The “unofficial” Ottawa Lynx blog

There can be only one

Archive for January, 2008

Next Entries »

Hola!

Posted by Carl on January 11, 2008

Which, of course, is Spanish for Hola! 

Here in Ottawa, we mark the return of winter today with snow, freezing rain and rain.

As Bekah would say - “Yay-hoo!“

With pitchers and catchers reporting for Spring Training next month, we’re in a bit of a news trough - not many FA signings this week or other FLP news that I haven’t already noted.  Nice to see that Friend of the Lynx, Neate Sager has received his own “call-up”, albeit to the much maligned MSM -  he’ll be the rising tide which lifts the quality of the medium.  Congratulations, Mr. Sager - well deserved and long overdue.

Quick Youtube from the Mexican League, featuring FLP and now Oriole, Chris Roberson:

Posted in FLP, Friends of the Lynx, News | No Comments »

Something I missed

Posted by Carl on January 8, 2008

From August of last year - “stringer” Dan Hickling’s thoughts about Ottawa:

OTTAWA — I remember a single from the 60’s by a British band, a no-hit wonder called the Glass Menagerie, whose gimmick was to put songs about suicide on both sides of the single. The “A” side was a cover of the Harry Nilsson song, “I Said Goodbye to Me”.

One of the lines in that tune goes like this…”ending the game is like changing the name of your favorite song”….

Change….which can go down hard….

Like the impending (so it would seem) change in the International League structure, which has Ottawa departing and Allentown coming in.

No slight to Allentown, but Ottawa is by far my favorite city in the IL. So I will miss coming here during the summer (thankfully, I do get to come back during hockey season).

One of the things I always look forward to on visits to Ottawa is a trip to “The Golden River”, an amazing little restaurant nestled in Ottawa’s little Chinatown district, which runs down Somerset Ave.

The thing about this place is that it’s virtually a one-man operation…the guy never sleeps, I guess….but he makes the best General Tso’s chicken and the best pork fried rice I’ve ever had….

I’ve become friendly with the owner over the years, but he knows me only as “that guy from Boston” (explaining that I’m from Maine might be a little complicated)… 

So I go into the River at lunchtime, and order my fave dish, and it is truly among his best efforts…but then he hands me a pencil and paper, and asks me to write down my email address….

He explains that he’s closing down the River….the rent’s too high….(sigh)…

The good news is that he’s going to try to open in a new spot…

Change….as Adrian Monk would put it, “I don’t  mind change…I just don’t like to be around when it happens”…

Maybe it can be a good thing. 

Fortunately for Dan, MLN covers Indy Ball so he may yet get to make a return to the Nation’s Capital and, near as I can tell, the Golden River still exists.

Posted in Can-AM, Friends of the Lynx | No Comments »

Dandelions beware! - UPDATED

Posted by Carl on January 6, 2008

Josh Teuscher is back in the house.  I ran into Friend of the Lynx and head groundskeeper at Pecor Stadium, Mr. Teuscher, earlier today - almost didn’t recognize him without the hat, red shirt and sunburn.  Against all odds, Josh will be tending the turf out at Coventry Road once again in 2008.

In other FOTL news, The Universal Cynic blog is intermittent at best these days; gone for almost the entire month of December, visible for a few days, now “subscription only”.  We’ll hope for the best.  Neate’s still hanging in there.

In other FLP news, pitcher Matt Smith, who had the briefest of stays here in Ottawa before blowing out his arm and having Tommy John surgery, has been DFA’d (Designated For Assignment) by the Phillies.  I’m not confident that he’ll clear waivers before making it down to AAA (blogger: nope, still can’t say/admit it).  A transaction I missed Friday: Jesus Merchan will join Tim Raines, Jr. in the desert.  Jesus’ stay in Ottawa was even more shortlived than Matt’s, just three games (I don’t even think I got a picture of him).

More later as the transactions continue to flow…

*** UPDATE ***

Todd Zolecki of the Philadelphia Inquirer reports that the Phillies have asked “unconditional release waivers” on Matt.  I’m not sure, but that sounds worse than DFA.

Posted in FLP, Friends of the Lynx, News | No Comments »

Timing is everything

Posted by Carl on January 4, 2008

And sadly, mine is awful.  As things begin the windup for the beginning of the end of the off-season, the loss of Triple-A really begins to sting; we’re in no-man’s land here - something’s coming in May, but right now it just all seems very abstract.  Regrets?  I wished I’d spent more time at Pecor Stadium, and that I’d started blogging earlier.

Watching the sports ticker this evening (in between The Natural - am I the only person on the planet who’s still not seen this movie in its entirety?), I noticed a lot of signings - and more than just a few involve FLP:

Tim Raines Jr. to the Arizona Diamondbacks.

Luis Terrero, back with the Orioles.

Landon Jacobsen and Heath Totten picked up by the Twins.

Kane Davis and Ken “Bubba” Nelson signed by Toronto.

I may have missed a few, but still no sign of Gary.  Hard to believe (of course, it leaves the door open for a return to Ottawa in a managerial or player/coach role).

Finally, from scout.com, a quick report on “Options”:

Scout.com > Philadelphia
Options: How They Work and Who Has Them
Chuck Hixson
PhillyBaseballNews.com		 Jan 2, 2008
In an attempt to explain some of the detailed transactions in the world of Major League Baseball, Philly Baseball News starts with a look at options. How is a player “optioned out” and who on the Phillies 40 man roster has options left?Some of the rules regarding baseball transactions can be a little rough to understand. One of those rules that’s often misunderstood is the rule of “optioning out a player”. Many fans know that players have three options, but they don’t fully understand what that means. The basic explanation is that once a player is added to the 40 man roster, he can be optioned out in three separate seasons. Where the misunderstanding comes in is that a lot of fans understand the rule to mean that he can be optioned out three times, when in fact, he can be optioned out countless times over three seasons.A player who is “out of options” can’t be sent to the minors without first clearing waivers. Players with five years of Major League service also can not be optioned to the minors without their consent.For some unknown reason, Major League Baseball and their teams don’t publicize how many options players have remaining. Using baseball rules and doing some investigative work, it’s possible to figure out where players stand. We’ve read over the rules and done the leg work for you to figure out where the players on the Phillies 40 man roster stand in regard to their remaining options. We’ll keep updating this list as time goes on, options are used and players are added to the 40 man roster. We’ve done our best to compile this list, but can’t absolutely guarantee that this list is 100% correct; after all, who do you think we are, Bud Selig?

Players with five years or more experience, who can not be optioned to the minors:

Pat Burrell, Adam Eaton, Tom Gordon, Wes Helms, Geoff Jenkins, Brad Lidge, Brett Myers, Jimmy Rollins and J.C. Romero.

Players out of options:

Clay Condrey, Greg Dobbs, Chad Durbin, J.D. Durbin, John Ennis, Chris Snelling, So Taguchi, Jayson Werth.

Rule 5 Players: (Can not be optioned to the minors without first being offered to the team that they were drafted from and clearing waivers)

Travis Blackley, Lincoln Holdzkom

PLAYER REMAINING OPTIONS
Joe Bisenius 2
T.J. Bohn 1
Eric Bruntlett 2
Fabio Castro 2
Chris Coste 2
Anderson Garcia 2
Cole Hamels 3
J.A. Happ 2
Brad Harman 3
Ryan Howard 1
Jason Jaramillo 3
Kyle Kendrick 3
Ryan Madson 2
Scott Mathieson 1
Carlos Ruiz 1
Matt Smith 1
Chase Utley 1
Shane Victorino 1
Mike Zagurski 2

Sorry about the chart - the names are there, you just have to hold the mouse pointer over them to get them to show up.

Posted in Can-AM, Coaches, FLP | 2 Comments »

Happy New Year! - UPDATED

Posted by Carl on January 1, 2008

And once again in Ottawa, the snow is falling.  Just another quick blog today, updating the whereabouts of some FLPs:

From The Kansas City Star:

Like father, like son. That would suit Dusty Wathan just fine in terms of getting to the big leagues as a manager. Dusty’s father, John, took over as manager of the Royals at the age of 37.

Dusty, now 34, just got his first job as manager of the Phillies’ Class A minor-league affiliate in Williamsport, Pa.

“I’ll have to hurry if I’m going to beat my dad to the big leagues as a manager,” Dusty said. “I’m starting a bit lower, too. He started right at Triple A.”

Dusty Wathan officially retired as a player after 14 seasons of bouncing around the minor leagues.

“I just got halfway through this season and figured it would be my last,” he said. “I didn’t want to go to another spring training next year wondering if I was going to get cut or wondering if I was going to get another paycheck. I’ve got a family, and I’ve got to consider more than just me.”

Wathan said he had no regrets playing so many years in the minors.

“At least I got a taste of the big leagues (in 2002),” he said. “It was only eight days or so (with the Royals), but it’s something I’ll always remember.

“I always said I wanted to play the game long enough that I could start out being a manager rather than just a coach. I think that’s what kept me hanging on because I started to think I could be a manager five or six years ago. I felt very lucky that the Phillies organization gave me this chance.”

As I mentioned last week, at least two FLP are toiling away in Mexico for the Naranjeros de Hermasillo - Gary Burnham and Chris Roberson are both enjoying the relative warmth of the Liga Mexicana del Pacifico.  Gary’s hitting just .258 in the 17 games he’s appeared in, while Chris is at .288 over 70 AB in 18 games.  The roster for the Naranjeros reads like a “who’s who” of past and current MLB players - Edgar Gonzalez, Miguel Ramirez, Nelson Figueroa, Geronimo Gil.  Eude Brito is playing in the Dominican League for Azucareros del Este - his ERA over 19 appearances is 2.21 (20.1 innings pitched).

 *** UPDATE ***

Neate beats me to the punch with the news that Chris has been traded to the Baltimore Orioles.  With fellow speedster Michael Bourn traded to Houston in the off-season, where will this leave FLP Javon Moran on the depth chart?

Posted in Coaches, FLP, News | No Comments »

Next Entries »