is the gold at the end of the rainbow:

“Guys who have been in the majors for two or three years can earn as much as $60,000 for a five-month season,” the 32-year-old Burnham said. “That’s why it’s not easy to get a free-agent job.”

Of course, there are exceptions to the rule, Burnham said.

The Rochester Red Wings, another Triple-A organization, set a cap of $8,000 per month — no matter who you are or how long you’ve been playing.

That would hardly stop a guy looking for work from signing, though. “Unfortunately, beggars can’t be choosers,” Burnham joked. “My definition of rich is being ahead of my bills for two years.”

He even started building his retirement fund two years ago:

“My goal is to make $250,000 by the time I’m 35,” Burnham said.

Certainly this contract, albeit only for one year, should put him well on his way to the $1/4M (for those of you paying attention, he’ll be 35 in October).  Last year in Taiwan, in 7o games Gary put up numbers which were beyond “respectable”:  .323 AVG, .401 OBP, .523 Slugging, .924 OPS – certainly deserving of a shot in Japan’s premier league, if not MiLB.

Congratulations Gary!

The blog enters its fourth year and second full season after the Lynx left town with an apology for those looking for regular updates:  Clearly, frequent blogging has slipped lower on my list of priorities and I can’t honestly say that I expect that to change in the near future, notwithstanding the addition of time this year.

There’s much to catch up on and I hope to get into some of the overdue news items in the coming days.  First up, as most remaining Lynx fans/followers know, FLP Jason Jaramillo was traded to Pittsburgh for catcher Ronny Paulino.  Now that the books are closed on the 2008 season, it’s noteworthy that from a statistical standpoint,  J.J. (arguably) took a bit of a step backward:

Fewer hits, runs scored, RBIs and walks, coupled with a lower average, and higher strike out totals.  Not dramatic declines, but the numbers in the areas where he did improve were also not that impressive – slugging percentage (up 10 pts) was offset by a 10 pt. decline in OBP.  Home runs were up 2 – from 6 in 2007 to 8 in LHV.  All of this of course, following what should have been a franchise move to a more baseball “friendly” environment – a “better stadium”, more fans and “better” weather.  Funny how that worked, huh?

With Lou Marson getting the September call up to the Phillies in the fall of 2008, the writing may have been on the wall for the former Lynx catcher; Marson seems to have supplanted J.J as the Philadelphia catcher of the future.  The trade may also have repercussions for another blog “favorite”, Chris Coste (whom we affectionately dubbed “complainer” and “the suck”).

The deal for Paulino also gives the Phightins’ ample flexibility when it comes to the futures of fellow backstops Chris Coste and Louis Marson. Coste, a local hero of the first kind, is likely to be dealt in spring training for either a relief pitcher or another bat off the bench. It has been rumored that both the Baltimore Orioles and Florida Marlins have some interest in the right-handed hitting Coste.

More tomorrow, including another FLP update.