[DD Martin]

May 11th - May 17th 1970

The road trip continues as we fly to Canada and take on the Montreal Legends (10-15) before then turning the plane around to go back to the South and take on the Dallas Renegades (11-13). We do have an off-day on Thursday between the Montreal and Dallas series. Next week we will head east and fly into Atlanta to take on the Flames (12-13).

We are also preparing for something the NBA is calling a scouting combine. This will be a place where top amateur talent will gather in Florida for a huge showcase. Most of our front office (myself, AGM Shane Lowry, and Scouting Director Josh McDaniel will be going along with our rookie league skipper Dan Faught and other various scouts under McDaniel’s leadership. That trip will be next week so first we deal with the Legends.

As the team prepared to leave for Montreal, I called up OF Carlos Carmona’s agent and we started negotiating a deal. Carmona (31) had won the NAL player of the week award going 9-20 with 2 HR’s, 7 RBI’s and 8 runs scored. Pittsburgh had locked up their LF Houston Murphy (27) to a 4 year deal worth $780,000. The deal was Murphy was not putting up the numbers that Carmona had so far. Carmona’s agent started the conversation at 5 years $950,000 and we went 4 year’s $750,000 and added a vesting option for the 5th with 500 plate appearances to take the total to $925,000. The whole vesting option wasn’t working and before things got sideways we gave in on the 5 years, and ended up with just a straight $172,000 for each year for a 5 year $860,000 deal. The agent said he would talk with Carlos while the club was in Montreal and I made sure to get a hold of him as well. Hopefully in a few days we can have this contract wrapped up.

We would have other deals to look at as we had 21 out of our 36 players on the 40-man roster out of contract next season and potential free agents. Most of the league was in the same position and the extension offers to Houston and Carmona were the first ones that I could tell were in discussion.

Seattle Tridents (12-12) @ Montreal Legends (10-15)

The Legends have been anything but so far but because the entire Eastern Division is under 500 they are only 2 games out despite being 4th (last) in the division. They have lost 5 of their last 7 including 3 straight. We are finding the one team that has a worse starting rotation than we do by the numbers (ERA) as the Legends starters are giving up an ERA of 4.21. Their bullpen is even worse with a 5.64 ERA, so we should have an advantage if we can keep the game close.

The Legends do have a couple of solid hitters with 3B Milt Overstreet (294 5-14) and C Caleb Hamill (325 6-24). We will see their best starting pitcher in this series who is Jose Ramirez (1-3 3.53 ERA). Legend closer Angel Blanco has managed 1 save this year while sporting a 10.12 ERA.

The Legends have 2 pitchers on the DL in CL Ruben Lopez who they are sorely missing, he won’t be back until late July at best. They also have on the DL SP William Murillo who will miss the entire season with a torn UCL.

Probable Starting Pitchers
Ryan Conner 1-0 3.96 ERA vs Jose Ramirez 1-3 3.53 ERA
Wes Somervile 3-3 4.43 ERA vs Karl Anderson 2-2 4.06 ERA
Mike Wynns 4-2 2.91 ErA vs Jake Packingham 2-2 4.24 ERA

Seattle @ Montreal game 1 (25)

Sea - CF Collins, LF Jeoffrey, 1B Reed, RF Carmona, 3B Pena, 2B Regan, SS Weber, C Salazar, P Conner

Mont - LF B Hayes, CF K Addison, 1B J del Angel, 3B M Overstreet, SS J Hank, C C Hamill, RF D Juarez, 2B M Kaprielian, P J Ramirez

The Seattle club came out swinging today smacking 16 hits and gave SP Ryan Conner the support he needed to pick up his 2nd win of the season. Conner went 8.2 IP giving up 8 hits and no runs as the Tridents bashed the Legends. 2B Kurt Regan went 4-5 with a run scored and an RBI as he raised his batting average to 417 on the season. LF Carl Jeoffrey went 3-5 with a run scored. 15 of the Tridents 16 hits were singles, and they also 3 walks off Legends pitching. Seattle wins 5-0
SP Ryan Conner 8.2IP 8H 0R 2BB 4K (W 2-0 3.23) 2B K Regan 4-5 RBI, R, SB, C Jeoffrey 3-5 R, 1B Reed 2-5 2 RBI, SS A Weber 3-5 RBI, C Sanchez 2-4 BB RBI

A - 12,133 T - 3:25
POTG - Seattle SP Ryan Conner

After the game I got word from Carmona’s agent that Carlos was very pleased with the offer and we can get the paperwork ready. Carlos also thanked me as well when I spoke to him. Buoyed by the success of the Carmona extension being received so well, I made plans to contact 2 of our other pending free agents in the next couple of days. You can bet that young SP Ryan Conner is one of them.

Seattle @ Montreal game 2 (26)

Sea - CF Collins, LF Marquez, 1B Reed, RF Carmona, 3B Pena, 2B Regan, SS Weber, C Pardo, SP Somerville

Mon - LF B Hayes, CF K Addison, 1B J del Angel, 3B M OVerstreet, SS J Hank, C C Hamil, RF D Juarez, 2B Kaprielian, SP K Anderson

As exciting as yesterday’s game was, todays game was a complete letdown and right now the media (rightfully so) are blaming or skipper Brian Wilde. In yesterday’s game, closer Kyle Gorman came in to pitch to 1 out to close out the game. With a 5-0 lead, maybe we could have used RP’s Morin or Lonnberg. Well Gorman (1-3 BS 3 3.38 ERA) paid the price for that 5 pitch outing as he was asked to go 2 full innings to close out this game with a 2-1 lead. The 8th went well, but in the 9th, with 1 out after Jason Hank singled, and PH Jack Hurst doubled, the game was tied. Carmona threw home and didn’t nail Hank at the plate and Hurst advanced to 3rd on the throw. With Juarez hitting a towering sac fly to end the game. Wasted a great out by Somerville who deserved a better fate. As well as Somerville pitched, Montreal’s SP was pretty solid too, going 7IP and giving up just 3 hits and 2 runs. Legends 3-2
SP W Somerville 7IP 6H 1R 2BB 3K, R Reed 2-4 R

A - 12,412 T - 2:29
POTG - Montreal SP Karl Anderson

As depressing as that game was, there was an interesting release from Vancouver that hit the free agent list. C Caleb Nowak who was hitting 333 in Calgary had been jettisoned for some reason. Vancouver did have 3 catchers on its 25 man roster and had lefty Paul Bostic who had started 21 of 28 games for them this season hitting 316/406/870. We on the other hand had a backup catcher starting in Pardo and Manny Salazar who probably wasn’t even that backing him up. The options at AAA Tacoma were Michael Douglas who was hitting 215 in Tacoma and was very unhappy (so were we) and the inept Willie Portuguez who if we sign Nowak will be DFA. The only reason Portuguez was in Tacoma is we didn’t feel we had anyone else at this time to bring up. So we offered Nowak a 40-man roster spot and a $25,000 salary. He understood he would start out at Tacoma, but he had a very good opportunity to be called up in the near future.

We also saw a potential player that elected free agency after he was not called up by Kansas City. 3B/2B Bobby Preciado (20) was signed to a minor league contract with a $3,800 bonus. He quickly signed the deal and we were glad to have him. He was hitting 283/366/871 with KC”s AAA farm club with 6 home runs and 14 RBI’s. He was immediately going to be sent to Tacoma and start playing.

Seattle @ Montreal
Game 3 (27)

Sea - CF Collins, 2B Regan, 1B Reed, RF Carmona, 3B Pena, C Pardo, LF Holloway, SS Weber, SP Wynns

Mon - LF B Hayes, CF K Addison, 1B J del Angel, 3B M Overstreet, SS J Hank, C C Hamil, RF D Juarez, 2B M Kaprielian, SP J Packingham

Seattle SP Michael Wynns went the short distance, but it was not a quality start by any means. Going 8 innings giving up 7 hits along with 6 walks is not going to get the job done on many dates, even against Montreal. We have a fully rested bullpen (besides Gorman’s 14) that has appeared only 19 times between them. And yet we don’t seem to use them, not even a little. Wynns gave up 2 runs in the 6th to make it 5-1 and honestly he should have called it a day then. We managed to score 3 runs in the last 2 innings to scare the fans in Montreal, but Blanco picked up his 2nd save of the season. Trident 3B Angelo Pena hit a home run and a double in the defeat. Montreal 5-4
3B A Pena 2-4 HR, DB 2RBI R

A - 11,873 T - 2:39

POTG - SP Jake Packingham Montreal

The club had an off day to lick its wounds and fly to Dallas. We had 6 more games on the road and honestly we needed at least a split to stay within a game of 500.

With the off-day I spent the day making phone calls. I called the agents for both SP Ryan Conner (26) and closer Kyle Gorman (28) despite the loss in Montreal. We set to work getting these guys extended as the trend was slowly picking up in the league. My thoughts were that so many teams will have lots of money to spend in the off-season that these guys could cost a lot more in the off-season. While it was early to start extending unproven pitchers I also realized that pitching was probably our achilles heel and we needed to lock up anyone who could be a solid contributor. Conner’s contract negotiation was fairly simple, and we went 5 years and $440,000 over those 5 seasons. Gorman was a little tougher but we ended up at 4 years and $430,000 total. Hopefully by the end of the week we will have these contracts signed along with the dry ink on Carlos Carmona’s deal which became official.

Seattle Tridents (13-14) @ Dallas Renegades (12-15)

A couple of 3rd place teams in the West and Central doing battle. Dallas was a mirror opposite team as they had strong pitching (2nd) and a poor offense (11th). The woeful Renegade offense was led by 35 year old 2B Nick Hurlbut who was hitting 352/419/876 on the season. Switch hitting 3B Edwin Corona and managed to hit 5 home runs, but was hitting 200 and only had 11 RBI’s. The only other hitter in the lineup that was close to Hurlbut, was LF Jared Provost who was also a switch hitter and batting 4th. Not exactly your typical clean up hitter with zero home runs and only 11 RBI’s, but he was hitting 333 on the year. Dallas’s strength was in its starting rotation and of course we’d see the top 3 in that rotation. Only #2SP Josh Doskocil was looking like he would fit in nicely with his 4.72 ERA on our rotation. Actually #3-5 had the best ERA’s.

Dallas had two on the DL with SP Carlos Garza (21) out another 4 months after having bone chips removed from his elbow. Also injured but not on the DL was RF Mike Fleckner with an unknown recovery.

Probable Starting Pitchers
J Martin 1-4 4.25 ERA vs D Gutierrez 3-3 3.59 ERA
R Conner 2-0 3.23 ERA vs J Doskocil 204 4.72 ERA
W Somerville 3-3 3.97 ERA vs S Sloan 1-0 2.57 ERA


Seattle @ Dallas
Game 1 (28)

Sea - CF Collins, LF Marquez, 1B Reed, RF Carmona, 3B Pena, 2B Regan, SS Weber, C Pardo, P Martin

Dal - LF J Provost, CF M Fleckner, 1B Hurlbut, 3B E Corona, 2B A de Luna, RF Ulloa, C D Garcia, SS B Morrow, SP D Guttierrez

The Tridents scored 3 early in the first and managed to bang out 22 hits against Dallas pitching. Leading the way was 1B Rob Reed who went 4-6 to raise his batting average on the season to 292. He also contributed 3 RBI’s (20 on the season) and scored 2 runs. RF Carlos Carmona who 2 doubles after a quiet Montreal series and scored 3 times. The beneficiary of all this offense was SP Jimmy Martin (2-4) who put together 7 decent innings giving up 4 runs (only 2 earned) on 6 hits. With the win the Tridents evened their season record at 14-14 but are trailing 1st place Portland by 4 games. Tridents win 13-5
1B Reed 4-6 3 RBI 2R, RF Carmona 3-5 2DB 3R 1RBI, 3B Pena 3-5 DB 2RBI R, SS Weber 3-4 2R 3 RBI’s SF, C Pardo 3-5 TP RBI R

A - 17,633 T - 3:25
POTG - Seattle 1B Rob Reed

Seattle @ Dallas
Game 2 (29)

Sea - CF Collins, LF Marquez, 1B Reed, RF Carmona, 3B Pena, 2B Regan, SS Weber, C Pardo, SP Conner

Dal - RF M Fleckner, 3B E Corona, 2B N Hurlbut, LF J Provost, 1B J Ulloa, C D Garcia, SS B Morrow, CF P Willis , P J Doskocil

While yesterday saw Seattle bang out 22 hits, today saw both teams combine for just 14 with 4 doubles and a home run. Fortunately for Seattle they hit the home run a home run in the 1st (2) put the Tridents up 1-0 and Carlos Carmona hit a sac fly in the 7th to give Seattle a 2-1. SP Ryan Conner (who favors his contract extension offer) might want to ask for more money as he pitched his 3rd straight gem. In his last 3 starts he has been the POTG pitching 24.2IP18H 2R 7BB 13 K’s. He improves his record to 3-0 on the season and lowered his ERA to 2.98. Trident Manager Brian Wilde was ecstatic after the game “That’s how you’re going to be successful in this league, it starts with pitching and it will always be pitching”. Seattle wins 2-1
SP R Conner (W 3-0) 7IP 5H 1R 2BB 5K, LF R Marquez 103 HR RBI R BB, Carmona 1-3 RBI, DB, Sac Fly

A - 16,835 T - 2:39
POTG - Seattle SP Ryan Conner

Seattle decided to give the entire rotation an extra days rest. We have been pushing with a 4 man unit and we have an awfully young couple of starters in that mix. So we went with Manny Jiminian (0-0 5.79 ERA) who had started only 1 game this season, and it wasn’t the best result. But having taken the first 2 games of the series, we decided to be more cautious.

Seattle @ Dallas
Game 3 (30)

Sea - CF Collins, 2B Regan, 1B Reed, RF Carmona, 3B Pena, C Pardo, LF Holloway, SS Weber, P M Jiminian

Dal - RF M Fleckner, 3B E Corona, 2B N Hurlbut, LF J Provost, C D Garcia, 1B A de Luna, SS B Morrow, CF P Willis, P J Nelson

Clearly we are going to have to find a better #5 SP Manny struggled through 6 laborious innings giving up 8 hits, 3 walks, 6 runs (4 ER) and we got waffled. In Jiminian’s defense our defense was awful in this game with 3 errors and we were probably lucky it wasn’t much worse. Not much to say, the Tridents wasted 2 doubles from Carmona who didn’t score or drive in a run. 2B Kurt Regan hit his first career home run for Seattle……Dallas 7-1 C Carmona 2-4 2DB (14), K Regan 1-4 HR, RBI R E


A - 14,623 T - 2:58
POTG - Dallas CF Paul Willis

The week that was

Still no final papers signed. As mentioned SP Ryan Conner favors his deal, but closer Kyle Gorman hasn’t said a word yet. His agent assures me all is well. We did get the Carmona contract signed, sealed and delivered and picked up a couple of young players as free agents who are in Tacoma. A 3-3 week on the road, but it feels like it should have been at least 4-2 and maybe even 5-1. Only the last game played in Dallas was a definite loss.

We are looking for a 5th starter to plug into the club so that we are not wearing out our young arms constantly. Our top pitching prospect has been falling down the rankings (now 197). SP Dimitri Tillman (23) is 1-3 with a 2.98 ERA in 7 starts. He has been tremendous against right hand hitters, limiting them to an ERA 1.16 and a 1.16 WHIP as well. Lefties have been another story. He isn’t exactly happy in Tacoma as the Tugs are struggling with an 11-21 record having never really turned around the ship after a horrid start of the season. We will watch him closely but right now I’d prefer a veteran LHSP to compliment our rotation. We have our eyes on a few for various price points.