William K. has just posted an update on how the D-Back farm hands are faring in their various off-season assignments.  For the full text of his write up, please click on the link to the left.  Here’s an extract of how William reports our Winders are doing (or how they have been doing, since some activities - namely Arizona Fall League play - are now finished for the year):

Arizona Fall League

Greg Smith was the lone Winder participating in the AFL this fall…he apparently suffered some minor injury during the short season, but came back at the end with a fairly strong performance.   His line finished like this:  2-2, 6 GS, 20 2/3 IP, 19 H, 6 ER, 17/8 K/BB, 2.61 ERA, 1.31 WHIP. 

Mexican League

Dana Eveland:  LHP (Mexicali) 1-1, 9 G, 4 GS, 26 2/3 IP, 27 H, 10 R, 8 ER, 31/6 K/BB, 2.70 ERA, 1.24 WHIP.  William K. sees this as a good sign that the coming year may be when Dana breaks back into the majors.

Emiliano Fruto:  RHP (Guasave) 0-1, 7 G, 6 2/3 IP, 4 H, 3 ER, 7/4 K/BB, 4.05 ERA, 1.20 WHIP

Dominican League

Jamie D’Antona:  3B (Gigantes) 41 AB, .195/.227/.220, 1 2B, 3 RBI, 3 R, 9/1 K/BB, 2 E
 

Jailen Peguero:  RHP (Estrellas) 0-0, 6 G, 2 SV, 5 2/3 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 5/4 K/BB, 1.59 ERA, 1.41 WHIP.  Jailen is another case of ramping up lately:  William reports “In his last 4 appearances, he has pitched 4 scoreless innings with a 5/1 K/BB ratio with 2 saves.  The D-backs should be hoping that Peguero could make Juan Cruz or Brandon Lyon tradeable next season.“

 Venezuelan League

Carlos Gonzalez:  OF (Zulia) 95 AB, .263/.340/.368, 1 HR, 2 3B, 3 2B, 6 RBI, 13 R, 18/11 K/BB, 1/1 SB/CS, 1 E

Alberto Callaspo:  2B (Zulia) 46 AB, .348/.412/.391, 2 2B, 4 RBI, 6 R, 3/4 K/BB, 1/0 SB/CS, 2 E

Miguel Montero:  C (Margarita) 8 AB, .250/.333/.250, 1 R, 2/1 K/BB  (interesting that the D-Backs sent Miggie down to fall camp after closing a complete season as a D-Back rookie…)

Alex Romero:  OF (Aragua) 68 AB, .132/.250/.191, 4 2B, 7 RBI, 6 R, 9/9 K/BB, 0/2 SB/CS

Evan MacLane:  LHP (Margarita) 0-1, 6 G, 4 GS, 16 1/3 IP, 25 H, 10 ER, 4/4 K/BB, 5.51 ERA, 1.78 WHIP

Yusmeiro Petit:  RHP (Magallanes) 1-0, 1 GS, 5 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 6/1 K/BB, 1.80 ERA, 0.80 WHIP

Check back everso often in the off-season for transaction updates and other news effecting our Winders!  And don’t forget, the Sidewinder’s 2008 season will begin at TEP on April 3rd…be sure to mark your calendars now for next season’s kickoff!

(Disclaimer - this posting not reviewed/approved by the Sidewinders, Diamondbacks, PCL, MiLB, MLB, National Association of Professional Baseball Leagues, SK Baseball LLC, or any other baseball official and represents the views and biases of the author alone)

You may remember that RHP Adam Bass started this year’s baseball season with the Sidewinders.  He pitched for us for a time and then decided to take a chance on the Japanese leagues in the hopes that he might make a solid return to the MLB after a stint in Japan.  Last I had checked (it was difficult to find much current information in English), it appeared he wasn’t doing particularly well in Japan, but details were sketchy.  Well, I still don’t really know how Adam did over there, but I do know this:  on Nov 15th, the San Diego Padres signed Adam to a minor league contract with an invitation to Spring Training (thus sayeth MLB.com transactions site).  It looks like we may be seeing Adam again next season at TEP…only he’ll probably be wearing the Portland Beavers uniform when he plays there!  

Check back everso often in the off-season for transaction updates and other news effecting our Winders!  And don’t forget, the Sidewinder’s 2008 season will begin at TEP on April 3rd…be sure to mark your calendars now for next season’s kickoff!

(Disclaimer - this posting not reviewed/approved by the Sidewinders, Diamondbacks, PCL, MiLB, MLB, National Association of Professional Baseball Leagues, SK Baseball LLC, or any other baseball official and represents the views and biases of the author alone)

The MLB.com transactions web page reports that on Nov 14th the Milwaukee Brewers signed LHP Randy Choate to a one-year contract.   You might recall that this happened to Randy last year in the off-season, too (though not with the Brewers).   Last year he was cut during Spring Training and sent to the minors by his new club - a move which he refused and thus became a free agent again.  In the end, he ended up on TEP’s mound once again for the Sidewinders.  I sincerely hope Randy will make it in the Bigs with the Brewers.  Good luck, Randy! 

Check back everso often in the off-season for transaction updates and other news effecting our Winders!  And don’t forget, the Sidewinder’s 2008 season will begin at TEP on April 3rd…be sure to mark your calendars now for next season’s kickoff!

(Disclaimer - this posting not reviewed/approved by the Sidewinders, Diamondbacks, PCL, MiLB, MLB, National Association of Professional Baseball Leagues, SK Baseball LLC, or any other baseball official and represents the views and biases of the author alone)

William K. has again come up with some interesting information I wanted to share with you. This time he’s dug up information about D-Back minor league players who became free agents at the end of the season we just completed. For the full text of his article - including his analysis about the chances each player has at being picked up by another club - click on the link at the left. Here are the affected former Sidewinders:

RHP Jeff Bajenaru (on the Winder DL all season with a shoulder impingement)
RHP D.J. Carrasco
RHP Mike Schultz
RHP Chad Harville (most likely to be picked up based on his excellent performance as a Snake reliever/closer this season)
C Mark Johnson
SS Matt Erickson
SS Ronnie Merrill
OF Jarred Ball
OF Rich Thompson

Check back everso often in the off-season for transaction updates and other news effecting our Winders! And don’t forget, the Sidewinder’s 2008 season will begin at TEP on April 3rd…be sure to mark your calendars now for next season’s kickoff!

(Disclaimer - this posting not reviewed/approved by the Sidewinders, Diamondbacks, PCL, MiLB, MLB, National Association of Professional Baseball Leagues, SK Baseball LLC, or any other baseball official and represents the views and biases of the author alone)