KEEPING UP WITH THE FORTUNES--GOOD AND BAD--OF VARIOUS INDY LEAGUERS

Some important leftovers after Thursday's Independent Baseball Insidercolumn:

--The hottest Independent team today may be the Gary (IN) Southshore Railcats, but that shouldn't be too shocking since Greg Tagert already has two championships in six previous seasons with the team, which now plays in the American Association. Gary (43-27) has won 10 of its last 11 games to lead the Central Division by 3 1/2 games.

--I keep hoping to see some good news about Matt Kramer, who previously played in both the American Association (Sioux City, IA) and United League (Harlingen, TX), but the Boston farmhand still is struggling in his conversion from catching to pitching. The 25-year-old Harvard product is being given an opportunity at the lowest possible level, the Gulf Coast League, but the right-hander has a 6.75 earned run average for his four innings of work with a frightful 10 walks and no strikeouts even though he has not surrendered a single hit.

--Lefty Raul Valdes is back in the minors (Memphis) after seven appearances with the parent St. Louis Cardinals. The 33-year-old Cuban lost his only decision and had an acceptable 3.38 ERA as National League hitters batted .273 against the onetime Can-Am League (New Jersey and Nashua, NH) hurler. Valdes debuted in the majors with 38 games for the New York Mets (3-3, 4.91) last season.

--Eleven former Indy players are currently active in the majors with another four, including brothers J.D. and Stephen Drew, on the disabled list.

--Wily Mo Pena (Bridgeport, CT, Atlantic League) debuts with his new organization this weekend, joining Seattle's top farm club in Tacoma, WA. With a good start, the slugger could easily find himself with the struggling Mariners in a very short time.

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CLOSER TOSSES BOUQUET AT INDEPENDENT BASEBALL AS HE LEAVES TO JOIN ROYALS FARM SYSTEM

It has to make Independent Baseball officials feel good when a departing player heaps praise. Such was the case this week when Kansas City purchased left-handed closer Andrew Dobies from Somerset, NJ of the Atlantic League.

While admitting it was a two-edged issue to be leaving his teammates yet getting a renewed opportunity in a major league organization, the 27-year-old Dobies told Ryan Dunleavy of mycentraljersey.com< "playing for Somerset helped revive my career. This is the purest form of baseball I've played in a long time."

'Purest form of baseball' has to mean Independent Baseball where the No. 1 objective is to win. We hear this time and again from managers, coaches and players who have been in both the affiliated and Independent minor leagues in recent years. I heard it directly (well, via telephone) this week from longtime major league star Bill Buckner, who was featured in this week's subscriber-driven Independent Baseball Insider column. Buckner is in his first season as a manager, working at Brockton, MA in the Can-Am League.

Dobies went to the Royals' Double-A farm club in Springdale, AR. It is called Northwest Arkansas. A former third-round draft choice of the Red Sox, who also played in the Chicago White Sox system, did not allow an earned run in 18.1 innings from May 28-July 10. He was chosen for the Atlantic League All-Star Game, and left Somerset with a 2-3 record, five saves, a 2.81 ERA and 31 strikeouts (only three walks) in 32 innings.

R. J. SWINDLE RELEASED

I have not yet been able to track full details, but it was surprising to see that Tampa Bay gave up on reliever R. J. Swindle. He had been a lefty with considerable promise, reaching the majors with Philadelphia in 2008 and Milwaukee the next season (combined nine games).

Swindle's age wasn't the major factor because he only turned 28 earlier this month. He did give up three runs in his last three appearances at Triple-A Durham, NC, including a home run, walk and two runs in his last outing six days ago. Overall, he allowed only 26 hits in 34.2 innings and struck out 36 with a 2-0 record, one save and a 4.15 earned run average.

Presuming he is healthy as the 39 appearances would indicate, someone will grab the Canadian native, who spent his second pro season (2005) and the start of the next year in the Northern League (Schaumburg, IL).

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WITH ADDITIONS OF ALFONZO AND WILLIAMS, INDEPENDENTS EQUAL FINAL 2010 TOTAL WITH 30 PLAYERS IN MAJORS

A nice milestone for Independent Baseball was reached over the weekend.

Two players with fairly frequent visits to the major leagues got called up for the first time this season, and they became the 29th and 30th Indy grads to wear an American or National League uniform in 2011, thereby equalling the total for all of last year with more than two months still to be played.

Catcher Eliezer Alfonzo, who played for the St. Paul (MN) Saints before they moved from the Northern League to the American Association, and left-handed relief specialist Randy Williams both contributed right away, too. Williams, whose Indy time was with Edinburg, TX, then in the United League (and now in the North American), delivered three key outs for the Boston Red Sox in a still tight game at Tampa Bay Saturday. Boston eventually won, 9-5. Alfonzo went 2-for-6 in a pair of one-run Colorado losses against Milwaukee.

Alfonzo has a .238 career average for 170 major league games, going 124-for-522 with 16 homers and 58 runs batted in. Williams has appeared in 91 games with a 3-3 record and three saves while compiling a 5.67 earned run average.

ST. PAUL SELLS ITS 100TH CONTRACT

Another highly-impressive milestone came about when Saints outfielder Brandon Tripp's contract was sold by the American Association team to Philadelphia. It marked the 100th such sale since Independent play started in 1993. Tripp, who had previously been in the Baltimore and Florida organizations, left St. Paul with a .314average plus 48 RBI in 60 games. He joins the Class A Clearwater (FL) Threshers.

.403 GAP IN SOUTHERN MARYLAND ORDER

If ever there were big shoes to fill they belong to Southern Maryland (Waldorf) because the Atlantic League team lost shortstop Yunesky Sanchez to Pittsburgh, taking his .403 batting average and 40 RBI in 61 games out of the Blue Crabs lineup. Sanchez was dispatched to Class AA Altoona, PA.

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THE STORY BEHIND AMERICAN LEAGUE ALL-STAR STARTER JERED WEAVER'S JOURNEY INTO INDEPENDENT BASEBALL

We wrote in last week's Independent Baseball Insider about the added interest Indy fans should have in the major league All-Star Game because of former American Association pitcher Aaron Crow of Kansas City being on the American League team. Crow had pitched in a few games for the Fort Worth (TX) Cats before signing with the Royals.

There was another tie-in since the Angels' Jered Weaver was the starting A.L. pitcher, throwing a scoreless inning with a walk and a strikeout. While Weaver did not pitch in an Independent league he did train with the Camden (NJ) RiverSharks (Atlantic League) back in 2005.

Weaver and current Arizona shortstop Stephen Drew were in Camden while signing with major league organizations was up in the air. Drew, whose brother J.D. had played for the St. Paul (MN) Saints of the Northern League, got into 19 games, hitting .427 (35-for-82).

Wayne Krenchicki, who was Camden's manager at the time, told me later for the Insider the 6-foot-7 Weaver trained with the Sharks for "two or three weeks, throwing a couple of bullpens and working to get ready. It was a really good experience, at a very nervous time", Krenchicki explained, because a lot of money was on the table if the right-hander and the Angels could get together on a contract. Weaver ultimately signed on May 30 with his first Camden outing tentatively planned for two days later.

THIS WEEK'S 'INSIDER'

Topics we will examine in this week's Insider, which subscribers receive on Thursday, include the likely new Atlantic League franchise in Nassau County, NY (Long Island) now that Frank Boulton's bid has been chosen over a group that had wanted to place a New York Mets minor league team in that heavily-populated area and the chaos with Lake County (Zion, IL) maintaining its divisional lead in the North American League despite changing almost its entire roster virtually overnight.

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FORMER ATLANTIC LEAGUERS TERRY TIFFEE AND LOGAN KENSING IN STARRING ROLES WITH YANKS' TOP FARM CLUB

Vacations are wonderful, but they certainly throw you off schedule. So with that apology and while waiting for the Atlantic League and Frontier League All-Star Games on Wednesday, we will bring you up to date on some former Independent players now in the affiliated minor leagues.

We often talk about how many Indy grads are playing in Triple-A, just one notch below the majors. It may surprise some, but the powerful New York Yankees have been one of the most active teams at purchasing the contracts of Independent players again this season.

All five of the players below came out of Indy leagues (four this season), and are based at Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, PA, that one step away from putting on the pinstripes at Yankee Stadium.

Recent signees Terry Tiffee and Logan Kensing are doing especially well.

Tiffee, a former major league third baseman who was one of those sold by first-half Atlantic League division champion Lancaster, PA, is hitting .338 after 18 games with three homers and seven doubles among his hits. Tiffee his a dozen runs batted in.

Kensing, also signed out of the Atlantic League (Bridgeport, CT), has a win and three saves in his first five Scranton/Wilkes-Barre appearances with eight strikeouts and only one walk in 6.1 innings while posting a terrific 1.42 earned run average.

Greg Smith, purchased from Grand Prairie, TX in the American Association, is starting and after six appearances (one was in relief) he has gone 2-2, 4.99. Fourteen walks in 30.2 innings have not helped his cause.

Veteran major leaguer Mike Lamb, normally a first baseman or third baseman, has hit
.255 in 11 games since leaving Camden, NJ (Atlantic League) with seven of his 12 hits for extra bases. He has driven in five.

Onetime Chicago Cubs star Mark Prior, who seemed to be a decent candidate for the Bronx at the end of spring training, has once again spent much of the year on the disabled list. Now 30, the right-hander worked three times for Class A Tampa, FL, but has thrown only one inning (scoreless) with the top farm club. Prior started his comeback with Orange County (Fullerton, CA) of the Golden League.

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IT WOULD BE NICE TO SEE JOSE YEPEZ MAKE HIS MAJOR LEAGUE DEBUT THIS WEEKEND

It is my hope we will see 30-year-old rookie catcher Jose Yepez's name in a Seattle Mariners box score this weekend.

Indications were the three-season Independent Baseball backstop might only be with the M's a short time while starter Miguel Olivo overcomes hamstring issues, and it always seems such a heart tug when a first-time major leaguer does not get into a game before being returned to the minor leagues. One never knows if or when the next big-league call will come.

I know of three previous times this has happened, including earlier this season when Cincinnati elevated lefty Tom Cochran, a veteran of the Can-Am (Worcester), Atlantic (Lancaster) and Frontier (Ohio Valley and Washington) Leagues, from Louisville for two days without using him in a game. In the previous two cases, the pitcher never did get another major league opportunity. Those victims were Tim Bausher (Berkshire, Northeast League) with Boston and southpaw Brian Mazone (Zion, Western League, and Joliet, Northern League) with Philadelphia.

"I think he's (Olivo) going to be okay," Seattle Manager Eric Wedge told MLB.com. "He feels pretty good, but we wanted to get Yepez up here to make sure we were covered in case something happens."

Yepez, a Venezuelan native, played with Gary of the Northern League in both 2005 and 2007 and was with Pensacola of the American Association in '06. The 11-year pro was hitting .276 in 28 games for Triple-A Tacoma. Veteran Josh Bard, who also joined Seattle Wednesday, was listed as the starting catcher for Friday's game against the San Diego Padres. The regular backup, Chris Gimenez, is on the disabled list.

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