GREAT NEWS: ALMONTE, KINTZLER TO OPEN REGULAR SEASON WITH BREWERS

This could be the best news of the spring for avid followers of Independent Baseball.

Erick Almonte, who has not played in a major league game since 2003 and never has started a season in the majors, has made the improbable club to be on the Opening Day roster of the Milwaukee Brewers.

The Long Island (NY) Ducks' third baseman during the 2006 Atlantic League season is expected to be a prime right-handed pinch hitter for the Brewers when they open the season in Cincinnati Thursday although Milwaukee seems to feel he can fill in, as necessary, at first or third base, left or rightfield and perhaps even at his original position of shortstop.

Almonte was a non-roster invitee to spring training in Arizona although Manager Ron Roenicke admitted to reporters "probably not" when they asked if he thought the hot-hitting veteran was likely to make the team when camp opened.

AMERICAN ASSOCIATION/NORTHERN LEAGUE HURLER ALSO STICKS WITH BREW CREW

Right-hander Brandon Kintzler, despite his 5-foot-10 height, will be one of eight Brewers relievers when the National League season starts. Only 26, Kintzler, who has pitched for both St. Paul, MN in the American Association and Winnipeg, which is moving from the Northern League to the Association this season, got into his first seven major league games last September (0-1, 7.36) after spending most of the season in Double-A and Triple-A.

While Kintzler and Almonte got good news about their immediate future, popular reliever Mark DiFelice (Somerset and Camden, NJ, Atlantic League) and catcher Mike Rivera (Atlantic City, NJ, Atlantic), both with major league experience with the Brewers, have been told they will not be part of the major league team when the regular season opens.

We are hoping to have a full rundown on all Independent players who will open the season on major league rosters--likely about 15 of them--in Thursday's Independent Baseball Insider column.

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IS IT FAIR TO GO TO A SPRING TRAINING GAME TO SEE NUMBER 94 COME TO BAT?

I am trying to figure out the pros and cons of one of the recent trends in spring training games.

I have seen half a dozen games so far this spring in Florida, and it seems in every one of them the last two or three innings are played to a great extent by those wearing numbers in the 90s, and without names on the back of the uniform or anywhere to be found in the game program.

Now, I have been working or watching these games for more than four decades. I understand that regulars do not play nine innings very often. Maybe the last week or so, and even that seems pretty limited in these days of astronomical salaries. The late innings of the game are usually played by the younger members of the 40-man roster who still are a year or so away from the major leagues or by the non-roster players trying to squeeze their way onto the 25-man Opening Day roster. After all, most teams have about 20 non-roster guys these days, which gives them nearly 60 players in the big-league camp.

In my tracking of former Independent players who are neither on the 40-man roster or an invitee, I have seen no less than 17 others with Indy experience in a game or two. Chances are, I've also missed a few. And, there are many, many more of these players filling out a major league roster via a one-day pass from the minor league camp.

It has to be a thrill for a Darren Byrd (Fargo, ND, a new American Association team) to get into a game with Milwaukee or Austin Bibens-Dirkx (Victoria, BC, formerly in the Golden League) to show up in a Chicago Cubs box score or Erold Andrus, recently signed by Texas after playing last season at York, PA in the Atlantic League, to be able to say he got into a game with his major league brother Elvis. None of these players has any major league experience. Some may never get to this level again, so it could be their memory of a lifetime.

But is it fair to the fans who drove an hour, paid for a ticket, parking, concessions and probably a souvenir and expected to at least see nine innings from the players who are listed on the already expansive rosters. They could have spent the day at the beach, and used a lot less money.

I've watched good fans who know a great deal about their favorite team and its primary prospects scratch their head to figure out who numbers 93, 94 and 95 are. That might be the entire outfield for the final innings of what is supposed to be a major league exhibition game.

What do you think?

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VIRTUALLY ALL INDEPENDENT PLAYERS HAVE AVOIDED EARLY CUTS FROM MAJOR LEAGUE CAMPS

A great many cuts have been made in spring training rosters, but the only casualty (unless we have missed something) among the 48 Independent players is Clay Zavada, who Arizona sent to its minor league camp.

This cannot be considered that much of a surprise since the still-promising lefty (Southern Illinois, Frontier League) is coming off Tommy John (elbow) surgery which kept him out much of last season. The good news is that Zavada has gotten back to a point where he has been throwing to hitters.

Meanwhile, three more onetime Indy players have appeared in major league spring training games, jumping that already impressive count to at least 60. The last 12 have been brought up for a game or two from minor league camps.

The three most recent additions all are position players. Shortstop Ed Rogers (Bridgeport, CT, Atlantic League), who had a very good spring with Arizone one year ago before going back to Reno (Triple-A) where he was highly regarded both on the diamond and in the clubhouse, made a one-game appearance with the Diamondbacks.

Outfielder Mike Spidale (Kansas City, KS, then Northern League, now American Association) got into a game with Philadelphia, and third baseman Mike Costanzo (Camden, NJ, Atlantic) made an appearance with Cincinnati.

PENA, ALMONTE KEEP UP BLISTERING PACE

Wily Mo Pena, the veteran first baseman-outfielder trying to get back to the majors where he prospered for a time, is making decision-makers in Arizona take notice.

The big guy, who spent the early part of last season at Bridgeport, dropped below.400when he failed to get a hit as a pinch hitter Sunday, but still is at .393 for the 13Cactus League games he has been in with 11 hits in 28 at-bats, including three homers and six runs batted in.

Erick Almonte's bid to get back to the majors for the first time since 2003 (New York Yankees) as a pinch hitter and utilityman with Milwaukee is still going strong. The onetime Long Island (NY) Ducks infielder is making the Atlantic League look good by hitting .436 (17-for-39) with the Brewers. He leads the team in both hits and at-bats, and has three homers and has driven in nine runs.

We plan a rundown on all of the key bids by former Independent players to land major league jobs in this Thursday's Independent Baseball Insider column. Subscriptions are available elsewhere on this blog.

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ATLANTIC LEAGUE COUNT IN MAJOR LEAGUE CAMPS UP TO 20 WITH 56 FOR ENTIRE INDY LINEUP

The Atlantic League should be popping buttons of pride with at least 20 of its former players wearing major league uniforms in spring training, if only for a day.

This league that caters mostly to more experienced professionals had 15 players on our original list of those due in major league camps which we covered in a recent Independent Baseball Insider column, including 11 non-roster invitees, but at least five more have gotten a pass of one day or more to join baseball's top echelon. All of Independent Baseball can claim at least 56 of its former players in big league camps, either as 40-man roster players, invitees or up from minor league camp for a day.

The latest pair of Atlantic Leaguers to appear in exhibition games are batting 1.000, too, with Corey Smith, who played third base when Newark, NJ won the '07 championship, getting a two-run double for the Los Angeles Dodgers and veteran major leaguer Jason Lane, who was at Southern Maryland (Waldorf) for a time last season, collecting a run-scoring single for Toronto.

POSITION PLAYERS AWAITING NEW OPPORTUNITIES

A couple of days ago we listed the pitchers with Independent playing time who were with major league organizations at the end of last season and are believed to be without jobs (some may have chosen to retire) at this time. Today it is the position players in similar situations:

CATCHERS: None.
INFIELDERS: 1B Jason Botts, Christian Colonel, Fernando Cortez, Keoni DeRenne, 1B Trent Lockwood, Wes Long, Brian Myrow, Ramon Nivar, Argenis Reyes, Gabe Suarez, 1B Ryne White, 1B Dustin Yount.
OUTFIELDERS: Cory Aldridge, Charlton Jimerson, Jacque Jones (likely retired), Kevin Mahar, Val Majewski, Andres Perez, Michael Ryan, Mike Spidale, Matt Watson, Matt Wilhite.

We welcome clarifications from this list to RWirz@aol.com.

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WHERE ARE THE PITCHERS? WE HAVE 25 WHO SEEM TO BE FREE AGENTS

It seems unlikely this far into spring training that very few of the former Independent players who had major league organizational jobs at the end of last season and did not get an new contract earlier in the offseason will be asked back for 2011. As a result, the following 25 pitchers appear to be available (unless they have opted to retire):

Jason Anderson, Federico Baez, Steve Bray, Kyle Carr, Travis Chick, Brendan Donnelly, Derrick Ellison, Seth Etherton, Mark Holliman, Ryan Houston, Jason Jarvis, Jason Jones, Taylor Lavigne, Dan Leatherman, Chris Malone, Tom Mastny, Brian Mazone, Kyle Middleton, Josh Muecke, Oneli Perez, Adam Pettyjohn, Edwar Ramirez, Rick Rivas, Patrick Ryan and Preston Vancil.

If anyone has seen that someone on this list has signed either with an organization or an Independent team, I invite you to pass that information along to RWirz@aol.com.

We will have a list of unsigned position players in a day or two.

SPRING TRAINING ROSTERS SWELLING

A heavy portion of today's Independent Baseball Insider column, our subscription newsletter that is weekly from now through September, will be devoted to how former Independent players who are in major league spring training camps are doing.

One of the nuggets we have uncovered includes a list of six players not originally on either 40-man rosters or non-roster invitees who have appeared in at least one major league exhibition game. That brings the number of Indy grads involved in big league camps to at least 54 with more expected to show up. We track them as best we can.

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