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www.mycentraljersey.com/patsblog

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Thanks.

Knight starts, not pictured

You might have seen my story on Brandon Knight, who is the Opening Day starter Friday for the Patriots. You might also have noticed that the photo with the story is not Brandon Knight. That's newcomer Steve Kelly, who is expected to start the second game.
Not sure how that happened, but we are sorry for the confusion. I don't want any fans going up to Kelly and asking for Knight's autograph because of something on the paper's end.
Here is the link:

http://www.c-n.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080424/SPORTS01/804240305/1011

News & Notes as spring training ends

In case you missed Wednesday's paper, the Patriots released shortstop Pete Moore (who "made" the team out of the open tryout), catcher Michael Muscato and relief pitchers Joe Welsh and David Humen. No surprise here, really. These four guys had a combined one game of experience above Single-A, and it belonged to Humen.

Muscato, however, is not completely out of the picture. He accepted a job as the team's bullpen catcher early in the season. It might not sound it, but this is a very undervalued job. Lots of dirty work, but impacts the game by getting relief pitchers ready without straining the backup catcher. Muscato showed during spring training that he can hit -- though not with much power -- and he appears to have potential behind the plate. I definitely think he could play in a lesser independent league -- say, the Frontier League, where most players are in their mid-20s and not the typical Atlantic League veteran. Patriots officials said they are going to try to get Muscato a job there, so we'll see keep an eye on that.

Frank Moore missed Wednesday's practice as he flew back home to tend to a family issue. The team expects him back for Thursday's practice and, if not, definitely by Friday's opener.

The team's parade was Wednesday night. I did not attend, but check out the front page of Thursday's Courier News for a story by my colleague Marty. Thursday night is the barbecue for season ticket holders, and I'll likely see you there.

Around the league: Rumor has it Greg Blosser has made the Southern Maryland Blue Crabs. For more on why that is interesting, check the info from two posts ago.
Lancaster Barnstormers beat writer Jason Guarente is reporting that the team has released outfielder Dominick Ambrosini because first-year manager Von Hayes did not like his lax attitude. This is downright shocking news considering Ambrosini has been an All-Star caliber player during his three Atlantic League seasons. He hit .316 with 20 doubles, 19 home runs and 70 RBIs last season for a team that wasn't very good. I love the guts it takes to make a move like this as Hayes is clearly sending his players a message, but I think it might backfire. Ambrosini is good enough to sign with any team in the league if he wants, and I see him hitting the home run to eliminate Lancaster from playoff contention in September.

Cut day

Tuesday is cut day, as the Somerset Patriots will cut their roster from the 29 players who are in spring training to the 25 who will be in uniform Opening Day. I confirmed that the team is going to carry 25 -- no more and no less.
You be asking yourself, more? Isn't the Atlantic League active roster maximum 25?
The answer is yes, but apparently the league is considering allowing teams to carry as many as 28 early in the season in order to better asses the talent. I've always thought a week of spring training was too short to get an accurate read on players on the bubble, but this seems a little silly.
One of the disadvantages to not being in Florida with the rest of the league is I get left out of news tidbits like this. Lancaster Barnstormers beat writer Jason Guarente is in Florida and here is the excerpt from his blog. Give credit where it is due.

"There could be some transactions Monday. It depends on an Atlantic League ruling. The league is considering allowing teams to carry 27 or 28 players in the early part of the season for evaluation purposes."

Who gets the axe from the Pats? I've been told two pitchers and two position players, but there was a front office and coaches meeting scheduled for Monday night to finalize the names, so I don't want to publicize them until its official.
Would you want to read you were losing your job on my blog before your boss told you?

Around the Atlantic League...

Here are two scoops from around the league....

-- Former Somerset Patriot Greg Blosser is in spring training with the Southern Maryland Blue Crabs. Blosser, who has not played professionally since getting released by the Patriots in 2003, told me last season that he was planning a comeback but I did not expect much of a market for a 36-year-old outfielder who has more recent experience as a private investigator than he does as a baseball player. Shows you what I know. From everything I hear, Blosser is a good guy for the league and his comeback would make a great story. The wrinkle? If he makes the team, Blosser's first game would be Friday against the Patriots at Commerce Bank Ballpark, where he hit that memorable two-out three-run home run to tie Game 4 of the 2001 Atlantic League Championship Series against Newark.

-- Randall Simon is expected to join the Newark Bears. The team plans to announce this signing Monday, but I figure it is safe to release the news since he was on the roster the Bears gave me Saturday. The 32-year-old first baseman is a career .283 hitter in 537 major-league games and should fare well versus Atlantic League pitching. However, Simon will forever be most remembered for a July 9, 2003 incident at Miller Park in Milwaukee when, leaning over the dugout railing, he struck a woman in a mascot costume with his bat during the between-innings sausage race. I expect he's tired of answering questions about this by now, but there are plenty of Atlantic League writers who will be dying for this guy to come into town. I am not one of them.

Home runs continue to fly out of Healthquest Park at a high rate.
After two days of balls crashing into the scoreboard and shed behind the left-field fence during batting practice, Jeff Duncan hit the only home run Thursday during the first intra-squad scrimmage.
The pace picked up again Friday as Brandon Larson and Vito Chiaravalloti connected for back-to-back home runs off left-hander Andy Van Hekken.
Right-hander Casey Cahill worked into and out of trouble while tossing a scoreless inning.
Regular catchers Travis Anderson (first base) and Jason Belcher (third base) got a well-deserved break from squatting as Michael Muscato and Matt Hagan handled the catching duties for the two sides.
Saturday's scrimmage against the Newark Bears at Bears & Eagles Riverfront Stadium is set for 12 p.m. I am looking forward to getting a look at another Atlantic League team. By this point in years past, I've had a decent feel for most of the other teams, but not being in Lakeland, Fla. with the rest of the league has an isolated feeling.

Spring training has started

Hopefully you caught my Brandon Larson feature from the first day of camp in either the Courier News or Home News Tribune. If not, here is the link:

http://www.c-n.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080416/SPORTS01/804160315/1011

The first two practices have been pretty uneventful with pitchers fielding grounders and throwing to the bases. The hitters have taken batting practice in three groups while the other two groups field routine grounders. Needless to say, I'm looking forward to Thursday's intra-squad scrimmage.

I heard from a friend in Florida -- where the Atlantic League is holding spring training minus the Patriots and Newark Bears -- that Southern Maryland manager Butch Hobson is putting his team through some intense practices.
Patriots manager Sparky Lyle said that would happen because he remembers Hobson's Nashua Pride teams as very prepared. He remembers them working on fundamentals and plays for hours.

The interesting thing to me is this seems to be similar to one of the things that cost Frank Klebe his manager job with the Lancaster Barnstormers last season.
Now, you cannot compare Hobson -- a former major-league player and major-league manager with a resume of success -- to Klebe, who had a limited resume walking into Lancaster and who made on-field decisions that raised the eyebrows of many of his peers.
I would listen to Hobson over Klebe, too.
While the Barnstormers practically revolted against Klebe during the middle of last season for a multitude of reasons -- and I'm not going to pretend to be an insider to all of them -- one certainly was because they felt his harping on the basics was demeaning to their professionalism.
Seems like the source is more important than the words.

Spring training begins Tuesday

Remember to check out the Courier News or Home News Tribune newspapers or Web sites every day beginning Tuesday for live spring training coverage. I will be at all eight practices/scrimmages as I have been for the past two years. The only difference is instead of being in Lakeland, Fla., I will be in Flemington, N.J.
Here is a list of the top five things I will be miss about spring training in Florida.

5) The sun tan. I am 75% Italian, so I'm pretty good at getting a tan without getting burnt.

4) Writing my stories for Play Ball and the daily newspapers sitting poolside.

3) The Steak 'N Shake next door to the hotel. Cheeseburgers, cheesesteaks, chicken sandwiches and milkshakes anytime you want them. During the past two years I've had milkshakes as early as 9 a.m. (cookie dough) and as late as 2 a.m. (oreo).

2) The hotel gazebo. A good place for nightlife.

1) Sharing a cramped hotel room for 8 days with another person. It's like freshman year of college, only you and your roommate have the same exact schedules so you are always together. OK....maybe this is one thing not to miss. But spring training does make me think of former colleague Matt Apgar, so here is a shoutout to Matt.

Kalafer mentioned in NY Times

Check out this article in the New York Times features minor-league baseball in New Jersey and is centered around Somerset Patriots owner Steve Kalafer. There is some news on the stalled Kalafer-owned Bergen Cliff Hawks, who are supposed to join the Atlantic League one of these days.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/06/nyregion/nyregionspecial2/06colnj.html?ex=1208318400&en=2a08da69e614ed0b&ei=5070&emc=eta1

Spring training schedule announced

Here is the Somerset Patriots spring training schedule. All events except the April 19 scrimmage take place at Jack Cust Baseball Academy in Flemington and are open to the public.

Tuesday, April 15th
1 p.m. workout
Wednesday, April 16th
11 a.m. workout
Thursday, April 17th
10 a.m. workout
Friday, April 18th
10 a.m. batting practice
1 p.m. intra-squad game
Saturday, April 19th
12 p.m. Exhibition game vs. Newark Bears at Bears & Eagles Riverfront Stadium, Newark
Sunday, April 20th
12 p.m. Exhibition game vs. Newark Bears
Monday, April 21st
10 a.m. batting practice
1 p.m. intra-squad game
Tuesday, April 22nd
10 a.m. batting practice
1 p.m. intra-squad game
Wednesday, April 23rd
TBD

OTHER NEWS: I have not been able to contact Keith Ramsey despite my nagging phone calls. I heard a rumor that a team from Taiwan inquired about his rights, so maybe he is there. It's not like Ramsey not to call back.
No, other teams do not chip in when a big name comes to the Atlantic League. As an example, when Juan Gonzalez signed with the Long Island Ducks, his salarly was the responsibility of the Ducks only. While I was not around at the time, I've heard that when Jose Canseco was in the Atlantic League in 2000, other teams helped foot the bill, but that policy since has changed. Verifying that would be virtually impossible at this point, but I know that whether it used to happen or not, it does not now.

LeCroy joins Atlantic League...

The first big-name newcomer to the Atlantic League for the 2008 season has signed, and the real news here is that the contract is not with the Long Island Ducks.
Former Minnesota Twin Matt LeCroy has joined the Barnstormers, a franchise that is notorious for not paying players the league maximum $3,000 per month.
It's very interesting -- and good for the league -- to see LeCroy pick Lancaster instead of a big city market such as Long Island or Newark.
Here is the press release with the relevant information on LeCroy, who, not too long ago, was considered a decent option at catcher on your fantasy baseball team.

LANCASTER, Pa.—The Lancaster Barnstormers have signed one of the most experienced Major League players in club history. Former Minnesota Twins catcher-first baseman Matt LeCroy has signed a 2008 contract, club vice president of baseball operations Keith Lupton announced today.

LeCroy, 32, made his debut with Minnesota in 2000 and has spent at least a portion of the last eight seasons in the Major Leagues with either the Twins or Washington Nationals. The Belton, S.C., native owns a .260 career batting average at the Major League level with 60 homers and 218 RBIs in 476 games. He clubbed 17 homers for Minnesota in both the 2003 and 2005 seasons.

“Matt is a bona fide number four hitter,” Lupton said. “That’s going to give the guys ahead of him, and probably the guy batting after him, some pretty good pitches to hit.”

He has also gathered experience on the national stage, playing in the post-season with the Twins for three consecutive years (2002-04) and posting a career .269 batting average in the playoffs.

The New York Mets drafted LeCroy in the second round of the 1994 June draft, but he chose instead to play collegiate baseball at Clemson University. After three big years with the Tigers that included two trips to the NCAA World Series in Omaha, Neb., a stint with Team USA in 1996, and All-American honors in 1997, he was a first round sandwich pick for the Twins in 1997.

LeCroy joins Lancaster after being released from the Major League spring training camp of the Oakland Athletics.

“We’re tremendously pleased to have a seven-year veteran like Matt,” Lupton said. “He’ll be a valuable asset to the club on and off the field.”

LeCroy’s signing brings the total number of players under contract with the 2008 Barnstormers to 21. The club will head to Lakeland, Fla., for spring training on April 14 and will return to open the 2008 season at home against the Bridgeport Bluefish on Friday, April 25.

Saturday's Tryout Postponed/Fan Fest still on

The Somerset Patriots have postponed their open tryout Saturday morning and rescheduled it for next Saturday, April 12, from 9 a.m.-12 p.m.
The FanFest at Commerce Bank Ballpark that was supposed to follow the Open Tryout will go on as scheduled Saturday from 12-3 p.m. The event will be held rain or shine.

Here is the press release:

The Three-Time Atlantic League Champion Somerset Patriots have announced that open tryouts for the team has been postponed and will now be held at Commerce Bank Ballpark on Saturday, April 12th from 9:00 am to 12:00 pm.

There will be an administration fee of $40 to tryout, with proceeds being donated to the Patriots Charity Fund, which has been established to give to various charities supported by the Somerset Patriots.

Players are to report to Commerce Bank Ballpark at 8:00 am for registration. Participants must be high school graduates and at least eighteen years of age. All those present should provide their career statistics and must supply their own wooden bats and baseball gloves. All participants will be required to sign a release form before trying out for the team.

Coaches and representatives from the Patriots will be on hand to evaluate the players at the ballpark, including Manager Sparky Lyle, President/General Manager Patrick McVerry, and Vice President/Assistant General Manager Rob Lukachyk.

The Patriots have signed a player from four open tryouts held by the team, including Tony Gsell, who played for Somerset from 2003 through 2006, and Jim Burt Jr., who played for the team throughout the 2006 season.

“The tryouts have been successful in the past at giving players a chance to be rediscovered and get back into professional baseball. Each year the talent level has gotten better at the tryouts, and the players that have signed, have made an impact on the team,” said Patrick McVerry, President/ General Manager of the Somerset Patriots Baseball Club.