RYAN LANGERHANS HAS RETURNED TO BLUE JAYS A SECOND TIME THIS SEASON, THIS TIME WITH THE MAJOR LEAGUE TEAM

The relationship between the Toronto Blue Jays and the Sugar Land Skeeters (Atlantic League) seems to be something every Independent team would like to have with major league organizations.

Please follow this carefully: Toronto purchased Ryan Langerhans contract from the Atlantic League late this season when it promoted much of Triple-A Buffalo’s outfield to the American League team. Flash forward. When Sugar Land was in the final days of its record-shattering Atlantic League season who shows up in the Skeeters’ lineup but the former major league first baseman. “He was having fun here playing baseball,” Skeeters Manager Gary Gaetti said of the return. So far, the moves can be easily understood, with Langerhans supposedly granted his release from the Blue Jays. Then Sugar Land is ousted from the playoffs, and if you check today’s major league box scores there is the same Langerhans batting seventh, playing first base and going 0-for-4 in Toronto’s 3-2 loss at Baltimore.

“Ryan was the most game-ready of all of them (players considered by Toronto)”, General Manager Alex Anthopoulos told the media. “Lang has been around for a while,” added Manager John Gibbons. “It’s only four days, but he gets to finish the year in the big leagues and has some good service time in. He’s a good solid baseball player.”

Langerhans had years like 2005-06 with Atlanta when he played in a combined 259 games with 15 homers and 70 RBI, but it has been slim pickings in the major leagues for the 33-year-old lefty in recent years with two appearances for the Los Angeles Angels one year ago and 19 with Seattle in ’11. He went .287-5-28 for his 47 regular-season games with the Skeeters, but only hit .200 (2-for-10) in their three consecutive losses to Somerset, NJ in the first round of the playoffs. He was even limited to pinch-hitting duty in the finale.

LEW FORD COULD BE THE HERO

If Long Island, NY can win just one of three games at Somerset this weekend the Ducks will have pulled off a second consecutive shocker in the Atlantic League Championship Series.

The veteran bat of outfielder Lew Ford, who was with Baltimore one year ago and getting ready to face Texas and the New York Yankees in the playoffs, could be the difference. He belted a two-run, sixth inning homer Thursday night to erase a 2-0 deficit, and the Ducks tacked on another run for a 3-2 victory.




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TALKING ABOUT ANDY MARTE, VIDAL NUNO AND LEW FORD

Working on the theory one can never be too early, this corner projects corner infielder Andy Marte as a possibility to get a solid major league look from the Los Angeles Angels next spring.

Marte, 29, started this season by driving in 74 runs and hitting .301 (19 homers) for the York (PA) Revolution of the Atlantic League. He never let up once the Angels purchased his contract, hitting .362 (how does that make Atlantic League pitching look?) with six homers and 18 RBI in 26 regular-season games for Salt Lake City, then taking the hot bat into the Pacific Coast League playoffs before a separated shoulder took him out of a possible call to the American League team.

Marte, who has 302 major league games, mostly with Cleveland and all from 2005-10, had a heroic second game in the first round of the playoffs against Las Vegas (Mets) when he went 4-for-5 with a double, home run and two runs, and scored the winning run on a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the ninth only to suffer the injury on that play. Marte’s injury seriously hampered the Bees’ offense, and they lost to Omaha (Royals) in the championship round.

The Dominican native hit only .218 in his six years in the majors, but seems to have come more into his own since that time.

FIRST INDEPENDENT INVITATION TO ARIZONA FALL LEAGUE

The first 2013 invitation to a player with Independent experience to play in the prospect-dominated Arizona Fall League has gone to left-hander Vidal Nuno, who had some memorable moments in spot opportunities pitching for the pitching-shallow New York Yankees early this season. Nuno is on the 60-man disabled list right now allowing the Yankees to add another player for the stretch run, but the former Frontier Leaguer (Washington, PA) obviously is expected to be healthy for the AFL.

Four Indy players were in the league last fall.

LEW FORD’S HOT BAT AT LONG ISLAND

Veteran major league outfielder Lew Ford (Minnesota and Baltimore) has wasted no time at all getting back into an offensive groove since being released by the Orioles and rejoining defending Atlantic League champion Long Island on August 28.

He has hit safely in 18 of 19 games he has played and had his third three-hit game Thursday to help the Ducks take a 2-0 lead over Southern Maryland in a best-of-five first-round playoff matchup. The game actually was decided by a wild pitch in the 10th inning.

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ADD 42 SAVES TO THOSE 106 WINS FOR ONETIME INDY STARS NOW IN MLB

As a postscript to yesterday’s story in our Independent Baseball Insider column about former Independent Baseball hurlers having an incredible 106 victories (and 72 losses) in major league games this season, we add the fact another 42 contests have been saved by this same group.

Seattle’s Tom Wilhelmsen (Tucson, AZ, Golden League) is the leader with 24 saves even though he has lost the closer’s role for now. Brad Ziegler (Schaumburg, IL, Northern League) is closing for Arizona and has 10 saves at this point.

NICE ACCOLADE FOR CRAIG BRESLOW

Lefty Craig Breslow, who has one of the good arms in the Boston bullpen, will be honored one week from now (September 20) as BoSox Club Man of the Year. The BoSox Club has been the official booster club of the Red Sox since that magical year of 1967. Breslow has turned out to have a very solid major league career after being released by Milwaukee without graduating above Class A in 2004 and signing with the New Jersey Jackals in the Northeast League (Jackals now in the Can-Am) that same summer. He was in the majors with San Diego the very next season, and has been there most ever since, while now enjoying major success with Boston.

EXCELLENT NUMBERS POSTED BY THOSE SOLD TO MLB SYSTEMS THIS SUMMER

Corner infielder Andy Marte (York, PA, Atlantic League) hit .362 with six homers and 18 batted in in 26 games for the Angels’ top farm club in Salt Lake City, which one would think would give him a solid chance in 2014.

Bridger Hunt, who was tearing up the Can-Am League with his bat while with the Newark (NJ) Bears, has kept it going after having his contract purchased by San Diego. The infielder hit .337 (two homers, 13 RBI) in 20 games for Lake Elsinore, CA.

David Peralta, one of those who started out in an Independent league and eventually had his contract sold (Arizona), hit .346 with 42 RBI in only 51 games for Visalia, CA. The infielder had time with both Amarillo, TX and Wichita, KS in the American Association as well as with Rio Grande Valley of the United League.

On the mound, Eddie McKiernan was sold to Arizona this summer by Lincoln, NE of the American Association and he won eight of 11 decisions (3.51 ERA) as a starter at Visalia. Mark Serrano, sold by Laredo, TX (American Association), was another Arizona farmhand who excelled. He was a combined 6-2, 3.02 between Classes AA and AAA.

Atlantic League hurlers Mitch Atkins (Somerset, NJ) and Michael Colla (Bridgeport, CT) were 5-2 and 6-2, respectively, and had ERAs well under 4.00. Atkins is in the Atlanta system and Colla is a minor leaguer for Tampa Bay.

AFTER A DECADE, PAXTON DUE TO BAT AGAIN

James Paxton (Grand Prairie, TX, American Association) is due to make his second major league start for Seattle on Saturday, this one an inter-league clash at St. Louis. That means he will be expected to bat. “I haven’t hit since I was 13 or 14 years old”, the southpaw hurler says. “They stopped me hitting as soon as I started playing competitive high school baseball. So that will be interesting.” So much for baseball’s variations of rules between major leagues.

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THE INDY LEAGUES NEED A FORMAL ORGANIZATION; SUNDAY KNUCKLEBALL EXPERIENCE ALSO AVAILABLE

Some of the established Independent leagues have been talking for years about forming an association–the Independent Professional Baseball Association is a prominent name that has been mentioned.

Such an organization would be in position to bargain with sporting goods dealers for better prices on bats, balls and uniforms and perhaps to enter into some joint promotional programs. They might even be able to try to develop better visa arrangements to get foreign players.

The biggest value, to this veteran’s mind, would be to etablish criteria for being considered an authentic Independent league. Minimum number of games, all players getting paid and acceptable standards in such areas as player housing and travel.

Without such an organization, anyone who wants to start a league or run a team without sufficient funding to make it last through a season may do so and call itself an “Independent League.” When there is a failure, everyone gets a bad name. It is not just a failure in one community; it gives the entire industry a bloody nose. It is difficult enough to make a go of it without some underfunded operation hurting everyone.

This subject came to mind again this week when news reports out of the Dallas-Fort Worth, TX area told of employees and vendors of the Fort Worth Cats of the United League not being paid.

“My last paycheck, I took it to the bank Tuesday afternoon (August 20) and it would not clear,” first base coach Mike Ford told WFAA.com. The television station said it talked to some players with similar stories.

The story also mentioned some vendors who said they were not paid for their products.

This type of news should not impact successful, well-run leagues and teams. But it does.

MILLIONAIRE KOREAN BASEBALL OWNER TO TAKE THE MOUND

For anyone in the vicinity of Pomona, NY, an hour or so north of New York City, who wants an enjoyable baseball outing on Labor Day Weekend, I suggest a trip to see the Can-Am League game between the host Rockland Boulders and the Newark (NJ) Bears.

Provident Bank Park is a beauty, as we have told readers previously, and the bonus will be that a 37-year-old knuckleball pitcher from South Korea is going to pitch for the Boulders. Hur Min, who made it big via an online game called Dungeon & Fighter, formed the first Independent team in South Korea. He’s also been working on a knuckler, training under the likes of Hall of Famer Phil Niekro, and he will put his work on display in the next to last day of the Can-Am season.

Will a star pitcher be born? Likely not, but it will be a fun opportunity in a beautiful setting to see the story play out.

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SEE-SAW BATTLE FOR AMERICAN ASSOCIATION HOME RUN RECORD

These last 11 days of the American Association season are going to be fun to watch, if just for the battle for the league home run record.

We wrote in Thursday’s Independent Baseball Insider column for subscribers about C. J. Ziegler of the Wichita (KS) Wingnuts tying the mark of Brandon Sing of Sioux Falls, SD (2010) with his 27th round-tripper. Guess what? Hours later (Thursday night) the newest Sioux Falls strongman, Tim Pahuta, homered twice to move one ahead of Ziegler. Unfortunately, the Canaries took a 5-3 loss to Fargo, ND. Both Sioux Falls and Wichita have 10 games remaining.

Wichita and Fargo have all but wrapped up divisional titles, but the other two playoff berths are very much in question. In the South (which might as well be known as the Texas Division), Laredo has a two-game lead over Grand Prairie and Amarillo. Gary, IN is the wild-card leader, but its bulge is only one and a half games over Winnipeg and two and a half ahead of Lincoln, NE.

10 EJECTED AFTER BRAWL

The American Association office may have its hands full on another front since Lincoln and El Paso engaged in a seventh inning melee in which 10 players and staff members were ejected.

ANOTHER POWER HITTER HAS CONTRACT SOLD TO ROCKIES

The United League season in Texas wrapped up when Edinburg outlasted Fort Worth in the best-of-five championship series, but for several players the season continues. Various Independent teams have been dipping into the talent supply to bolster playoff hopefuls, and Fort Worth first baseman David Bergin has joined the Colorado Rockies’ Class A farm club in Asheville, NC after his contract was purchased.

Bergin, only 23, led the United League in both home runs (19) and RBI (66) for the 80-game regular season. Bergin was drafted out of Tennessee Wesleyan College by St. Louis, joining the Cats this season. He has not yet played for Asheville.

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