Wednesday, November 30, 2011

ST. PAUL'S JASON COOPER HAS ONE SPECIAL MEMORY AS HE MOVES INTO FRONT OFFICE JOB

Standout outfielder Jason Cooper, who has moved from playing (the last three seasons with St. Paul, MN of the American Association and briefly with Lancaster, PA of the Atlantic League) to a front office opportunity with the Pittsburgh Pirates, only got into a few major league games and all of those were in exhibitions. But Cooper, who I will give considerable attention to in Thursday's Independent Baseball Insider column, has one really good memory.

He traveled to Philadelphia with the Cleveland Indians for the very first game to be played at Citizens Bank Park in 2004.

It was a cool, rainy day, but there was the predictable full house. The lefty swinging Cooper was on the bench until he was called on to lead off in the ninth inning, and who should the Phils bring in but southpaw flame-thrower Billy Wagner.

After fouling off some of Wagner's pitches, Cooper, then only 23 and less than two years removed from signing out of Stanford, was able to single to right field.

What a nice moment for any baseball player to experience.


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Wednesday, November 23, 2011

PROMOTIONS TO 40-MAN ROSTERS NOT HAPPENING BUT SOME ARE BEING JUMPED BY CLASSIFICATION

One phase of baseball's offseason appears to have passed without the promotion of any Independent Baseball graduates making their way onto major league 40-man rosters.

The 30 teams have elevated on average three or four minor leaguers to protect them from next month's draft, but the good news did not come for any of those with Indy experience. That may be, in part, because of so many promotions during the 2011 season when a record-tying 40 onetime Independent players were on active major league rosters.

Players like Dylan Axelrod (Chicago White Sox), Justin Christian (San Francisco), Steve Delabar (Seattle), Eric Hamren (San Diego) and Jerome Williams (Los Angeles Angels) already hold down big-league roster slots.

JOSE YEPEZ GETS MAJOR LEAGUE INVITATION

The next step is the handing out of non-roster invitations to major league spring training camps. There likely will be some three dozen of those invites, and the first one (we have seen) belongs to catcher Jose Yepez (Pensacola, FL, American Association and Gary, IN, of the same league but in the Northern League during his time). Yepez became a free agent this fall and quickly signed with the Atlanta Braves.

Yepez, 30, hit .307 in 48 games for Triple-A Tacoma, WA this summer and spent several days with the parent Seattle Mariners although he is still looking for his initial major league game action. He had three full seasons (2005-07) in Independent Baseball.

MORE PROMOTIONS

Several more players with Independent experience have been promoted to higher levels as major league organizations set their winter rosters and, in some instances, protect their rights to the players unless another team is willing to pay a higher draft price. This group, with their former Indy teams, includes:

LHP Andrew Albers (Quebec, Can-Am League) from AA to AAA by Minnesota
1B Chris Garcia (New Jersey, Can-Am, and Shreveport, LA, American Association) from
A to AAA by Atlanta
*RHP Matt Kramer (Sioux City, IA, American Association, and Harlingen, TX, United
League) from Rookie to AA by Boston
RHP Robert Roth (McAllen, TX, North American League; Grand Prairie, TX, American
Association; Windy City, Frontier League; Laredo, TX, United) from A to AA by
Atlanta
OF Brandon Tripp (St. Paul, MN, American Association) from A to AA by Philadelphia
C Zach Zeneski (Midwest, Frontier) from A to AA by Texas

*First professional game was in an Independent league.


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Friday, November 18, 2011

NO, YOU HAVE NOT HEARD THIS STORY PREVIOUSLY

Whenever we start thinking we have heard it all, then another bizarre situation comes along.

Such was the case this week when stories started coming our way about a minor leaguer (well, he had a little experience), Breland Brown, who had represented that he was the agent for the Pirates' Xavier Paul and wanted an opportunity for the 26-year-old outfielder to play in the Australian Baseball League this winter. The only catch, it seemed, was the condition that the Aussies also give one Breland Brown an opportunity, at the same time.

Cutting through the apparently false details, the situation is now under review by Major League Baseball's Department of Investigations.

And why does this interest this blogger? Lengthy stories on CBSSports.com and deadspin.com included information indicating Brown also played three years of Independent Baseball. As best we can find, Brown had a grand total of 39 at-bats between the American Defenders of New Hampshire (Can-Am League) and Evansville, IN (Frontier League) in 2009.

This probably at best reminds everyone in the game one cannot be too careful in checking on the credentials of would-be players or staffers.

INTRIGUING STEP FOR QUARTET JOINING PIRATES

I was able to confirm today that the four former Independent Baseball players I identified in yesterday's Independent Baseball Insider column have indeed been signed by the Pittsburgh Pirates as player-coaches, enabling them to begin transitioning from being fulltime players to coaching opportunities.

This would seem to represent nice career steps, especially since all of them have hit the 30-year-old plateau.

The four include standout third baseman Vince Harrison, who was a solid hitter for three seasons (2008-10) at Northern League stops in Schaumburg and Joliet in Illinois and at Winnipeg, Canada, then hit .327 for Atlantic League champion York, PA this past season.

Another in the group is outfielder Jason Cooper, who, a regular at St. Paul, MN in the American Association for three years through this season (.284-9-68) and had a brief stint at Lancaster, PA (Atlantic).

Former York infielder Keoni DeRenne, who already has some two-way experience in the Philadelphia farm system, and onetime Somerset, NJ (Atlantic) outfielder Michael Ryan round out the contingent. Ryan has considerable major league experience, including 2010 with the Los Angeles Angels after leaving the Atlantic League. Ryan is the only one of the quartet who has played in the majors or has been in the Pittsburgh system (Indianapolis, 2007).

ATLANTIC, AMERICAN ASSOCIATION GRADS SIGN NEW PACTS

First baseman-outfielder-DH Valentino Pascucci (Camden, NJ, Atlantic League) and right-hander Will Savage have signed contracts to remain with their 2011 organizations.

Pascucci was primarily with the New York Mets' Triple-A club in Buffalo, NY in '11 although he got 11 at-bats (three hits, one homer) with the parent club in September. The 6-foot-6 slugger had 29 doubles, 21 homers and 91 RBI while hitting
.264 at Buffalo. He turned 33 yesterday.

The Los Angeles Dodgers signed Savage for Triple-A Albuquerque, which is one classification above Chattanooga, where he was a mid-season Southern League All-Star this season. The 27-year-old Savage was 12-6 with a 3.95 ERA in 25 games, including 23 starts. He spent most of 2009 pitching for Wichita, KS in the American Association, then finished the year with two appearances at Lancaster.

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Sunday, November 13, 2011

SIX-YEAR FREE AGENTS ARE ABUNDANT, BUT SOME ALREADY HAVE NEW CONTRACTS

My, how easy it is to fall behind when one takes a few days of vacation. But it will be back in gear this week with another Independent Baseball Insider column due for subscribers on Thursday.

This one is going to introduce a really novel undertaking for the Independent game, and stands to be a sizeable benefit for players and for major league organizations.

In the meantime, this is a very busy time of year for players who have left the Indy ranks and joined one of the 30 MLB systems. So many players are six-year free agents, as always happens this time of year, and there is the opportunity to try to sign with an organization where the path to the major leagues seems more promising. Of course, it also means the end of the major league dreams (at least for now) if players do not get picked up by their previous farm system or another one.

JAKUBAUSKAS, HERNANDEZ GET NEW DEALS

Chris Jakubauskas, who spent much of the season pitching for the Baltimore Orioles, has re-connected, this time signing a minor league pact with Arizona. I would imagine he will get an invitation to major league camp because of his experience with Seattle, Pittsburgh and the Orioles.

Jakubauskas's success means that much more to the Independent game since that is where he started his professional journey. He was in the Frontier League (Florence, KY and Ohio Valley) before going on to impress in the Golden League (Orange County) and in the American Association (Lincoln, NE). Technically, he is on the Reno, NV Triple-A roster.

Catcher Michel Hernandez, whose last major league opportunity was with Tampa Bay, became a free agent for a short time before returning to the Cleveland organization. The onetime Atlantic League backstop (Somerset, NJ) is on the Columbus, OH roster.

SIX-YEAR LIST IS LENGTHY

Onetime Chicago Cubs standout Mark Prior is, arguably, the best known of the group of players who became free agents by virtue of their lengthy playing history. The right-hander, who got back on the baseball map after lengthy sidesteps with injuries when he pitched for Orange County (Fullerton, CA) of the Golden League, was in the New York Yankees' farm system this summer.

Other prominent names with major league experience who now are free agents include third baseman Pedro Feliz and pitchers Nelson Figueroa and Scott Patterson. The latter just finished a stint with Team USA. Infielder Erick Almonte, who shocked most everyone by earning an Opening Day job with Milwaukee this spring, also is on the list.

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