Feb. 5, 2009

Updated Draft list

2009 Canadians in College


EXTRA BASES XXIII -- Jays All-time Manager? Ottawa's Neate Sager, Mark James signs with Reds, Boyle asks for help


By Bob Elliott

Best manager in the history of the Toronto Blue Jays?
What’s this a trick question?
Cito Gaston wins in a walk over.
He gets the top honour finishing light years ahead of Tim Johnson and Roy Hartsfield.
Manager of the all-time Blue Jays team?
Neate Sager (Ottawa, Ont.)
Yes, this is a trick question.
Actually, Sager holds down the roles of owner/general manager/manager running the Jays in the Seamheads Historical League.
Other illustrious owners/GMs/managers in the simulated league include Jonah Keri (Montreal, Que.), of ESPN.com, Bill James, of the Boston Red Sox, Joe Posnanski and (Back Seat) Sammy Mellinger both of the Kansas City Star, former Red Sox ace Curt Schilling and HDNet’s Roy Firestone among the list of owners in the 28-team league.
The league has a pair of combos due to the brief time on earth. So, the Rockies/Diamondbacks and Marlins/Rays have been merged into single franchises.
Each owner had the all-time roster to chose his 40-man roster and then submit a 25-man roster.
And the 154-game schedule is unfolding as you read via Out of the Park Baseball.
Sager’s Jays sit atop the Expansion Three division with an 19-9 record, four games up on the Arizona-Colorado D-backs/Rox, nine up on their expansion cousin Seattle Mariners and 12 games ahead of last-place Florida-Tampa Bay Marlins/Rays.
Out of the Park is realistic only missing the number of times Dave Stieb scratches per start. Pitchers are programmed from career stats categories based on: stuff, movement, control, velocity, endurance and ground ball to fly ball ratio (ranked 1-to-100).
Hitters are evaluated on contact, gap ability, power, batting eye, avoid strikeouts, speed -- both stealing and base-running instincts -- contact vs. left-handers and right-handers, power against left and right and eye against each.
It even factors in morale based on playing time and hitting slumps.
This is not fantasy baseball.
Nor is it "stimulated" as Expos catcher Bobby Ramos said one spring when asked about the health of his shoulder ... "I'm not ready to play yet, but tomorrow I'll be in a stimulated game." That was the same spring Ramos said "you know making this team is no piece of steak."
Sager’s Opening Day Jays roster for simulated play was knocked when he picked Lloyd Moseby as his centre fielder.
“People wonder why I picked Moseby over Devon White or Vernon Wells,” Sager said, “but when I was following the Jays and they has George Bell, Moseby and Jesse Barfield, Moseby was the player I respected the most. I don’t think people realized how good he was.”
How good was he? Well, Mosbey had a 22-game hit streak and leads the Sager Jays with a .333 average.
Score one for the owner. 
The current Jays roster:
Starting pitchers: Roger Clemens, Roy Halladay, Jimmy Key, Dave Stieb, Pat Hentgen. 
Relievers: Doyle Alexander, Duane Ward, Paul Quantrill, B.J. Ryan, Scott Downs.
Closer: Tom Henke. 
Catchers: Pat Borders, Ernie Whitt.
Infielders: Robbie Alomar, Carlos Delgado, Tony Fernandez, Troy Glaus, Kelly Gruber, Fred McGriff, Gruber, Rance Mulliniks.
Outfielders: George Bell, Joe Carter, Alex Rios, Wells and Moseby.
Starting lineup: 1. CF Moseby
2. 2B Alomar
3. 1B Delgado
4. LF Bell
5. RF Rios/Carter
6. 3B Glaus
7. C Whitt
8. Pitcher’s spot in the order
9. SS Fernandez.

“I’m a hard core AL guy,” says the owner, “I thought hitting the pitcher eighth would be a good way to set the table for guys hitting third or fourth,” Sager said. “It was me trying to be unique, Tony La Russa has done it before.”
The SHL has a farm team too -- and the Jays top affiliate is located in Las Vegas and the roster is far from etched in stone.
“Barfield didn’t hit for 15 games so I brought up Carter, who had low morale,” said Sager.
Even in the simulated world there re tough decisions to make. Barfield took it well and reported to Vegas where he’s joined the likes of A.J. Burnett, Orlando Hudson, Willie Upshaw, Damaso Garcia, Alfredo Griffin, Darrin Fletcher and White, along with pitchers Mark Eichhorn, Juan Guzman, Billy Koch, Mike Timlin, Jim Clancy, John Cerutti, David Wells and White,   
“The Jays weren’t formed until 1977, I didn’t realize how strong the team would be in head-to-head competitions against the older franchises like St. Louis and Cleveland.”
Clemens worked 9 2/3 innings against a Cleveland lineup which had HOFers Nap Lajoie, Tris Speaker, Earl Averill and Joe Sewell, plus Manny Ramirez, John Romano, Sandy Alomar and Rocco Colavito. The Jays won 2-1 in the 13th. Alomar had three hits -- including his two-out single which scored Borders for the winning run. Addie Joss, Doug Jones and Bert Blyleven pitched for the Indians.
Key pitched eight innings in a 6-5 win against the Philadelphia Phillies who had HOFers Slidin’ Billy Hamilton, Mike Schmidt, Eddie Delahanty and Elmer Flick, plus Jimmy Rollins, Chase Utley, Juan Samuel and Bob Boone in the lineup. Moseby had four hits and stole two bases while Alomar knocked in a pair of runs as Cole Hamels started for the Phillies.
Stieb survived a rocky start -- four innings, seven hits five runs -- in a 8-7 win over the Chicago White Sox who started HOFer Early Wynn. B.J. Ryan picked up the win as both Fernandez and Delgado each homered. The Sox had HOFers Carlton Fisk, Eddie Collins and Luis Aparicio, plus Buck Weaver, Shoeless Joe Jackson (players can be selected on more than one team that they were with), Frank Thomas, Magglio Ordonez, Tommy Agee, and Minnie Minoso.
And then there is Sager’s favorite ...
“it’s a lot fun,” he says, “the most fun is seeing the match ups. Like Delgado hit a walk off off homer Hall of Famer Three-Finger Brown who was with the Cubs when they last won the World Series in 1908.”
Brown took a 1-0 lead into the bottom of the ninth. Fernandez opened with a single and two outs later Delgado hit a 3-2 pitch from Brown 350 feet to right for the 2-1 win.
Halladay pitched eight scoreless to beat HOFer Dizzy Dean and the St. Louis Cardinals, who scored four times in the ninth off Ward in a 12-7 win. Alomar had three hits and knocked in a run, while Rios had a pair of hits, driving in a pair. The Cardinals lineup that Halladay set down was “OK” as Bobby Cox would say: HOFers Lou Brock, Enos Slaughter, Rogers Hornsby and Ozzie Smith, plus Albert Pujols, Jim Edmonds, Ken Boyer and Ted Simmons. The Cards managed four singles off Halladay.
While Moseby’s average is the highest, Delgado has the most homers (eight) and best OPS (1.015) and Bell the most RBIs (26).
Halladay has the lowest ERA (1.25) and has the most wins (four), while Clemens has 51 strikeouts. 
While the upsets are interesting the programming has shown the baseball stats will win out: Babe Ruth is first in home runs (four), Speaker has the most hits (48)
Before the season began manager Sager was asked to fill out a form explaining his pinch hit tendencies and the like. 
“Having Halladay, Clemens and Stieb I tend to ride the starters deep into games,” Sager said.
Sager is a writer and an editor at the Ottawa Sun. He’s written for the Halifax Herald, Halifax Daily News, The Coast, Kingston Whig-Standard, Winnipeg Sun, Woodstock Sentinel-Review, Simcoe Reformer and Portage la Prairie Daily Graphic. His writing work was recognized in “The Best American Sports Writing 2005.”
Now, this simulated business may appear to be a tad silly.
But look outside.
There is snow in my drive so high that we have not seen since in a couple of decades.
Still not convinced?
Well, Sager spent many hours playing Earl Weaver Baseball from EA Sports, just like we did.
We’re convinced.
Earl Weaver Baseball was as good as the real thing in the winter, whether the game was at the Polo Grounds, the Baker Bowl or the created Megaffin Stadium, built by the late Nels Megaffin in Kingston for the Kingston Ponies Border League team in the early 1950s.
“When the season began my only goal is to finish higher than Seattle (the Jays expansion cousins),” Sager said. I’m surprised at how well the team has done.”
The Kingston, Ont. native also writes a can’t miss Out of Left Field blog. Check it out the man is a writing machine from the OHL, to the NHL to Brander Craighead (Nepean, Ont.) headed to the University of Texas-El Paso to CIS, to the Raptors to ... well we're running out of breath. He touches them all.
And besides that ... he runs the Jays all-time team as owner/GM/manager.
Good, stable ownership.
Best management of a Toronto pro sports franchise?
Probably
And it’s run by a Kingstonian living in Ottawa.
TURNING AND BURNING: Right-hander Mark James was a 14th round selection of the Milwaukee Brewers from coach Danny Bleiwas’ Ontario Blue Jays in 2005.
That summer, James was 1-3 with a 10.50 ERA Rookie-Class Arizona League Brewers. In 2006, he was 2-2, with a 6.91 for in the Arizona League.
After the Brewers released him James was 4-1, 3.02, with one save in 31 games for the Quebec Capitales of the independent Can-Am League this summer . It was the second lowest ERA of the 58 Canadians playing indy ball. 
James attended a Pitcher’s Boot Camp at Mike McCarthy and Rick Johnston’s The Baseball Zone in Mississauga in mid November. He enrolled in a month long SST strength and conditioning course and after a month-long session with pitching coach Ryan Armstrong (Mississauga, Ont.) was signed by Cincinnati Reds scout Bill Byckowski (summer home -- Georgetown, Ont. , winter home, Etobicoke, Ont.) last week.
And three days ago he did a turn and burn drill with Armstrong ...
“What we have pitchers do with the turn and burn is back pedal with their back toward the target, pivot, separate and throw, the reading we get on the gun is usually 2-to-3 miles less than what you can expect from pitcher off the mound,” Armstrong said.
Armstrong pitched for the Armstrong Atlantic State Pirates and while he was an excellent pitcher talk that they re-named the school after him is untrue. From there he moved on to pitch at Southwest Texas State.
When James was initially measured he was clocked on the radar gun at 92 miles per hour. The other day he went 99, 100, 99, 100.
Wow!
James deserves credit for not giving up and gaining a second chance.
Still, some should go to Armstrong, who know goes by his new nickname: Magic Man.
DID SOMEONE SAY FREE?: Dan Mendham’s Baseline Bats will present a free hitting clinic Sunday Feb. 15th, from 7-8 pm at Centrefield Sports in London, Ont. Enrollment is based on a first-come, first-serve basis: call 519-268-1581 to register. 
Hitting instructors which will include Jamie Romak (London, Ont.) and Adam Stern (Port Stanley, Ont.) will show anyone over the age of 14 the best way to hit using wood bats.  
Spaces are limited to 30 participants so please register quickly.
HELPPPP: Lefty Taylor Boyle (St. Catharines, Ont.) is looking for help to attend a Perfect Game Showcase and has written this letter:

Hello,

My name is Taylor Boyle, I am a left-handed pitcher and it has always been my dream to become a Professional baseball player and pitch in the majors,
Unfortunately major league scouts don’t travel to Canada often, which makes it very hard for me to get noticed, and ultimately make my dreams a reality.
On Jan. 3rd, I travelled to Fort Myers, Fla. to participate in the Perfect Game World Uncommited Showcase. At the showcase I pitched against other players from around the world. I got the opportunity to pitch before a large a crowd and show my stuff in front of some college scouts.
Perfect Game USA is recognized as the premier scouting service which helps young talented baseball players get exposure. In fact, Perfect Game reports to all 30 big-league scouting departments and over 1500 college programs.
On Feb. 3, I received a letter stating that I have been named and ranked on the Perfect Game USA International Follow List, which lists the top high school baseball prospects in North America. Because of this, I was invited to the Perfect Game Spring Top Prospect Showcase in Cedar Rapids, Iowa on April 18-20. At this showcase, the top 150 prospects showcase their skills and go “head to head” in front of MLB scouting directors and college recruiters.
After April 20th, the Perfect Game Scouting Department will choose the best of the top prospects who will be invited to the Perfect Game National
pre-draft showcase in front of scouts from ALL 30 teams. The event is one of the most prestigious showcases in the world.
The reason for this letter is because the cost of attending this showcase is expensive. The cost for the showcase is $550, which pays for the uniform and renting the field (Veteran’s Memorial Stadium in Cedar Rapids, home of the Cedar Rapids Kernels minor- league baseball team) travel costs, etc.
As you can imagine, coming across this much money is very difficult.
I am wondering if any business, friends, and family will be willing to sponsor me? Any amount is greatly appreciated. Although I am unable to give you a receipt, I can prove (in writing) where your every penny is going. I will write a statement identifying, and proving (through receipts that I receive) where your money went, which can be used for tax purposes.
You can also be assured that your money is helping me as I try to make my dreams come true.
You can learn more about Perfect Game USA, and the Perfect Game Spring Top Prospect Showcase on April 18-20, 2009, at www.perfectgameusa.com
Thank you very much for your time, and I look forward to hearing from you.

Taylor Boyle
tay__2003@hotmail.com
(two underscores in the e-mail address)
PROUD CANADIAN: Legendary broadcaster Gordon Sinclair awoke June 5, 1973, the day after the Vietnam war ended and was in a grumpy mood. He did not like the hit his friends south of the border were taking.
Sinclair's took pen in hand and read his Let's Be Personal editorial on CFRB around noon. Within 24 hours word had spread, first to Buffalo, then south to Washington, D.C and the president, throughout the Sentate and Congress, to state govenors. It was carried in most newspapers the next day.
Recordings of his words were printed with Sinclair, one great Canadian, making sure all monies went to the Red Cross.
This was a pre-internet viral explosion. And Sinclair's words, although they may be 26 years old still make Americans proud.
Pittsburgh Pirates scout Lenny Yochim, 80, of New Orleans passed along this version  last night.
BAD NEWS IN SIMCOE: A recent riuling by the Simcoe County High School board has seen baseball classified as a club sport and not a varsity sport.
That means baseball will not receive funding and students are not allowed to miss school for games. High schools in Simcoe county may be without teams this spring.
Support Simcoe County High Schoolers.
WBC-ING YOU SOON: The World Baseball Classic dates at the Rogers Centre
Game 1, Saturday, March 7 -- Team Canada vs. Team USA, 2 p.m.
Game 2, Saturday, March 7 -- Italy vs. Venezuela, 8 p.m.
Game 3, Sunday, March 8 -- Winner Game 1 vs. Winner Game 2, 8 p.m.
Game 4, Monday, March 9 -- Loser Game 1 vs. Loser Game 2, 6:30 p.m.
Game 5, Tuesday, March 10 -- Loser Game 3 vs. Winner Game 4, 5 p.m.
Game 6, Wednesday, March 11 -- Winner Game 3 vs. Winner Game 5, 6:30 p.m.
(Losers of Game 4 and Game 5 are eliminated.)
(Game 6 will decide first and second-place placings for the second round.)
IN YER FACE: The Canadian Baseball Network facebook group is up and running ... and running fast:
Mike Nitsos (Whitby, Ont.) of the Iowa Western Reivers, is the 400th to join.
Grant Kveder (Lethbridge, Alta.) of the Gonzaga Stags is No. 500.
Dan Chappel (Edmonton, Alta.) formerly of the Longview Lakers, the Mayville State Comets, the Southwest Mustangs, the Schaumburg Flyers and the Edmonton Cracker Cats is No. 600.
Drew Parker (Surrey, BC) of West Florida, formerly of the JUCO World Series champion Chipola Indians, is No. 700.
Andrew Brock (Burnaby, BC) of the Idaho Coyotes is No. 800.
Derek Papp (Windsor, Ont.), who used to pitch for Judson, is No. 900.
Jonathan Lussier (Montreal, Que.), former C-DH with the Les Ailes du Quebec alongside Phillipe Alexandre Valiquette (St. Laurent, Que.), Alexandre Periard (St. Eustache, Que.) and Mathieu Poirier (Montreal, Que.) is No. 1,000.
Ben TInklin (Kitchener, Ont.) of the Canadian Thunderbirds, who is headed to Kaskaskia College, is No. 1,100.
EXTRA, EXTRA: Since you asked ... we have a recap of the previous blogs:
Brett Lawrie, first rounder, of the Brewers.
EXTRA BASES 1 -- First week of the nationals.
EXTRA BASES II -- Second week of the nationals.
EXTRA BASES III -- Results from the third week of the nationals.
EXTRA BASES IV -- The best 15-16-year-olds from Canada gather at the Rogers Centre for the annual Mizunio Camp.
EXTRA BASES V -- Checking in on the National Junior Team in Florida.
EXTRA BASES VI -- Dropping in on the Cincinnati Reds instructional camp in Sarasota, more Canucks on the roster than anyone else.
EXTRA BASES VII -- Letters of Intent list of Canadians committed to college.
EXTRA BASES VIII -- WBC SS job goes to Chris Barnwell, Jay Johnson pops at the PBA.
EXTRA BASES VIX -- Baseball Ontario and Baseball Canada's best hear from former Expos ace Steve Rogers.
EXTRA BASES X -- Past All-Canadian team members to go on to the pro ranks
EXTRA BASES XI -- Alexandre Periard (Brewers) Chris Leroux (Marlins) promoted to 40-man rosters.
KEVIN GLEW -- First Blue Jays draft pick, Tommy Goffena, visits the Canadian Ball Hall
EXTRA BASES XII -- R.I.P. Tommy Burgess, former MLB player, National Team coach
EXTRA BASES XIII -- R.I.P. Jim Ridley, former minor-league pro, Intercounty MVP, scout and national team coach. Our all-time hit leader.
EXTRA BASES XIV -- 2008 All-Canadian College Team with links to 2000-07 teams.
EXTRA BASES XV -- Dany Wood is Canuck born, Jim Lutton and Howie Birnie -- Fab 50s, Baseball Canada banquet, BA top prospects
EXTRA BASES XVI -- Justin Morneau, Ernie Whitt to Lead Team Canada in WBC, Tip O'Neill award to Morneau, All-American honours to Shane Davis, Garret Regan
EXTRA BASES XVII -- Zak Miller, Brett Van Pelt turn in skates for scholarships
EXTRA BASES XVIII -- The top 100 Most Influential Canadians in baseball
EXTRA BASES XVIX -- Team Canada's WBC roster and more
EXTRA BASES XX -- Don Campbell wins Volunteer award in Ottawa
EXTRA BASES XXI -- Larry Walker first named to Baseball Canada Wall of Excellence
EXTRA BASES XX II -- Justin Morneau makes dreams come true in the desert
SHI DAVIDI Q & A -- Cincinnati Reds Joey Votto
NOTES FROM AROUND AND ABOUT:

I'm a big fan of your work.
I read the Northern Game in the summer and tremendously enjoyed it.

Russ Courtney
London, Ont.

Awesome, well done!

It's nice to see someone taking interest in Canadian Baseball.

Bradley McConnachie
CIncinnati, Ohio