TWO BATTLES FOR CATCHING JOBS SEEM LIKELY

Snowy days have to be good for something, right?

This anxious-for-spring-training typist is looking ahead to what I feel may be two prime battles for backup catching jobs. Naturally, both involve former Independent Baseball players.

One would hope Chris Coste (Fargo, ND, Northern League) is set to return to the World Champion Phillies to back up Carlos Ruiz, but the "33-Year-Old Rookie" (that's his book, you will recall) turns 36 next week (February 4). Philadelphia picked up Ronny Paulino during the offseason, and he doesn't turn 28 until April 21.

Paulino even has more major league experience since he was in 129 and 133 games for Pittsburgh in 2006-07 before slipping to only 118 at-bats last season when Ryan Doumit hit .318 with 34 doubles, 15 homers and 69 RBI.

Shifting from Florida to Arizona, onetime St. Paul (MN) Saints backstop Eliezer Alfonzo seemed to be a good bet to back up young Nick Hundley at San Diego when he signed on this winter. Then, the Padres picked up veteran Henry Blanco. While Alfonzo probably has more power these days and Blanco will turn 38 before the season ends, Blanco's 700 games of major league experience and his defensive skills might be a solid fit for a young pitching staff.

Both of these battles could be interesting, and tough on the nerves for Coste and Alfonzo.

KUDOS TO THE FRONTIER LEAGUE AND LANCASTER, PA

The Frontier League deserves credit for lining up Comcast Sports Net Chicago to televise the league's July 15 All-Star Game from Rockford, IL. This is the first time the FL classic has been on TV live, with fans in Illinois, Indiana, Iowa and Wisconsin able to watch on the night after the major league All-Star Game.

We must tip our hat to the Lancaster Barnstormers because the Ice Park at Clipper Magazine Stadium attracted more than 1,500 skaters in the four-day period January 22-25. That was the largest weekend turnout in the three years of the Ice Park although more than 2,700 skaters showed up in the week between Christmas and the start of 2009.

If others teams would like to follow the Atlantic League club's venture into such an offseason attraction, consider that 25,000 skaters took the ice the first two winters. The Barnstormers believe they may have the biggest single season turnout this winter. Nice promotion for the baseball team, and hopefully some black ink on the ledger.

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CAN JOHN LINDSEY TAKE HIS BIG BAT TO THE MAJORS WITH FLORIDA?

Among all of the minor league free agents who have found fresh opportunities this offseason, one of the most intriguing to this corner is big John Lindsey, who will report to spring training as a non-roster invitee of the Florida Marlins in Jupiter, FL next month.

Florida signed the 245-pound first baseman after his second powerful season in the Los Angeles Dodgers' farm system, where he did everything except get to the major league roster during the National League season. He had a terrific showing last spring, including the Dodgers' trip to Japan, and he banged out 26 homers and drove in 100 runs for Triple-A Las Vegas during the season. That meant the soon-to-be 32-year-old (his birthday is January 30) connected for 56 round-trippers and plated 188 runs in the two summers in the Dodgers' chain since his contract was purchased from the New Jersey Jackals of the Can-Am League. He played for the Jackals in both 2005 and 2006.

Lindsey's chances with the Marlins should be better than continuing to play behind young James Loney in Los Angeles, and it may come down to how many games Jorge Cantu plays at first base. Cantu drove in 95 runs in '08, but played in only 66 games at first. Mike Jacobs got most of the playing time at that position, but he has moved on to Kansas City.

Lindsey has stayed sharp in the Mexican Pacific League this winter. He has 11 doubles and eight home runs among his 40 hits, but is hitting only a so-so .256. His home run count and his 32 RBI both rank second for Mazatlan.

Including Lindsey, we can now account for nearly 50 players with an Independent background who will be in major league camps, and that number seems to grow nearly every day. It is fairly evenly split between those on 40-man rosters and the invitees. We will examine the full list of non-roster players in next week's Independent Baseball Insider column.

THREE OTHER NON-ROSTER PLAYERS ON SAME TEAM

John Lindsey's teammates at Mazatlan this winter include three other players with Independent Baseball experience who are non-roster invitees to major league camps. Outfielder Jon Weber (.289-4-20) will be with defending American League champion Tampa Bay, Brian Myrow is sharing some time at first base (.217-2-6) and southpaw Randy Williams is an impressive 3-0, 2.16. Myrow and Williams will be in camp with the Chicago White Sox. Weber played his Independent baseball in the Frontier (Canton, OH) and Northern (Fargo, ND) Leagues, Myrow was with Winnipeg in the Northern and Williams played for Edinburg, TX when it was part of the Central League.

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PENSACOLA'S "T" NUNNARI WAS PART OF 'FINAL' EVENT AT DODGERTOWN, ONE OF BASEBALL'S JEWELS

Another of baseball's longtime showpieces may be on its final legs.

The Los Angeles Dodgers have moved their spring training base to Arizona, vacating sun-kissed Dodgertown in Vero Beach, FL after 60 consecutive springs. It may be that some major league team eventually will return to this once pristine "village" with its immaculate grooming, its celebrity-identified streets (i.e. Drysdale, Koufax, Alston, etc.), its comfy apartments for players and staff and Holman Stadium, where once upon a time outfielders had to challenge the knoll beyond the outfielders to retrieve long blasts.

But it seems more likely the facility never again will have a regular major league tenant.

What brings all of this to mind was a conversation with Talmadge ("T") Nunnari, who wears both the general manager's and the field manager's hats for the Pensacola (FL) Pelicans these days. He does have help, folks, especially for the tedious task of selling the business side of the American Association club.

"T" roamed Dodgertown last month as part of what he feels likely will be the last baseball event in the East Coast of Florida facility, at least for some time.

Nunnari managed the Gators in a dawn to dusk event staged by The Baseball Factory during a four-day pre-New Year's event in which 200 young men--those hoping to one day perform on the big stage of the major leagues--came from all across the country to work on their baseball skills. Nunnari was a manager and a talent evaluator, roles which will be essential when he sizes up older professional player who may be able to help fly a pennant over Pensacola's Pelican Park this summer.

Nunnari, who will turn 34 before the American Association season opens, was a ninth round draft choice of the Montreal Expos in 1997, and the first baseman-outfielder got into 18 National League games in 2000. He can preach on-base percentage to the Pelicans because his was a robust .583 in his brief major league stint when he had one hit and drew six walks while only gathering five official at-bats.

His best year may well have been 1999 when his left-handed swing accounted for 11 homers, 73 runs batted in and a .344 average combined in 134 games between Class A and Double-A. Nunnari's only Independent playing experience included a month at the end of 2002 when he helped the Pelicans win the Southeastern League title and about a week in 2005 when he was reactivated to help during a Central League roster shortage.

I can only hope "T" will share his memories of the final days of Dodgertown during down-time with the Pelicans this summer. Everyone should know the story of this baseball jewel. It was blessed with everything from Hall of Fame players to palm trees to Tommy Lasorda holding court in the unique, open-topped dugouts.

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LUCKY SEVEN WHO STARTED IN INDEPENDENT LEAGUES NOW IN MAJOR LEAGUE ORGANIZATIONS

The best kind of story we write here or for our Independent Baseball Insider column is when we discuss a player who started in the Independent ranks and has had his contract purchased by a major league organization.

That opportunity has come along seven times since the 2008 season ended. We added the seventh name today while updating the October 28 post which lists the more than 30 players who have been sold to one of the 30 major league systems since September.

Chris Cullen, a right-handed pitcher who finished up his college career at Michigan State last spring, is the lucky guy we discuss today. Cullen won five of his six decisions as a starter with the Edmonton (Alberta) CrackerCats of the Golden League, posting a 3.20 earned run average for 11 appearances covering 56.1 innings.

He was traded twice within five days in November, first going onto the roster of Reno, NV (Golden), then on to the Lincoln (NE) Saltdogs of the American Association. Finally, he was obtained by the Pittsburgh Pirates farm system.

To find a complete list of the player sales since the '08 Independent season ended, go to the right column of the home page of this blog, hit the October tab and look for the October 28 posting.

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CREATIVE BARGAINS CAN HELP BOTH TEAMS AND FANS AS THE ECONOMY STRUGGLES

One never likes to be the messenger with bad news, but The New York Times delivered one more dose of economic warning yesterday (Wednesday) when it pointed out that major league baseball crowds dropped off 40 per cent in the three-year depression period between 1931 and 1933.

In a huge piece on its first sports page, writer Ben Belson reminded readers that in the first season after the stock market crash of October, 1929, "baseball enjoyed record attendance", with the 16 teams topping 10 million for the first time. Attendance took a major thumping each of the next three summers, few teams made money and cost-cutting included dropping rosters from the traditional 25 to 23. "Even the best players--Babe Ruth among them--took pay cuts," The Times reported.

This typist certainly does not have all the answers for offsetting possible attendance and revenue dropoff for 2009 and beyond , but with the new warning--along with all the other signs we see every day--it is a gross understatement to say Independent Baseball teams need to be prudent with their spending and creative on behalf of their customer base, which includes both companies and individuals.

It is tricky to discount your product too much, but there are novel ways of doing so and still developing revenue. The Golden League's defending champion Orange County Flyers (Fullerton, CA) are offering two season tickets in their general admission section for the price of one.

Lancaster, PA of the Atlantic League is sweetening the value for full season ticket holders by including Barnstormers Bucks which can be used for concessions, merchandise and additional game tickets. "We think it's important to give back to those fans who have continued to invest in us over the years," said General Manager Vince Bulik. Lancaster, which is one of at least three Atlantic League teams cutting pre-season expenses by having its team train at home (instead of in Florida), also is driving outside revenue through its skating rink, the Ice Park.

These are only a couple of examples. Look around. Your favorite team probably has its own offers which will allow fans to enjoy baseball without taking out a loan to do so.

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