Occasionally I like to check in on Clearwater, Lakewood and Reading to see what they’re reporting about 2007. There was a lot of news coming out of Lakewood and Reading following the Phillies recent winter tour. Over at the Reading Phillies website they’ve got a few interviews with former R-Phils players, including Cole Hamels on their media player. Reading Eagle’s reporter (and blogger), Mike Drago, has an interview with Steven Noworyta, the Phillies director of minor league operations. He finishes up the article with this observation:
The core of last year’s club figures to be playing in the Phillies’ new Triple-A home in Ottawa: catcher Jason Jaramillo, infielders Carlos Leon and Joey Hammond, outfielders Michael Bourn, Gary Burnham, Pedro Swann and Matt Padgett, and pitchers Zach Segovia, J.A. Happ and Joe Bisenius.
“We’re finally getting some players back in our system,” said Noworyta, noting depth had been hurt by a string of trades and lost draft picks earlier in this decade.
“Right now it looks good on paper,” he said of the Phillies’ system, “it’s just a matter of putting it all together.”
It’s noteworthy (to me anyway) that they’re talking baseball in February - granted, it’s a small town (population around 80,000). Having said that, from an Ottawa sports perspective, besides the Senators there’s only one other “game” in town. A little (i.e. SOME) love from the local media would be nice. I think the last mention of the Lynx in the Ottawa Sun was when John Russell was confirmed as the manager (back in November).
