STRONG CAN-AM SEASON AS CLOSER GIVES SANCHEZ NEW LIFE

Salvador Sanchez appears to be a really good test case to see how far one can advance in an affiliated league after converting from the outfield and getting one season of accelerated work as a closer in the Can-Am League.

The Miami Marlins have signed the 6-foot-5, 220-pound right-hander and placed him on their Triple-A New Orleans roster, based in great measure on a 25-save season with the New Jersey Jackals (Little Falls). Sanchez will pitch at 29 in 2015, but only the last four years of his first decade in pro baseball have come as a pitcher.

The New York City native hit as many as 16 home runs in a season and climbed to Class AA during his nine seasons in the Chicago White Sox organization. He only started pitching in the ’11 season, and did not get many innings until ’13 in the Double-A Southern League where he posted a 2.72 ERA in 27 appearances for Birmingham, AL.

New Jersey worked the right-hander hard last season, and he responded with a 4-2 record, 2.41 ERA and the 25 saves. His other numbers were good, too, with only 33 hits allowed in 41.1 innings during 42 appearances, and he fanned 46 and walked only 12. Sanchez logged another seven appearances, including two in the playoffs, for Somerset, NJ of the Atlantic League after the Can-Am season ended.

ANOTHER CONVERTED OUTFIELDER

Slender southpaw Leyson Septimo also converted from the outfield to the mound, but he did so much earlier in his career, eventually logging 21 major league appearances with the parent White Sox (0-2, 5.14) in 2012. He played briefly in the Atlantic League (Southern Maryland, Waldorf) last summer (0-0, 14.14 in eight relief outings), and now is getting a new start at age 29 with Atlanta’s top farm club in Gwinnett, GA.

NEW ADDRESSES FOR BURGAMY, MINICOZZI

Well-traveled Independent Baseball veterans Mark Minicozzi and Brian Burgamy, both borderline major leaguers, have new homes.

Minicozzi, mostly a first baseman these days, joined the Washington Nationals organization after being in the San Francisco farm system. He has played with Winnipeg and Kansas City, KS in the American Association, Worcester, MA in the Can-Am League and Camden, NJ in the Atlantic League.

Burgamy, known largely for his bat and listed now in the outfield, has joined the Los Angeles Dodgers system after playing in the minors for the New York Mets. He has made Atlantic League stops in York, PA, Camden and Sugar Land, TX as well as with St. Paul, MN in the American Association.

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CAN-AM'S FUENMAYOR MAKING ROYALS TAKE NOTICE WITH BIG NUMBERS IN VENEZUELA

The Kansas City Royals must be happy with their recent signing of Balbino Fuenmayor out of the Can-Am League (Quebec) because the corner infielder is not only putting up great numbers in Venezuela, but they look even more impressive when compared to Arizona outfielder David Peralta, who made a big impact in his rookie season in the National League.

Fuenmayor has 10 homers and 38 runs batted in along with a .315 average in the 42 games he has played (45-for-143), while Peralta’s production is slightly lower in the same winter league. Peralta (Amarillo, TX and Wichita, KS, American Association, and Rio Grande Valley, North American League) is at .319 with 32 RBI and only a pair of homers in 55 games (67-for-210).

Fuenmayor won both the home run (23) and RBI (99) titles in the Can-Am and was runner-up in average (.347). Peralta played almost every day after the Diamondbacks brought him up last season, hitting .286 with eight homers and 36 batted in for 88 games.

In other winter league play, free agent catcher Jose Gil (Lincoln, NE, American Association) is showing some offensive punch in Venezuela with .328-6-24 numbers for 37 appearances and American Association (Grand Prairie, TX) grad Ryan Searle continues to set the pace in strikeouts in Australia (56 in 48.2 innings) although his ERA, mostly in a starting role, is only at 4.25. Two other American Association hurlers have much better ERAs in the same league, Jason Jarvis (Grand Prairie) is at 2.21 for 11 relief outings and Morgan Coombs (Gary, IN) has won six of seven decisions and has a 2.36 mark mostly as a starter.

BRESLOW NOW OFFICIAL, CHRIS MARTIN AVAILABLE

Boston finally announced its re-signing of lefty reliever Craig Breslow today (Wednesday). Reports have had the onetime Can-Am League (New Jersey Jackals) hurler getting $2 million after the Sox earlier rejected his $4 million option.

An original Independent find, right-hander Chris Martin was designated for assignment this week by Colorado. The onetime Grand Prairie hurler, 28, got into his first 16 major league games last season, ending up 0-0, 6.75 out of the bullpen with 14 strikeouts in 15.2 innings.

JUSTIN CHRISTIAN GOES YARD

Outfielder Justin Christian (Southern Maryland, Atlantic League, and River City, Frontier League) is another original Independent signee making news. While known primarily for his speed, the free agent has homered twice in four postseason games in Mexico. The occasional major leaguer only hit three blasts in 61 regular-season games.

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ALBERS RETURNS FROM KOREA, GETS MAJOR LEAGUE BID FROM TORONTO

With left-handed pitching always at a premium, Andrew Albers is back from a one-year stay in Korea to try and regain a major league job, this time with Toronto. Albers got his feet on the ground professionally during a strong season in the bullpen for the Quebec Capitales of the Can-Am League in 2010 (3-0, 17 saves, 1.40 in 40 appearances), then signed with Minnesota and less than three years later got a nice 10-game starting trial with the Twins (2-5, 4.05) before going abroad for a sizeable payday.

The Blue Jays not only signed the 29-year-old former University of Kentucky hurler but invited him to their major league spring training camp.

ONE YEAR AFTER AMERICAN ASSOCIATION, A MAJOR LEAGUE OPPORTUNITY

American Association grad Mark Hamburger also has a major league invitation. The righty is only one year removed from starting for the St. Paul (MN) Saints (6-8, 3.26), and Minnesota obviously liked what it saw in the 27-year-old during his one season, mostly in the bullpen, for their top two farm clubs to earn the major league opportunity. He did have five appearances with Texas in ’11.

TWO QUICK MOVES FOR SUGAR LAND’S BRODERICK

An Independent stint also seems to be paying off for right-hander Brian Broderick, who put up a strong 2.31 earned run average for 62.1 innings in the Atlantic League (Sugar Land, TX) last season.

The Los Angeles Angels had only recently signed Broderick, 28, after seeing him in the Mexican League this fall, and now they have traded him to Kansas City in order to pick up second baseman Johnny Giavotelli, who has major league time in four seasons. There has not been any word whether Broderick may get an opportunity in the Royals’ major league camp.

‘FAMILY’ TRADES HIM AWAY

Matt Robertson will have a story to tell his grandchildren years from now.

He can build up a great tale how his own family traded him. The youngest of the four Robertson brothers who run the Wichita (KS) Wingnuts, Matt did not get much chance as a starting pitcher while in the American Association last season. This was the role where he had been successful at Emporia (KS) State. So, the team dealt him to the Frontier League (Florence, KY), where he supposedly will return to starting.

I am guessing the Robertsons will have some fun talking about the trade at the Christmas dinner table.

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FORMER ATLANTIC LEAGUERS JAKE FOX AND SCOTT RICE HAVE MAJOR LEAGUE CAMP INVITATIONS

The Atlantic League should be beaming over a couple of recent signings, both of which have resulted in major league spring training invitations.

Jake Fox, the 2013 Player of the Year, has signed with Toronto, where power always seems to be revered, and lefty reliever Scott Rice will be back in camp with the New York Mets.

Fox hit 38 home runs between the Mexican League and Philadelphia’s Double-A farm club in Reading, PA this past summer, but the Phillies did not choose to bring him up in September. Right-handed hitter has not been in the big leagues since 2011 (Baltimore) so he will be out to break that drought. Now 32, the University of Michigan product, who can play most any position including catcher, has had three stints at Somerset, NJ, including nearly the full season in ’13 when he banged 25 homers, drove in 82 and hit .310 as the Atlantic League’s top player. The Phils let him go at the end of this past season so he could help the Patriots try to reclaim the Atlantic League championship.

Rice was a popular–and busy–reliever in 2013 when he finally broke through to the majors, ending a 14-year effort to get there. He appeared in 73 games as a 31-year-old rookie with the Mets, compiling a 3.71 ERA, and started ’14 with New York (5.93 in 32 outings) in ’14 before undergoing surgery in July to remove a bone spur in his left elbow. He is expected to be fully healthy when spring training starts. Rice has pitched for Long Island, NY, York, PA, and Newark, NJ in various Atlantic League stints.

FROM JETER GAME HEROICS TO TEXAS RANGERS

Fleet outfielder Antoan Richardson (Schaumburg, IL, now a Frontier League city), who made the most of a September call-up to the New York Yankees, including scoring the winning run on Derek Jeter’s single in the star shortstop’s career finale at Yankee Stadium, has signed with the Texas Rangers and been invited to major league camp.

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GREG BURKE GETS A MAJOR LEAGUE SPRING TRAINING INVITE

Catching up with a few meaningful transactions in this interim period before next week’s Winter Meetings and next Thursday’s Independent Baseball Insider column…

**Right-hander Greg Burke, who started his professional career with the Atlantic City (NJ) Surf (Atlantic League), has another major league opportunity within reach. Colorado re-signed Burke and has invited him to the Rockies’ major league spring training camp in Arizona.

**Two other righties, Kenn Kasparek and Logan Kensing, have been signed as free agents with new organizations. Kasparek, who once played for Fargo, ND (American Association), has a Double-A deal with Baltimore. Kensing (Bridgeport, CT, Atlantic) is a notch higher in Triple-A with the Chicago White Sox.

**First baseman Marquez Smith (Camden, NJ, Atlantic) has a new contract with Cincinnati and is on the Triple-A Louisville, KY roster.

**Outfielder Javier Herrera (Yuma, AZ, Golden League, and Southern Illinois and Rockford, IL, both Frontier League) and right-hander Nick Sarianides (Trois-Rivieres, Can-Am League, and Rockford) have new deals with the old organizations. Herrera is the San Francisco, Sarianides with Arizona.

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