Indy Baseball Chatter: WHERE ARE THE PITCHERS? WE HAVE 25 WHO SEEM TO BE FREE AGENTS

Thursday, March 03, 2011

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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Bob Wirz

Former chief spokesman for Major League Baseball Commissioners Bowie Kuhn and Peter Ueberroth. Six years as publicity director for the Kansas City Royals, and a background in newspaper, radio and television. Started Wirz & Associates, a sports PR and consulting firm, in 1985. Has written extensively on Independent Baseball since 2003.

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About 'My Nebraska'

It seems almost universally accepted that Nebraskans are friendly, hard-working people.

A native son, who eventually transitioned to the East Coast because it was the best avenue to follow his passion of continuing to work in major league baseball, has published a book to share a lifetime of memories of growing up in the Cornhusker state.

You may have guessed it when you saw the title: My Nebraska. Yes, Bob Wirz, now a youthful 85, is sharing his "rich memories of growing up in rural Nebraska" in the 1940s and 1950s in a delightful 136 pages in the book produced by Dorrance Publishing in Pittsburgh, PA.

Wirz, who got to live his passion of working at the highest levels of baseball and later developing his own sports public relations and marketing company, lovingly empties out his memories of everything from counting millions of tiny trees to playing grass-roots baseball where the age of teammates might run from the early teens to the 50s.

The colorful cover of My Nebraska, which features two paintings from Dunning, NE rancher/artist Laron McGinn that depict the beautiful landscape of rural Nebraska and the ranching lifestyle, sets the tone for the 5 x 8 book also filled with meaningful pictures.

It is "a wistful and endearing love letter to Nebraska filled with memories shared by generations raised in small towns throughout the Midwest", praises Shari Veil, who heads up the journalism and mass communications department at the University of Nebraska.

My Nebraska, a 5x8 paperback, is priced at $19.95 plus $4.00 for handling and shipping. Autographed copies may be ordered at www.WirzandAssociates.com