After taking a tough loss in Game 7 of the World Series against the mighty Hendersonville Hitmen, there was a lot of uncertainty when it came to Jersey players. A lot of star players with contracts set to be up, a player's option and a few holes opening up. Here's what has happened since that fateful day in Hendersonville.
The day after the season Leon Foster decided to accept his 13.87 Million dollar option he was given in 2013 as part of his 4 year extension. After starting out decent last season Foster strained his hip and missed 3 months. Jersey brass thought it was inevitable he would take the option but I think deep down everyone hoped he would turn it down. Foster should start in CF, at least against lefties, this up coming season. Foster sits 8th on the All-time HR list with 205.
The first two weeks of November had to feel like Christmas for many Jersey Shore fans. On November 4th Jersey announced they bought out 2, possibly 3 years of arbitration and signed superstar 1B Matt Doyle to a 6 year deal worth 39.35 million dollars. The deal will keep Doyle in Jersey through the age of 32. Doyle led the CL in HR last year with 44 and only 2 seasons into his Jersey career he sits only behind Mikey Bryant on the Jersey Shore all time HR list with 77.
Three days later on November 7th, Jersey announced they avoided losing their FA deadline pickup Jerry Burgess by agreeing to a 5 year contract worth 45.29 million dollars. Burgess won 7 starts after coming over from El Paso and was vital in their playoff run winning 3 of his 6 starts and keeping Jersey within striking distance in Game 7.
Five days after the Burgess signing, Jersey announced they had come to an agreement with FA to be and arguable ace of the staff 30 year old Art Ellis to a 6 year contract which will keep him in Jersey for the remainder of his career. Ellis posted one of the best seasons put up by a Jersey hurler, posting a 2.94 ERA and striking out 210.
On November 21st, the league announced that MR Brian White recieved a new contract worth 600K through arbitration, which was no surprise, and Catcher Luis Antonio Duran won his arbitration hearing and will receive $8.75 million this upcoming season. With Duran's number being that high, there is probably a slim chance he will be back for 2017. Regardless he will be starting the season as the team's starting catcher.
Free agency started November 24th and Jersey said good-bye to two players. The first being one of the longest tenured player closer Daniel Morris. With the money going to the starters, there was just not enough to go around. Morris leaves Jersey leading the team in all-time ERA (2.59), Saves (170), appearances (387), BB/9 (2.0), K/BB (4.18), WHIP (1.17), OOPS (.626) and VORP (139.4).
Also departing through free agency is the speedy OF Scott Powers, who spent 3 years in Jersey after a trade from Niagara Falls. Powers a multi-use speedy OF, never lived up to the potential Jersey thought they would get when they made the trade in 2013. His spot on the roster will go to one of the money OF Jersey has stashed away in AAA.
The Rule V draft took place on December 1st and with the 22nd pick Jersey selected MR David Rice with the 22nd pick. Rice of the former Pittsburgh (now Chicago) franchise. Rice will become the 2nd lefty in the pen after new closer Jaime Saenz. Last season Rice pitched in AA and a 3.61 ERA and 140 K's in 124.2 IP.
Jersey also lost a player in the Rule V draft as well. St. Charles selected speedy utility infielder Dave Henson whom Jersey signed to a MLC in 2014 after being released from Vista. Henson hit .270 with 14 SB in 63 AB with Tuscaloosa last season.
Towards the end of Spring Training Jersey made a couple of waiver moves. The first being claiming MR Chris Woodruff from the Jacksonville Jackhammers. Woodruff struggled in Jacksonville last year posting a 6.44 ERA in 50.1 IP, but the Jersey brass must have seen some potential.
On the same day Jersey claimed Woodruff, Boston claimed 1B Edgardo Gonzales. Gomzales who has been with Jersey since the inaugural draft always has played well in AAA but has had trouble cracking the 25-man roster. Gonzales got only 29 AB in the last 3 seasons.
On April 2nd, the day before the season was set to begin Jersey announced another contract extension. One of the best hitters in last year's playoffs 3B Alberto Perez agreed to a 4 year deal buying out his arbitration years worth nearly $8M dollars. Perez is slated to start at 3B this season with Adam Morrow sliding over to SS.
Losses: CL Daniel Morris, CF Scott Powers, SS Dave Henson, 1B Edgardo Gonzales
Additions: MR Dave Rice, MR Chris Woodruff
Extensions: SP Jerry Burgess, SP Art Ellis, 1B Matt Doyle, 3B Alberto Perez
2016 is here! Look for the roster breakdown, coming soon!
GO D-BAGS
Showing posts with label white. Show all posts
Showing posts with label white. Show all posts
Tuesday, October 23, 2012
Wednesday, May 30, 2012
2015 Is Here; And a Major Change
Welcome back D-Bag fans! As I type this we are just days away from the start of a new and exciting season full of promise for your Jersey Shore D-Bags! We have a few new faces, but for the most part the Bags bring back the majority of the same team that won a team record 94 games last season.
The major news in the off-season is the addition of SP Art Ellis. Ellis pitched in Madison last year after 3.5 seasons in Hendersonville. He marks the first player ever to come play for the D-Bags who has a BSA championship ring from the current period, and he has 2. After an injury plagued season in Madison last year which held him to 23 starts, he is healthy and ready to be the #2 starter behind Cy Young runner up Dan Macias. This could be the 1-2 punch Jersey has been looking for in previous years. For his career Ellis has won 89 games while posting a 3.83 ERA.
As of opening day the rotation will look like this:
1. Dan Macias
2. Art Ellis
3. Rob Goodship
4. Greg Shaefer
After losing Marv Williams to injury for most of the season, he became a FA and ultimately signed with the New Orleans Looters. Gordon Brown was traded for right before the deadline and an extension couldn't be reached and he signed a 1 year deal with Niagara Falls this off-season. With neither of these players being retained it opened up a spot in the bullpen. After some solid pitching in Spring Training, the open spot will go to 22 year old Jose Ruiz. Ruiz has climbed through the Jersey system since 2010 and finished last year with a 3.27 ERA in AAA along with 56 K in 41.1 innings.
The current bullpen looks like this:
MR1 Lucio Tapia
MR2 Jose Ruiz
MR3 Brian White
SU1 Jose Gomes
SU2 Jamie Saenz
Much of the faces on offense will look the same, in fact every players has had some playing time in a Jersey uniform except one player. That player is OF Jose Ortiz. Ortiz was picked in the Rule V draft coming over from the Reno organization. He is 26 and never played above A ball, but Jersey think he has the type of skills to compete for the 4th-5th OF position. In order to acquire Art Ellis the D-Bags traded all time hits leader Parker Morrow. Morrow had been a D-Bag since the inception of the league and while it was sad to see him go, he will be replaced in the lineup by another Morrow, Adam Morrow.
The opening day starting lineup will look like this:
With a bench of:
RF Jose Ortiz* Will begin year on DL.
With much of the team in tact, Ellis adding to the rotation, Peter Larson and Matt Doyle staples in the top of the lineup for the whole year, Jersey has a reason to be excited. Expectations are high, but still have to some how find a way to overcome the dominance of the Greenville 84's and the tough competition atop of CL.
Jersey needed a change, not a managerial change, not a player change....but a change. Something to break them out of their slump of missing the playoffs and something to send them over the top. And with that, I would like to introduce to you the new logo of the Jersey Shore D-Bags.
Boom. Enjoy.
GO D-BAGS
Thursday, January 26, 2012
Opening Day 2014!!
Spring Training has come and passed, the cuts and demotions have been made, lineups are set and predictions are being made. Are you ready for some Baseball??? The Jersey Shore D-Bags are! They finished Spring Training with a 16-8 record and escaped injury free and the roster has been cut to 25 men. For the most part the roster is very identifiable, there were some surprises though.
Making the Roster
On the pitching sides of things the D-Bags will feature the rotation we laid in ST with only one newcomer in the bullpen. Marv Williams who was the 6th option last year was sent to AAA while the team kept MR Brian White in his role on the big club. White the former AAA closer thrived in Spring Training, giving up 1 run in 8.0 IP and striking out 7. GM Josh Swain said it was a tough decision but when it came down to it, "Since White was out of options, there was no way he was going to clear waivers. It was either keep them both on the ballclub, trade one, give one away or send someone down. I know Marv Williams wants to be up here, and he will get his chance. It's nice to have depth."
The news of Milliard Cross taking his talents to Cleveland was a surprise and in his place will be 1B Derrick Wright has been tearing AAA up for 2 years and was no different in Spring Training. He finished 2nd in spring batting and 5th in slugging. He's like to see a lot of AB's against left handed pitching.
With Jerome Lindsey packing his bags for Orlando, one IF spot opened up. Many people thought that Adam Morrow was a shoe-in for the position. That wasn't the case. Alberto Lopez who also plays the corner IF positions, and can play 2B in a pinch, absolutely demolished ST pitching. He led all of baseball with .473 batting average and was 3rd with a .508 SLG%. You just can't keep that off the team. Even though he won't see starting AB's, he will be a great asset coming off the bench.
In the OF, there was one position to be decided and it too might have been a surprise to those of you following D-Bags baseball. Getting the 5th OF nod, was lefty Bob Thomas. While Thomas did not hit the ball well, he too was out of options and rather than risk losing him, the D-Bags kept him on the roster and send Harold Robinson and Sergio Rodriguez down to AAA.
The Rotation:
Come Opening Day, Manager Kevin Davis will hand the ball to the wily veteran Dan Macias. The 6'5" righty will be making his first start on Opening Day at home against the rival Pittsburgh Swag.
The rest of the rotation will look like this:
2) Rob Goodship
3) Jerry Paige
4) Kenny Stanford
5) Jose Reyes
The Lineup:
Whether or not Pittsburg decides to send John Corrigan or the newcomer Jules Paradis to the mound Davis plans to march out this lineup to try and repeat and led the league in runs scored again this year.
1) Scott Powers RF
2) Mason Bonniface LF
3) Matt "Coffin" Bryant 2B
4) Leon Foster CF
5) Antonio Ruiz 1B
6) Manny Romero DH
7) Luis Antonio Duran C
8) Parker Morrow 3B
9) Marvin Taylor SS
If you are a season ticket holder, you will be seeing much of the D-Bags the first month of the season. They start the year with a 10 game stand with 4 w/ Pittsburgh, 3 w/Vista and 3 w/ Indianapolis. After off day they head to Seattle for a 3 game tilt, then immediately back across the the entire country for a 4 game series with St. Louis. They head to St. Charles for a 3 game tilt before their next day. They end the month with an 8 day stretch of games starting at home with 2 w/ Pocatello, 3 w/ defending CL champs Regina before heading to Greenville for their first 2 of 16 games with the 84's this season. April usually sets the tone for the season, so let's get out there and root our D-Bags on to a hot start to this one!!
GO D-BAGS
Making the Roster
On the pitching sides of things the D-Bags will feature the rotation we laid in ST with only one newcomer in the bullpen. Marv Williams who was the 6th option last year was sent to AAA while the team kept MR Brian White in his role on the big club. White the former AAA closer thrived in Spring Training, giving up 1 run in 8.0 IP and striking out 7. GM Josh Swain said it was a tough decision but when it came down to it, "Since White was out of options, there was no way he was going to clear waivers. It was either keep them both on the ballclub, trade one, give one away or send someone down. I know Marv Williams wants to be up here, and he will get his chance. It's nice to have depth."
The news of Milliard Cross taking his talents to Cleveland was a surprise and in his place will be 1B Derrick Wright has been tearing AAA up for 2 years and was no different in Spring Training. He finished 2nd in spring batting and 5th in slugging. He's like to see a lot of AB's against left handed pitching.
With Jerome Lindsey packing his bags for Orlando, one IF spot opened up. Many people thought that Adam Morrow was a shoe-in for the position. That wasn't the case. Alberto Lopez who also plays the corner IF positions, and can play 2B in a pinch, absolutely demolished ST pitching. He led all of baseball with .473 batting average and was 3rd with a .508 SLG%. You just can't keep that off the team. Even though he won't see starting AB's, he will be a great asset coming off the bench.
In the OF, there was one position to be decided and it too might have been a surprise to those of you following D-Bags baseball. Getting the 5th OF nod, was lefty Bob Thomas. While Thomas did not hit the ball well, he too was out of options and rather than risk losing him, the D-Bags kept him on the roster and send Harold Robinson and Sergio Rodriguez down to AAA.
The Rotation:
Come Opening Day, Manager Kevin Davis will hand the ball to the wily veteran Dan Macias. The 6'5" righty will be making his first start on Opening Day at home against the rival Pittsburgh Swag.
The rest of the rotation will look like this:
2) Rob Goodship
3) Jerry Paige
4) Kenny Stanford
5) Jose Reyes
The Lineup:
Whether or not Pittsburg decides to send John Corrigan or the newcomer Jules Paradis to the mound Davis plans to march out this lineup to try and repeat and led the league in runs scored again this year.
1) Scott Powers RF
2) Mason Bonniface LF
3) Matt "Coffin" Bryant 2B
4) Leon Foster CF
5) Antonio Ruiz 1B
6) Manny Romero DH
7) Luis Antonio Duran C
8) Parker Morrow 3B
9) Marvin Taylor SS
If you are a season ticket holder, you will be seeing much of the D-Bags the first month of the season. They start the year with a 10 game stand with 4 w/ Pittsburgh, 3 w/Vista and 3 w/ Indianapolis. After off day they head to Seattle for a 3 game tilt, then immediately back across the the entire country for a 4 game series with St. Louis. They head to St. Charles for a 3 game tilt before their next day. They end the month with an 8 day stretch of games starting at home with 2 w/ Pocatello, 3 w/ defending CL champs Regina before heading to Greenville for their first 2 of 16 games with the 84's this season. April usually sets the tone for the season, so let's get out there and root our D-Bags on to a hot start to this one!!
GO D-BAGS
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