Former Mlb Players Who Have Disapeared From The Game.

[Skyhawker]

:mrgreen: mark quinn, brandon berger, erick almonte, mike glavine, roosevelt brown, adrian brown, ramiro mendoza, scott strickland, kit pellow, trent durrington, andy dominique, wilton guerrero, ruben sierra, george arias, gabe alvarez, chris truby, pascual matos, esix snead and many many more, those were just to name a few, all these players plus many more would be great for the can am league, they are all former major leaguers, right now the skyhawks are injury plagued, they would be able to use guys like scott strickland in their bullpen, or an esix snead in the outfield, how about a better infielder, like trent durrington or erick almonte, they would both help greatly with thier middle infield areas and third base, danny almonte recently signed with a team in indy league ball, u know the one who did great in the llws, but was found to be too old, he would be a great addition to the skyhawks, how about mark quinn, brandon berger or roosevelt brown or adrian brown, all outfielders with decent speed and good power, many people know who these players are and it would help draw a larger crowd to the games.

[Skyhawker]

1 LF Esix Snead- used to be with the mets, and braves
2 2B Rob Gandolfo- mariners former farmhand
3 RF Alex Frazier- Dbacks former Farmhand
4 1B Jabe Bergeron- played with carlos gomez and lastings milledge on the single a mets
5 DH Larry Bethea Aka Big Friendly- a great can am player, played in nashua and now in sussex
6 3B Brian Rios- made it to tigers AAA
7 C Pascual Matos- i believe he was with the orioles
8 SS Erick Almonte- used to be with the yankees
9 CF Ron Perodin- twins former farmhand

this line up would kill in the can am league and with the additions of scott strickland and like ramiro mendoza, their pitching would be great too

[EHL Historian]

Love your line up!!!

Unfortunately the word is that Essix Snead, the minor league basestealing champion of the past decade, had a serious leg or ankle injury and has not recovered sufficiently to play.

The Atlantic League rights to Eric Almonte were traded to the Newark Bears last winter. I have not come accross his name on any independent league web site.

How to grow your attendance very inexpensively.
Add the recently release Lttle League cheater...
Danny Almonte...

Hope Sussex gets some more ball players and a new director of player personnel.

[S.Sox]

Andy is currently working as a hitting instructor in Reno, NV .. He charges $90.00 an hour!! Not bad huh! He does show off his World Series ring from Red Sox 2004
Also C Pascual Matos is playng with the Yuma Scorpions on the GBL
S.Sox

[Skyhawker]

okay with the where abouts of some of the players in my line up lets switch it up a bit!

1 LF Adrian or Roosevelt Brown- adrian last played in the royals organization i believe, and roosevelt last played for the triple A charlotte knights, affiliated with the whitesox
2 2B Rob Gandolfo-mariners former farmhand
3 RF Alex Frazier-Dbacks former Farmhand
4 1B Jabe Bergeron- mets former farmhand
5 3B Brian Rios- made it the tigers triple A team
6 DH Larry Bethea- great can am league player
7 C Melvin Rosario or Dan Moylan former New jersey cardinal
8 SS Rey Ordonez- last i belived, he played for the mariners, and before that, the mets
9 CF Ron Perodin- fomer twins farmhand

key bench guys
C/1B Jason Alcott
SS Kevin Rios, brother of Brian rios
OF/3B Scott Grimes
OF Jared lemiuex
UTIL Steve Friend- plays everywhere except, catcher and pitcher

[medtheatre]

even if these guys were interested... there are two major holes in the proposition...

1) League roster restrictions.... no team can carry more than 4 veterans.

2) salaries - these guys are playing for peanuts (i believe the league salary cap is still under $100K for the entire roster... split that up among a 22 man squad, it's in the neighborhood of on average $4500 per player for the season)... as a lot of these guys are getting older, they may still be able to compete on this league's level but have to face the fact they're mostly not going to make the bigs and will have to start making a liveable wage eventually. It's a lot harder to start all over at 30 in the regular working world without having ever held a regular 9-5 than it is at 23 or 24 when a lot of guys who took a chance and didn't pan out decide to hang up the spikes...

[Skyhawker]

salaries, ha if they were to play in the can am league, they wouldn't be doing it for salary, they would be doing to be able to play a few more years, before they reallly are to old to play anyore, i mean come on, rey ordonez, from having those great years in the mets organization, he has probably more than enough money, if he were to play for a team like the skyhawks, or any other can am league team, it would be for the love of the game, not the money. he'd play there during the summer, and go back home after that, he wouldn't need another, 9 to 5 job, he already has enough money. playing in the can am league, if you are an MLB vet, or a neverwas, who was all hyped about being, o the next this or that, the can am league, would be a great palce to play until your too old, and the roster restrictions are ridiculous, they should be able to have whoever they want on their team, heck if a team loads up on vets, they'll be a gonner, come the next season, all their guys will have retired, if a team wants to do this, let em, its a roster, their aren't restrictions on an mlb roster, why should their be on a independant league roster.

[medtheatre]

as far as the rosters go... there are roster restrictions. it's part of the makeup of the league and there is no getting around it. with each team only able to carry four veterans, you're not going to have any more than four players with major league experience at any time (you're not going to find a rookie or a LS-3 with MLB experience unless he was a total head case... a guy like that would still be too young for a major league team to give up on as an investment for guys that make it to the majors that fast also have a tendency to have good signing bonuses).

as far as doing it for the money... that you are absolutely right about... the guys aren't doing it for the money. they're doing it for the love of the game and for the chance at a dream... however, guys with the financial resources such as a Rey Ordonez in this league are few and far between... there is a guy on Nashua who was a former high Mets pick who had a multi million signing bonus that never panned out and he's still playing because he can... but the majority of players in the league are doing it to pursue a dream... and eventually people have to face reality. Case in point... I won't name names, but there is a former Skyhawks player from last season that is a current colleague of mine. He could have played this season... but he also knew he was getting older and needed to start making a decent living and that realistically his future wasn't in baseball any longer. He had to make a tough decision like the rest of us in the adult world. The majority of the guys in the league are players like Zach Smithlin (who played one season of affiliated ball with the Cardinals) and Jason Alcott (who wasn't drafted) and don't have the fortunes of someone like Ordonez.

And let's face it... guys like Ordonez have a tendency to play in the Atlantic League... why? A better chance to get back to the bigs... athletes are competitive, they're going to want to play at the highest level they can... as far as indys go... it's the Atlantic... and face it, money does talk.. even for those who have it... if you could play for $36K a year or $4.5K a year, which would you do? Sure, it's chump change if you're a millionare... but do you think A-Rod signed with the Rangers years ago because he could have taken less money elsewhere?

[Skyhawker]

what a oppurtunity for the skyhawks, to help generate some fans, sign julio franco, as a player coach, if he bats .184 in the majors, he could bat a decent .260 i bet, he should come to the skyhawks, they should use him as bethea's man to give him a break at DH or a break for bergeron at 1B, and he could teach, the guys on the team a few things, then after having a coaching career begin, he could be resigned by the mets organization and become a hitting coach for like AAA or AA. that would be great, wow if that worked out i would be so happy, and the skyhawks attendance would go from 1500 a game to hopefully atleast 2400 a game. i sure hope, the skyhawks can keep a decent crowd, but after seeing, the attendance of some of the other teams, i think they'll should have no problem keeping a franchise there. some of the reports from the golden league are of less than 700 being at a game. i now think, the skyhawks aren't a team that has to worry about becoming defunct. Ben Wittowski, give Julio a call, your team could use him. you just released, a vet in brian ford, so julio will be his replacement veteran. i came up with a decent idea, if their arent any restrictions on it.

[medtheatre]

it's funny.. i was thinking of the same thing last night that it'd be pretty cool to see someone like Franco come in... especially since they now have an open veteran spot. do i think it will happen? no. franco's interested in getting more major league at bats this season and still wants to play another year. brian drahman is actually the one in charge of player acquisition and as of late, the bats have really been coming through for him. i was at the first three games of the series against the jackals this week and the team has looked really good... complete night and day. even ceriani's starting to hit...

even if franco would be interested in coming and he were available... where would he play? if he goes to first... that would mean sitting jabe bergeron or making jabe the DH. jabe's been hitting too well lately to take his bat out (although his glove is another matter entirely... no offense jabe). if you make jabe the DH, then you're going to have to get rid of Larry Bethea. Or you'll have to play Franco at third base, move Brian Rios to short and get Steve Friend back on the bench where he should be (he's only filling in a utility role until Kevin Rios gets over his hurt hamstring and is re-signed). Would i like to see it... sure. it'd be pretty cool to see someone like franco every day. would he be interested? doubtful.

i'm also hearing brian ford may end up being picked up by the jackals... he was at the park last night.

[Skyhawker]

hey, yeah julio coming to sussex would be doubtful, why would brian go to the jackals, if they want him, he should have stayed with the skyhawks, then he could have been traded their, for a decent pitcher. i always have thought of brian as a skyhawk, i have talked to him, and his host family last year lived up my street. he was very cool, funny and really a great addition to the skyhawks and has done alot for them. have you ever talked to brian drahman or anyone associated with the skyhawks about signing someone that is somewhat well known, just wondering, because it would be a great addition, how about former yankee ramiro mendoza.

[medtheatre]

Brian going to the Jackals actually makes a bit of sense... he's a veteran pitcher who has been having some struggles earlier this year. he was hurt right before the season started (which is why he didn't start the year on the active roster) and (i'm speculating here... this is NOT a statement of fact) it wouldn't surprise me if he's not fully where he expects to be or should be.

The Skyhawks are not in a position where they can afford to sit and wait... they're 9 games out of the wildcard with half a season to go and will most likely need to outright win the second half to make a postseason run. With the offense starting to click, they can't wait and see if he'll be healthy for the stretch.

The Jackals, on the other hand, are in an entirely different position... they've already won the first half and are in the playoffs. They can afford to take a chance on Brian and seeing if he'll come all the way back to possibly be one of their starters or a key bullpen guy in the postseason (until last year, he was chiefly a relief pitcher). I hope they do. He was one of my favorite Skyhawks and seemed like a really good guy in general (not to mention one of the only guys on the team that didn't make me feel old).

Let's not forget the Jackals and the Skyhawks have common ownership. If they know one player isn't a good fit for the Skyhawks, upper management may feel he's a good fit for the Jackals. It happened earlier this year when the Jackals had an abundance of outfielders and traded Alex Frazier to the Skyhawks for the "player to be named later".

[Skyhawker]

i talked to Brian Ford, he says he hasnt heard about him going to the jackals, so where did u here this from, he is going back to where he lives and is probably retiring. he planned on this being his last year.