Frontier League Off-Season Preview

The Frontier League off-season has been fairly quiet up until this point, but since player transactions and trade talks usually start to heat up around the new year, here is a short recap to catch up Beach Bums' fans on what has been going on around the league in order of how the team's finished the 2007 season.

#1 - Windy City Thunderbolts - The 2007 Frontier League Champions have already lost a couple key members of their record breaking squad, losing starter pitcher Shawn Phillips and field manager Andy Haines to the Florida Marlins Organization. Phillips, who finished 2007 with a 2.45 ERA to go along with 100 strikeouts in 121 innings, will try to earn a spot in the starting rotation for the Marlins low A affiliate, the Greensboro Grasshoppers. Haines, who was the 2007 Frontier League Manager of the Year, leaves the Thunderbolts to be the team's Defensive Coordinator during extended spring training and hitting coach for the rookie ball level Gulf Coast Marlins. Haines will be replaced by Brian Nelson, who comes to Windy City after holding the same job as Haines did the year before, as the hitting coach for the Gary Railcats of the Northern League. Gary has won back-to-back Northern League Championships in 2006 and 2007.

#2 - Gateway Grizzlies - Besides announcing that they will be bringing back field manager Phil Warren, all has been quiet on the Gateway front this off-season. However, the Grizzlies will definitely have some decisions this off-season since they have eight players with either L2 or Veteran status and only five roster spots to squeeze them into. That isn't counting All-Star OF Jon Armitage, who ages out of the league in 2008.

#3 - Washington Wild Things - The Wild Things made national news this off-season when they offered Barry Bonds a 2008 Frontier League contract. Unfortunately, the game's all-time home run leader is a tad over the Frontier League's age limit.

In other news, the Wild Thing's top reliever in 2007, Travis Risser, was signed by the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. Risser was impressive with the Wild Things after finishing his senior year at Coastal Carolina University. Risser had a 4-2 record with a 1.06 ERA for the Wild Things in 2007.

#4 - Rockford Riverhawks - The Riverhawks haven't made any players moves yet this off-season, but they did announce a managerial shift. J.D. Arndt, who managed the Riverhawks in 2006 and 2007, will move back to his previous position as bench coach. The "new" manager of Rockford will be Bob Koopman. I say, "new," because Koopman was the bench coach for the Riverhawks the past two seasons and managed the team from 2002-2004 and won the 2004 Frontier League Championship.

#5 - Kalamazoo Kings - The King will lose three players to the Frontier League's 27 year old age limit this off-season, All-Star OF Chris Carter, submarine pitcher Dan Caldwell, and former Beach Bum Steve Shippey. Like the Grizzlies, the Kings will have some decisions to make soon as they have eight players classified as either LS2's or Veterans and only five spots to use.

#6 - Southern Illinois Miners - Southern Illinois will have some big shoes to fill when All-Stars Ralph Santana and Chris Hall age out of the league in 2008. Late season acquisition Andre Mashall will also age out next season.

The Miners have made one prominent move this off-season, getting OF/INF Brandon Jones from the Sioux City Explorers of the American Association to complete a trade that included Southern Illinois pitcher Robert Wooley last July. Jones is a Veteran who has played most of his career at 3B.

#7 - Chillicothe Paints - Chillicothe had one of the youngest teams in the Frontier League in 2008 and should be able to bring back just about everyone except Lance Koenig, who ages out of the league. Koenig spent part of the 2007 with the Beach Bums and the previous two seasons with the Washington Wild Things.

#8 - Traverse City Beach Bums - I will write a separate entry tomorrow to recap the Beach Bums off-season moves.

#9 - Florence Freedom - The 2008 season will be the end of the line for Frontier League perennial All-Star 1B Beau Blacken as he is the only one on the Florence roster to age out. Blacken spent four seasons in the Frontier League, spending time with Chillicothe, Evansville, and Florence.

#10 - River City Rascals - The best news for the Rascals this off-season was the Padres release of OF Phil Laurent. Frontier League teams hold the rights of any player who is signed by an affiliate team then later released. No official word on whether or not Laurent will rejoin the Rascals in 2008, but I assume that he will.

In 2007, Laurent tore up Frontier League pitching to the tune of a .341 average, .410 on-base percentage, and .610 slugging percentage. He had 14 doubles, 4 triples, and 12 home runs in only 57 games when he was picked by the Padres. Unfortunately, it doesn't look he he got much of a shot - he was sent to rookie ball and only appeared in 11 games the rest of the season, hitting .129 in just 31 at-bats.

#11 - Evansville Otters - The Otters did not renew the contract of field manager Jeff Pohl this off-season and promptly replaced him with Jason Verdugo. Verdugo, 32, comes to Evansville after being the head coach at NCAA DIII Hamline University and the pitching coach for the St. Paul Saints of the American Association.

Verdugo made a few quick changes to the Evansville roster, picking up catcher Chris Crescenzi as the player to be named in a trade that sent shortstop Mike Scanzano to the Sussex Skyhakws of the CanAm League (after Scanzano was traded to Sussex he was traded to Southern Illinois, where he was a Frontier League All-Star in 2007). In November, Evansville acquired two rookie outfielders from the St. Joe Blacksnakes of the American Association, Victor Burgos and Josh Jennings. This move completed a trade that sent catcher Ricky Clinton to St. Joe last off-season.

#12 - Midwest Sliders - The biggest change in the Frontier League in 2008 will be the conversion of the Slippery Rock Sliders to the Midwest Sliders. The Midwest Sliders will be a travel team, playing all 96 games on the road in 2008. With several expansion options on the horizon for the Frontier League, the Sliders should have a permanent home in 2009.

When the Sliders hit the road in 2008 it will be without two key members of their pitching staff. Left-handed starter Dan Schwartz and reliever Jared Simon were both signed by the Philapelphia Phillies this off-season. Schwartz and Simon joined the Sliders after finishing their college careers with Northwestern and Wichita State, respectively.