Which is nothing new.  Brennan King is placed on the DL.  Joey Hammond is recalled (told ya’ he’d be back soon).  A catcher, Tim Gradoville is also brought up.  Right hander, Jason Anderson is sent down.

Meanwhile, rumors swirl about Rod Barajas (Philly catcher) being traded. Chris Coste remains in Reading.

First off,  in a situation like this I have little doubt that management rarely telegraphs enough information about a future trade for pundits to reliably “connect the dots” in advance of the actual trade taking place.  Having said that, it’s still interesting to go through the exercise.

Why is Ottawa carrying three catchers (Gradoville, Jaramillo, Wathan)?  If Barajas is dealt, you would think that J.J. would be a prime candidate to replace him.  However, the reason that Philadelphia went out and acquired Barajas in the first place (reportedly) was that they wanted someone with experience (read: more experience than Coste) to back up Carlos Ruiz.  So it would seem a move involving J.J. up to Philly is doubtful - unless they’ve become comfortable enough with Ruiz.  In any event, it’s unlikely Ottawa’s meant to continue with three guys behind the plate.

Which brings us to Chris Coste.  Why was he left in Reading when he would have (should have?) been the natural call up to take Brennan King’s position?  My guess is that given the feathers he appears to have ruffled in Philadelphia’s front office that a trade is more likely than a move to back up Ruiz.

Bottom line (I think):  Someone’s leaving and I’m guessing it’s Coste.  It’s unlikely that they’d want to give up a guy like J.J. given his upside, and his age; it’d be awfully hard to get fair value for him.

Which still doesn’t explain the three catchers here.  Maybe a package deal trading Coste and Barajas, with J.J. getting elevated to the Phillies?

*** UPDATE ***

It appears that Neate and I are on a similar page vis a vis Chris Coste.

Chris Coste to Reading.  Whoa.

“Shoulder Strain Sends Myers to DL

ComcastSportsNet.com

The Phillies placed closer Brett Myers on the 15-day disabled list on Friday with a right shoulder strain and activated first baseman Ryan Howard from the DL.

Myers suffered the shoulder strain in Wednesday night’s win over Florida. The Phillies recalled lefthander Mike Zagurski from double-A Reading and optioned catcher Chris Coste to Reading.

This is the first career trip to the DL for Myers, who is 1-0 with a 2.61 ERA and six saves in 18 games as a reliever.

Howard has been out with strained left quadriceps. In his two-game rehab stint in single-A Lakewood, he went 2-for-6 with a double, home run and four RBIs. “

Sorry, but this is going to be quick - will fan fave, Joey Hammond be called up to replace the now departed Chris Coste? (scroll down to the bottom)

This may be it for today as I’m “on assignment”. More later…

*** UPDATE ***

Joey’s most definitely back, going 2-5 in today’s ugly 10-15 loss to Indy. I blogged about Joey way back in November. In other former Lynx player type news, according to Baseball America, Luis Terrero has been called up by the Chicago White Sox and Howie Clark is making a return to the Blue Jays (I’m still looking for confirmation of both moves).

Injury rehabs, or in the case of Roger Clemens, “rust rehabs” are in the news. Apparently the SWB Yankees are hoping the Rocket will touch down in Pennsylvania - “We’ll just sell a billion tickets,” Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre general manager Jeremy Ruby said. “We’re crossing our fingers and hoping it happens.”

Don’t hold your breath though, it’s highly unlikely he’ll visit anything but a “home” park. Another former MLBer of Canadian renown who might stick for a while with his new AAA club is Rheal Cormier. Cormier is pitching for the Richmond Braves who, as coincidence would have it, will make a stop in Ottawa at the beginning of June.

Finally, while I’m not often a fan of the editorial commentary, one of the Phillies leading bloggers, Beerleaguer, turns it’s attention today to the minor leagues as a possible partial solution for the problems in Philadelphia:

“Around baseball – from Jack Cust in Oakland to Willie Harris in Atlanta – teams are finding outfield production off the scrap heap, AAAA players with less pedigree than Werth. I don’t know whether dipping into the dry farm system is the answer (Gary Burnham and Lou Collier are both hitting). The point is, the time has arrived when teams can accurately assess what they have and what they don’t…”

Like most Saturdays, it’s been busy (and I still haven’t mowed the lawn). The regular ride in the Gatineau Park was followed by Zak’s Little League Picture Day out at the Sportsplex, then a two hour practice at the Eagles Nest. I was surprised (pleasantly) to run into the dynamic duo that is “Bryan and Ryan” from the Lynx while we were out at the Sportsplex. Apparently, Skratch and Trash Monster were out at another baseball function in Orleans, but it didn’t matter - a more approachable, at ease pair of guys you won’t find anywhere.

As promised, some of the roster changes from March 31 to present.

Here’s how things looked on March 31, 2007:

CATCHERS:

Jason Jaramillo - still in Ottawa.

Dusty Wathan - still in Ottawa, but was sent to Reading temporarily before rejoining the Lynx last month.

INFIELDERS:

Brent Abernathy - traded to the Washington Nationals around April 9.

Gary Burnham - still playing here, but for how much longer?

Brennan King - still patrolling 3B.

Carlos Leon - still in Ottawa.

Danny Sandoval - still in Ottawa.

OUTFIELDERS:

Ron Calloway - still with the Lynx.

Lou Collier - still with the Lynx.

Chris Roberson - thankfully, still in Ottawa. Flyballs have no chance with Chris.

Jim Rushford - still local.

Pedro Swann - sent to AA Reading.

PITCHERS:

Joe Bisenius - still in Ottawa.

Eude Brito - local, but on the DL.

Fabio Castro - called up by Philadelphia.

Matt Childers - solid starter, still here.

Jim Crowell - released, now playing for Syracuse.

Kane Davis - in Ottawa.

John Ennis - playing for the Lynx, currently on the DL.

J.A. Happ - solid LHP, still in Ottawa.

Yoel Hernandez - called up by Philadelphia.

Brian Mazone - release granted, playing in Korea. This one hurts.

Justin Miller - released.

Brian Sanches - solid closer, still local.

NOW:

CATCHERS:

Chris Coste - sent down by Philadelphia. Solid, versatile (1B, catcher, 3B) player.

INFIELDERS:

Joe Thurston - as close to certain as you can get; every ground ball is a “routine” out with Joe.

OUTFIELDERS:

Since Pedro was sent down, there have been no other changes.

PITCHERS:

Zach Segovia - reliable SP, a little snake-bit on the run support.

J.D. Durbin - recent acquisition, assigned to Ottawa on May 4.

Rick Bauer - sent down from Philly on April 23.

Matt Smith - optioned to Ottawa by the Phillies on April 26.

Ryan Cameron - called up to Ottawa from Reading on May 6. I profiled Ryan back in March.

Heath Totten - called up from Reading.

Jason Anderson - sent down by Philadelphia a couple of days ago.

At some point this weekend I’m going to try (heavy emphasis on “try”) to post the changes in the Lynx lineup since Opening Day. Another change this week: reliever John Ennis has been moved to the DL with Heath Totten coming up from Reading to replace him. As Doug Bird notes in his report over on PhuturePhillies, from a scheduling/travel perspective the team is on an absolutely brutal road trip. Fortunately, they’ve not had to dip too deep into the bullpen on too many occasions. Tough loss last night against Louisville in a well pitched game all around - newcomer J.D. Durbin went five innings, giving up six hits and two earned runs.

When the team gets back to Ottawa, they’re likely going to note some changes to the local scenery; the leaves have come out, the flowers are in full bloom and the smell of lilac is in the air. This is definitely my favorite time of year - caught the scent of gasoline and a freshly mowed lawn last night on our way home from Zak’s Little League game… spring in Ottawa has truly arrived. “The boy” is having an absolute blast playing baseball this spring and I can see the effect of his studying various Blue Jays players; he’s adopted Paul Molitor’s batting stance and bat “waggle” (he’s still working on the swing part of it). During tryouts a couple of weeks ago, the coaches evaluated the kids skills in order to seed the teams evenly. In the hitting portion, a coach threw him ten wiffle balls - after the first five, Zak put up his hand to delay the next pitch, then turned to hit left handed in his best John Olerud stance. Bekah asked me what her older brother was doing.

“Showing off”, I replied. The coach turned and gave me a “is this kid for real?” look. I shrugged and acted as if I was someone else’s Dad…

Quick little video from last night - nice steal of home on a passed ball at the end. (Youtube should have it ready by 2.30 p.m. at the latest).

A pair of tickets to any game to the first person who can identify the mystery Philadelphia employee in the Lynx dugout last week. Hopefully he wasn’t scouting Brian Mazone – the news that Neate Sager broke yesterday, has now been confirmed: Brian’s going to try his luck in Korea (presumably, South Korea). It probably shouldn’t come as a complete surprise though; last year he was apparently talked out of jumping to the Korean peninsula by none other than Chris Coste. Perhaps the advice was different this spring…

Nice win in Louisville yesterday afternoon, including Danny Sandoval hitting one out – we’re on a home run hitting tear! If they can win today, they’ll have taken 3 of 4 from Louisville and will be well positioned to take their shot at division leader Buffalo. And there’s a strange bit of timing – both Ottawa teams will be in Buffalo this weekend. The Sens finished the regular season in third place behind Buffalo – exactly where the Lynx currently sit relative to the Bisons. Cue the “Twilight Zone” theme….

*** UPDATE ***

Stop with the email. Ottawa’s in Indy this weekend, followed by Buffalo here in Ottawa starting on Tuesday. Secondly, the “mystery man” has been identified. Just gotta confirm I can reveal his ID before I post it.

*** UPDATE II ***

The mystery man is none other than minor league catching coordinator Mike Compton.

Mike Compton during his playing days

Hat tip (and two tickets): “Educated” Lynx fan.

*** UPDATE III ***

A little more about the Korea deal and Brian’s replacement, Jason Anderson.

The Lynx website is out in front of all the action, faster than I can run it down from my own “sources”, so you’re best to head over there for the most up to date scores.

My roster predictions are going to take a beating - at least as far as the bullpen and starting pitching is concerned. The loss of Justin Germano creates a bit of a problem; I lose one SP, but there may also be a chain reaction as other players move up/down or out to accomodate the change. It does seem, however, that the Phillies aren’t going to “rush” anyone, and according to the Inky, they’re looking at moving either Adam Eaton or Jon Lieber to the pen (both are starters). Money quote:

But there are 13 days before the season opener. A trade could still happen.
If not . . .

“I don’t know,” he said. “You’ve got me.”

So the Phillies are down to 40 men. From my roster prediction, I’ve lost Justin Germano and have completely backtracked on Garcia. On the brighter side, a couple of roster spots I’d “predicted” came a step closer - Danny Sandoval (IF) and Randall Simon (1B) were optioned (Danny) and reassigned (Randall) to the minors. By my count, seven pitchers have now been optioned or reassigned to the minor leagues, including blog predictions Brian Mazone, Anderson Garcia, Jim Crowell, John Ennis and Jeff Farnsworth.

We’re into the home stretch here - the last bunch of profiles are on the men listed as outfielders on the Lynx roster. Batter up: Mike Spidale. Mike is one of those players of whom precious little ink or pixels has been spent - translation: I didn’t find much.

From scout.com:

Teams can sometimes hide an extra outfielder on their roster and Spidale could conceivably hold down that role. Spidale stole 29 bases at Low-A Lakewood in 2006 and was caught stealing just four times. Spidale spent some time Double-A when he was in the White Sox organization but hasn’t been back in his short stint with the Phillies. This is a guy who generally has the word “sparkplug” connected to his name when scouts talk about his style of play. Spidale never seems to get much credit, but always finishes the season with good stats and always does the fundamental things very well. He steals bases, fields his position very well, and has above average plate discipline, helping him to post a .418 OBP in 2006.

Mike split last season between Kansas City of the Northern (Independent) League and Lakewood (in the South Atlantic League). Based on his brief amount of experience above AA, I don’t think we’ll see Mike here to start the season.

We’re into the home stretch here - the last bunch of profiles are on the men listed as outfielders on the Lynx roster. Batter up: Mike Spidale. Mike is one of those players of whom precious little ink or pixels has been spent - translation: I didn’t find much.

From scout.com:

Teams can sometimes hide an extra outfielder on their roster and Spidale could conceivably hold down that role. Spidale stole 29 bases at Low-A Lakewood in 2006 and was caught stealing just four times. Spidale spent some time Double-A when he was in the White Sox organization but hasn’t been back in his short stint with the Phillies. This is a guy who generally has the word “sparkplug” connected to his name when scouts talk about his style of play. Spidale never seems to get much credit, but always finishes the season with good stats and always does the fundamental things very well. He steals bases, fields his position very well, and has above average plate discipline, helping him to post a .418 OBP in 2006.

Mike split last season between Kansas City of the Northern (Independent) League and Lakewood (in the South Atlantic League). Based on his brief amount of experience above AA, I don’t think we’ll see Mike here to start the season.