There are a lot of early games today so while Wesley and I continue to look at prospects we will also be watching the games. Boy, I love this job!!!! We are one of the three last games of the day. Our first pitch is at 7:05 and pits Abraham Johnson (3-3, 6.63) against Wayne Park (2-3, 6.84).
After a couple hours of pouring through the listing of the top prospects, both Wesley and I agreed that our primary target should be Cory Nelson the third basemen within the Jacksonville organization. Jacksonville is currently in a rebuilding mode. Fortunately, their Cory Nelson is not their top third base prospect, unfortunately their first basemen prospect is rated a couple spots above Allan Stephans…. But it doesn’t’ hurt to ask.
Jacksonville’s GM is Philippe Dos Santo’s. He is 57 years old from Germany and this is his first year on the job and in the ABL.
“Philippe, how are things? I haven’t had a chance to welcome you to the league.”
“Thank you, Kage, I appreciate that, it certainly is quite a change from overseeing Germany’s futbol club. But I was brought in to turn the organization upside down. Which means we will lose before we win.”
“I can certainly respect that, Phillippe. I know you guys are playing Austin right now, but you have some time?
“Sure I can spare a few minutes
Listen, I have this AAA first basemen Allan Stephans who is ready for the big leagues, but is not likely to see much time as long as I have Nishikawa on the roster. Do you have any interest?”
“I may be, who are you looking at?”
“I would like to structure something around Cory Nelson.”
“Hmmmm, surely you are not looking at a straight up deal?”
“What else do you have in mind?”
“I tell you what Kage, I will put together a list of potential players and send it over to you tonight.”
“That will work, welcome to the ABL Phillippe.”
“Thank’s Kage”
We will have to see what he comes up with, the price may be pretty steep given that he is in a rebuilding mode. My next call will be to German Cantu, the GM for Long Beach. He is in his second year as the GM of Long Beach and after 42-71 stint taking over in the middle of the season, has Long Beach playing 22-10 ball so far.
“German, congratulations on the nice start to the season.”
“Thank you Kage what can I do for you?”
“I have a first basemen Allan Stephans I thought you might be interested in taking a look at?”
“Stephans, huh, he is off to a good start this season, hitting .311 in AAA”.
He has been following him that is a good sign.
“Who are you looking at?”
“I would like to craft something around Short Stop Lee Owens.”
“Owens for Stephan’s… You are going to have to put in more than that. If you add Trevor Carlson, Jason Hester or Kiyomasu Fujita in we could work something out.”
“Well German, I can tell you Fujita is off the table. Let me put explore this and see if we can give this some legs. Thanks for your time”
They both took the call so we have some room to work. It was a lot to ask to look for a straight up trade. Cantu did have Trevor Carlson on the list who I would be willing to deal but that may be a steep price to pay. I was hoping to work a separate deal with Carlson. Wesley and I will have to take another look, but at least we have something to work with.
@tligget – Indianapolis SP Sander Softeland has left the game with an injury, we don’t have a diagnosis yet.
@tligget – Philadelphia RF Jerry Davenport was injured, still waiting to hear from the team as to the extent of the injury.
@tligget – Juan Lopez SS from New York went down with an injury, diagnosis is still pending.
@tligget – tough day in the ABL Nashville’s SP Brendon Simmons went down with an injury, again no diagnosis as of yet.
@pgraves – Jude Clark (SA) had a no hitter going through 7 innings, allowing his first hit in the 8th inning, however San Antonio is only up 1-0 over Ft. Worth.
Game Time
Top of the first inning, Johnson walks the first two batters, followed by a three run home run by A. Luna, our starting pitching woes aren’t over. We managed to push across one run in the second and are down 3 to 1 after three innings. I received the following email on my phone during the game:
From: pdossanto@claymores.com
To: kjohnson@mallards.com
Subject: Discussion from earlier today
Kage,
Thanks for the call today, I have taken a look at your roster and the following players, in addition to Stephan’s, interest me.
SP – Bartolo Salazar
SP – Jose Polledo
C – Roberto Menenders
SS – Christian Ryan
SP – Abraham Johnson
CF – Jason Hester
SS – Trevor Carlson
SP – Kiyomasu Fujita
I look forward to hearing from you.
P.
The three consistent players on each list are Hester, Carlson and Fujita. Fujita is non-negotiable at this point, he has the potential to become a superstar. I would like to see how he develops. I will let this marinate for a couple days and revisit.
@tligget – Long Beach 2B left the game with a strained oblique and is expected to miss one to two weeks.
After six inning we are down 3 to 2. Johnson has actually managed to put together a nice game his is still in and has struck out seven batters only walking one more.
Disappointing seventh inning, A. Johnson allowed another run, followed by J. Tavares coming in in relief to give up a three run home run. We lost the game 7-3, G. Martinez did hit a solo home run in the bottom of the 8th, but too little too late.
Where do I go with this, I know it is too early to panic, but I feel like I am losing my grip on the season. We have a long night ahead of us, we have to get the team players and supplies packed up and to Tampa for a 1:05 start tomorrow.
Mallards Lose 2 of 3 to Kansas City
By Rick Featherstone
WP: W. Park (3-3, 5.60)
LP: A. Johnson (3-4, 6.85)
HR: C. Lerma (3), A. Lara (5), K. Nishikawa (10), G. Martinez (6)
POG: Antonio Lara 3-5, 2 R, 4 RBI, HR