A mid-summer's evening at the park

Put up your feet, click here and relax. (There are about 24 photos in total [use the "Next" button in the upper right hand corner])

Zak will be happy

If any team is going to hand the Lynx a loss, it doesn't upset Zak as much when it's Syracuse; Zak is a HUGE Toronto Blue Jays fan. As I've noted before, the kid has completely dissected the 1993 World Series win - how many kids can tell you how many times Mitch Williams "shook off" Daulton's sign for "anything but a slider" before serving up Joe Carter's homerun ball? It's impressive and troubling all at the same time.

I've started to look at some of the other MLB clubs with minor league affiliates in the IL to see which former Lynx players may be coming back through Ottawa, but sitting in the first base dugout this time 'round. As I was leafing through Toronto's stuff (can you "leaf" through a web page?), I found this on the recent Zambrano signing:

Should Zambrano bounce back, it would be to the Blue Jays' great benefit and provide further insurance for a rotation that has plenty of health question marks.

Last year when injuries struck the Blue Jays rotation they had little depth and they were forced to rely on youngsters like Casey Janssen, Shaun Marcum, Dustin McGowan and Ty Taubenheim. Ricciardi is determined for that not to be the case again.

''We're trying to keep McGowan, Janssen and those guys in triple-A,'' said Ricciardi. ''What we're trying to do is have lots of veterans around to carry the load and make the kids force our hand.''

(c/o TSN

Not former Lynx players, but any time "the boy" gets to see MLB players, it becomes added incentive to get to the yard early - not that he needs much encouragement.

Stuff for a rainy day - UPDATED

Or, stuff for a "kajillion degrees below zero" day. -24C - that's really uncalled for. Every once in a while I'll come across something which I don't have time to blog, but don't want to lose track of. This article falls into that category. I held off for a couple of reasons - first and foremost, I just didn't have time to blog about it when I found it. Second, it went down the proverbial road which I didn't want to go; the article is about the realignment of major league affiliations. In case you weren't sure of what the author's premise was, the title of the piece gives a bit away: Major League Baseball Affiliation Realignment rearranges deck chairs on the Hindenburg.

Money quote (edited for length):

"The Norfolk Tides, who had been the Triple-A affiliate of the New York Mets since 1969, dumped what was always considered one of the premiere affiliations in minor league baseball, to take on the Baltimore Orioles. It raised a few eyebrows in conventional baseball circles. Why the O's?


Being an Orioles affiliate looks a might more appealing when the Mid-Atlantic Sports Network (MASN), which reaches from the Southern portion of Pennsylvania to the Northern part of South Carolina, may put some of your games on television. More important, can you afford to be a Mets affiliate in a marketplace where the television is dominated by Orioles and Nationals baseball and their affiliates?

Stacking the Deck Chairs on the Hindenburg

While all of this may fill the major and minor league owners coffers up another year or two with tube cash, it still is missing the point: Baseball, along with the rest of America, is decentralizing.

Internet power and overnight delivery. You do the math. You can be anywhere in America and do business. The prosperity of minor league baseball isn't due to the shiny new parks. It's due to the demand for a "major" experience in any town where fans with big-city expectations relocate, or just spring up."

And this:

"Instead of embracing and adapting to decentralization, MLB owners with these networks are trying to harness it into their decades-old model for big broadcast professional baseball, major market-centric sport."

{Bold facing is mine}

It's tough sledding, but I recommend reading the entire article. Does a MiLB franchise have to be located within an hour of it's parent? I suppose the better question is: Is it better to have the MiLB team located closer to it's parent, or in a town with "big city" expectations?

I'm going to have to finish this up later, but I wanted to get something out this morning. Read the article; a short test will take place after 1 p.m.

*** UPDATE ***

And we're back. It's been a tough evening/morning - Doris has gone to Toronto on business and I'm home with the kids. I know "why" single parents do it, I'm just not sure "how". I was woken up this morning by my little girl (3 yrs old) tearfully announcing to me that she didn't make it to the bathroom in time - unfortunately, she had crawled into bed with me around 3 a.m. Memo to me: Do laundry tonight.

Back to the matter at hand. Given the current situation, my bringing Ottawa into the equation may not have strengthened the author's point - although I think his argument is valid: Concentration of franchises may not serve the longer term interests of MLB. With MLB's new deal with DirecTV the alienation of fans may accelerate.

Another "money" quote on the DirecTV deal:

"Say you're a transplanted Washingtonian living in Miami and you want to see your hometown Mariners every night. You can do it with Extra Innings. Say you just want to spend a few evenings a week poring over six or seven games between teams you'd rarely get to see otherwise. Go for it. You can hear Jerry Remy do the Red Sox on NESN, pop over to take in a little Hawk Harrelson with the White Sox (if you can take him) and finish up with Duane Kuiper and Mike Krukow calling a Giants game -- all in one dizzying, bleary-eyed evening. Then you can do it again the next night.

But now, if this deal between MLB and DirecTV goes through as expected, you won't be able to get Extra Innings through your local cable TV outfit

Business-wise, short-term, you can see baseball's side in this, if you forget about the fans. A thirtieth of a $700 million deal will pay a good-sized piece of any team's over-inflated payroll. And a lot of the money that baseball sees from the DirecTV deal could go toward seeding the game's next big money-making venture, the MLB Channel, coming to a television near you around the 2009 season.

But the shame -- and isn't this always the problem? -- is that it's the fans who ultimately end up taking it in the Canseco once again. The deal with DirecTV will make it more difficult for many baseball fans to get what they want, how they want. It's really as simple as that. And that's no way to treat the customer."

Taking it in the "Canseco". That is classic - if not a little graphic. Final word (unless someone cares to comment) goes to the first article.

The malaise of the national pastime is clear. The power base is shifting. Baseball recognizes it, but wants to channel it back to a broken model. Without making some changes to capitalize on the trend that is lofting the minors and college sports into the stratosphere of attendance numbers, baseball will soar into the future like the Hindenburg.

From a cub reporter

Greetings. The celebrated Mister K was kind enough to invite me to report within this, his nifty Ottawa Lynx web log. Thanks CK! You are top drawer. Now, where to start? Please allow me to introduce myself. My name is Patrick. I live in Ottawa and have been a fan of Lynx baseball for many years now, been a fan of baseball my whole life.

I have lived here in Ottawa for over a decade now. Many of my summer seasons have been spent out on Coventry Road, where all the action is. I have many hobbies and baseball is only one of them but as a citizen of Ottawa I feel very fortunate to be able to walk, bus or ride my bicycle to the ball park and watch excellent contests between two teams, watching the players perform their weird acrobatics on dirt and grass, players who are hoping to find their way to the huge American cathedrals, players who are striving to go up to major metropolises and not down to smaller towns than Ottawa.

So I go to Lynx baseball games and I have a whale of a time. I enjoy the heck out of it. I bring my camera and stadium blanket and I sit on the first base side. I root for the umpires as much as I do the players. Someone has to, right? I enjoy that for the past few seasons our boys have been uniformly wearing their socks pulled up high and I hope it continues this season, now that we have changed affiliations from the Orioles to the Phillies. I enjoy it especially when the stands are full of fans and I am not the only one cheering from my section. I hope that this coming season finds my voice drowned out, or at least blended in with the restless throng like it was just a few years ago.

It is winter now and there is not much for me to write about our Lynx. Mister K seems to be taking care of reporting all the wheelings and dealings, the signings and the potential line-ups expected this spring. He is doing a dandy job and I will leave him to it. Expect to hear more from me, and to view my photographs once April is in full swing. Get it? Full swing? Ha ha.

Joey Hammond will hopefully be back next season. And Pedro Swann. And Ron Calloway and Lou Collier too. Good fellows all. It is always great to have familiar faces returning to the yard. I hope to see you there as well. Stop by and say hello. I will be just behind the visitors on-deck circle sporting red hair and a big honkin'’ camera. We can cheer for the boys (and the umpires) while we feast on junk food. Sounds cool? Yeah. You bet! Now back to you CK...…

Getting to know Ron Calloway

Another former Lynx player who's been given a non-roster invite to the Phillies spring training camp is Ron Calloway.

Ron Calloway’s Baseball career would have been unique if he had never made it past college ball, but the fact that he not only was drafted, but cracked the Majors in 2003, makes Calloway’s story truly amazing. What makes him such an interesting story is that he did not play baseball in high school, nor was it even an interest of his at the time. In his own words, he really did not become a “baseball player” until he entered college. Calloway put his feelings towards baseball when he was a youth bluntly, saying “Baseball certainly wasn’t a first love for me.”

After a solid year at High A in 2000, Calloway was promoted to AA Harrisburg in 2001, where he had a career year, hitting .330/.386/.534 with 9 home in half a season. He was then promoted to AAA Ottawa for the second half of the year, where he put up solid numbers in his first taste of AAA ball. Calloway also added 9 more home runs at Ottawa, giving him a career high 19 on the season. In 2002 Calloway hit .357 in spring training (he was a minor leaguer who was called up for several games during the spring) but did not make the Expos Major League Roster, and spent the entire season at AAA. Calloway continued to put up solid numbers, belting 14 home runs, despite battling injuries (including rotator cuff surgery). His solid play earned Calloway his first official spring training invite before the 2003 season. While Calloway did not equal his spring training numbers of the previous season offensively, the countless hours he spent improving his defense and base-running helped Calloway make his first major league roster. To top it off, Calloway started in Right field on Opening Day.


The rest of his story can be found at minorleaguebeat - it includes his stats and links to some video.

Garcia's in

Earlier in January I blogged about the signing of Karim Garcia. Sometime last week, Garcia passed his physical and was invited to spring training. I haven't been able to confirm it, but beerleauger is reporting that he hasn't made it onto their 40 man roster - yet. If he does make it, I would expect we will get a chance to see Michael Bourn for at least a few games this season.

Print is dead

Eagle-eyed, regular readers of this blog will note that a minor change has taken place - in the right hand corner, you will now see a section titled "Contributors". Contributors are Lynxfan (yours truly) and "Patrick". Patrick is a long time reader/frequent commenter on the blog and I've asked him to blog along with me this season - I'm genuinely pleased that he's taken me up on the offer. Patrick plans to keep his "powder" dry until the season begins, but don't be surprised if he throws a post or two in in advance of Opening Day.

In my opinion, blogs are where it's at - the mainstream media, like newspapers and television news, is seeing it's readership and/or viewers numbers decline. Blogs, once considered to be a fringe form of media and a fad, are now shaping the "new media". At the risk of sounding arrogant, I will say that I'm confident that between Patrick and I, we will be able to bring the internet savvy Lynx fan coverage that will rival anything you'll find in the local media. I can virtually guarantee that this blog will have more pictures and video than you will find anywhere else (with the possible exception of the Lynx website itself). I can absolutely guarantee you that it will be more positive and posts will not be prefaced with qualifiers about next season (i.e. 2008) - We're here, we're now, and this is still Ottawa's baseball team.

The blog numbers have been fantastic - not that I set any goals last September; I was happy if five or six people a day showed up, and I was posting once every couple of days for the first month or so. As the traffic increased, I felt an obligation to provide more posts and information. We're now at 2,270 hits and growing - and January's been an exceptional month:



I'm starting to believe that the trend will continue - as we get closer and closer to Opening Day more people are turning their attention to baseball. We won't disappoint them.

Thanks for dropping by! And my thanks to Patrick for helping to pick up the work load - it'll be a great 2007!

Who is Cameron Gray?

I suspect readers from the Toronto area are more familiar with this name:

Cameron Gray was known as simply one of the best Canadian prospects in the 2007 draft class, but after an impressive summer he has been tabbed by scouts as one of the top pitchers available this upcoming June.

From scout.com (subscriber only)

Scout.com: First of all, it was a summer of showcases for you. How you do you feel your summer went and what were you able to get out of it?

Cameron Gray: I feel my summer was very productive and I feel I got some more needed exposure. Also, I got a little bit better working on various traits. I also worked on my mound presence and keeping my composure.

Scout.com: Which event do you think you had your best showing at and why?

Cameron Gray: I feel I had my best outings in Joplin, Missouri, showing the ability of not having my best stuff and working through it for a win and a save.

Scout.com: If you had describe your overall game, what are some important things you'd point out and basically what should people know about your style of pitching?

Cameron Gray: I go after the hitters, try to throw strikes low in the strike zone, and basically try to go out to the mound with a positive presence.

Scout.com: What would you say is your strongest attribute as a pitcher and why?

Cameron Gray: The ability to create movement when I need it the most, making the hitters off-guard and therefore having good success with ground balls.

Scout.com: Have you thought ahead about the decision you could have to make between going pro and college?

Cameron Gray: Yes, I would love to go to school, but if the draft treats me right, you never know what could happen.

Scout.com: What do you feel are the most significant improvements you have to make over the next year and how do you plan to correct them?

Cameron Gray: I could really work on my physical attributes. As for my game, I would like to improve on my command a little. In the off-season I'm going to be working on these things so I come out doing better in the Spring.

Scout.com: It seems that you were a player that moved up a lot on many prospects lists this summer. What differences do you think there were in your game that got you the added attention?

Cameron Gray: I had my velocity a little higher with better command, but overall I was given the opportunity to showcase my talent by Perfect Game, East Coast Pro, and Team Canada. All in all, I was just in the right spot at the right time.

Scout.com: What do you feel is the most important thing an organization should know about you that they might not see at first glance?

Cameron Gray: I'll do what it takes to get better and as a result, get a win. Over the summer I had a name on my head for "attacking hitters like a street fighter" and being a "bulldog." Why such names I don't know, but I guess it describes me.

Scout.com: What big league player would you best compare yourself to in terms of style and why?

Cameron Gray: I would say Chris Carpenter because from what I see we have similar mechanics and some of the same mound presence.

Scout.com: Could you please describe your repertoire of pitches, the velocities of each and which is your best pitch, etc.

Cameron Gray: I throw a four-seam fastball at 88-91 MPH that topped out this summer at 94 MPH. I throw a two-seam fastball that tails and sinks so much that some think it's a sinker. That's around 83-86 MPH. My curveball/slider has 2-8 movement and it's about 76-79 MPH.

Scout.com: If you had to look back at a turning point in your career, what would it be? In other words, when did you realize you could take your game to the next level?

Cameron Gray: When I was 14 I realized I was among the best in Canada. Then I also realized that by going to showcases seeing the United States side of competition.

Scout.com: How do you feel that playing against such strong competition has helped you as a player?

Cameron Gray: It has made me pay for my mistakes and is making me be more disciplined in my approaches. I always compete better with a challenge.

Scout.com: Has the pressure of picking a school and getting all the attention from scouts and things like that been difficult for you? What have you done to handle all of that?

Cameron Gray: The exposure has not really bothered me. I just go out thinking it's great but I just love to play. It's a big relief having already chosen a school [Chipola Junior College].


And there's a little more over at teamontariobaseball.com, notably:

Baseball America has also taken note of Cameron’s successes. He was ranked as the 102nd best high school prospect on Baseball America’s Top 250 list. This is an exceptional ranking for a Canadian, and he is 42nd among the top 85 high school pitchers.

Missing Lynx

Get it? Missing Lynx? It's what we bloggers call a "play on words". Oh come on. You know it's funny....

A couple/few days ago, Cliff Floyd was picked up by the Chicago Cubs - but did you know that his hometown is Chicago, or that his boyhood hero was Harold Baines?

An excerpt from his bio:

The Senators, meanwhile, were running away with the Eastern League pennant. With nothing left to accomplish at the Class-AA level, Cliff was promoted to the Ottawa Lynx of the Class-AAA International league. There his stats leveled off, but not enough to diminish his growing reputation. Based on his tremendous year at Harrisburg, Cliff was named Minor League Player of the Year by The Sporting News. And when rosters expanded in September the Expos still called him up to Montreal.

Fans at Olympic Stadium, eager to get a look at their young slugger, arrived at games carrying banners that read "We Want Floyd"—in English and French. They must have wondered what all the fuss was about, however, when Cliff struck out his first five times to the plate. After overcoming his initial jitters, he wound up at 7-31, including his first home run, off Dave Telgheder of the New York Mets. The blast made Cliff (at 20 years, nine months and 21 days) the second youngest Expo ever to go deep—Gary Carter (at 20 years, five months and 10 days) still holds the franchise mark.

The rest of the story is here.

Over on the west coast, Fernando Tatis was signed by the Los Angeles Dodgers to a minor league contract. I remember the buzz about Fernando last year was that he was a former Expo and that he'd been playing in Japan for a few seasons. Zak also discovered that he was the only player in MLB history to hit two Grand Slams in the same inning

No, not that Fernando!!

A Winter Tour moment

From brazertime, comes this report of a meeting between a boy with some pretty serious challenges and Adam Eaton and Chris Coste:

"In a world where unpleasant stories seem to dominate the news, it’s nice to hear a heart-warming story of someone overcoming challenges through a simple act of kindness from others. In this case, those lending a helping hand were a Phillies pitcher and catcher."

It's a really nice story for a cold day in January - the rest of the post is here.

Major roster update

And I mean MAJOR. The roster posted on the Lynx website has gone from about 10 guys to 40 sometime in the last week or so. I'll blog more on some of the names in the near future, but a couple jumped out at me. First, Travis Minix is still listed as a Phillies prospect - according to Baseball America, he's a minor league free agent. I may have missed him resigning with the Phils. From Scout.com:

Last season, the Phillies didn't have their bullpen completely settled coming into camp. The same is true this season. So, will this be the year that Travis Minix can break through and win a spot with the major league club? If he does, it will be a bit of a surprise, since he's not being talked about as a candidate for a bullpen job.
A veteran reliever with eight minor league seasons under his belt, Minix has a career ERA of 2.91 in the pros. His Triple-A ERA is only slightly higher at 3.08 in all or parts of three seasons, covering 76 appearances. He has a strong walks-to-strikeouts ratio, a career record of 27-19 and consistently holds opponents to averages around the .220 mark. So why hasn't Minix gotten a shot at the majors?


This story isn't "subscriber only content" - so you can read the rest here.

The other guy I'll note today was Joseph Bisenius. I blogged about his prospects in December and November. In my December post I noted, "One of the guys left on the pitching roster, Joe Bisenius may stick, but his prospects look sufficiently promising that he may not (how's that for definitive?)..." It seems that Pat Gillick falls into the "sufficiently promising" camp -

The second mention of an unknown commodity focused on the bullpen. When asked which player had the best chance to emerge this spring, Gillick flatly said Joe Bisenius.

Bisenius, pronounced BYE-senius, had a breakout year in 2006 and impressed scouts this fall. The former 12th-round pick out of Oklahoma City University didn’t generate much buzz before the season, but after a few Double-A appearances, the Phillies knew they were sitting on something hot. The right-hander’s fastball tops 94-95 mph, but his bread-and-butter pitch is a nasty, late-breaking curve.

From beerleaguer's breakdown of a radio interview given by Pat Gillick last week.

Brian Burres update

I blogged about Brian way back in September, and it's time for an update.

From scout.com:

Originally a 31st round draft pick of the San Francisco Giants, Burres worked his way through the minor leagues to earn a spot on their 40-man roster. Prior to the 2006 season, however, the Giants passed Burres through waivers to clear some roster space. The Orioles claimed him and he was a pleasant surprise in Ottawa, putting up solid numbers in 26 starts.

DOB: 04/08/81 Height: 6-1 Weight: 165 B/T: L/L

Brian Burres’s age 25 season::
Level IP ERA K/9 BB/9 HR/9
AAA 139.0 3.76 7.1 3.7 0.91
IL AVG. -- 3.80 6.9 3.2 0.76

Scouting

Burres works with a fastball that mostly sits in the 86-88 MPH range, sometimes a few ticks higher. Though the velocity is merely adequate for a left-hander, the pitch has good downward movement and helped him achieve a 1.01 GO/AO ratio. He also works with a solid breaking ball and changeup. The changeup is the better of the two pitches, but both are perfectly usable in the long run.

Burres had an interesting platoon split, in that the southpaw was much more effective against right-handers. Some of that can be chalked up to sample size, since Burres didn’t face many left-handers despite a significant workload. Much of it, however, has to do with Burres’s well regarded pitchability. He had no problem working off of his changeup to righties, or working backwards as you’ll hear scouts say. Burres has a slender build, but it has not hurt his durability.

Outlook

Burres will be given a chance to make the team out of spring training and, entering his age 26 season, his spot on the 40-man roster might be in jeopardy if he is sent back to Norfolk. He has an outside chance of eventually becoming a back-of-the-rotation starter, but the Orioles will be looking at him as a long reliever. Obviously, his splits indicate that he would make a poor choice as a LOOGY, but it‘s not like Sam Perlozzo has shown much of a tendency to pay attention to things like that (so far). The acquisition of Jamie Walker means Burres will have to beat out the injury-riddled John Parrish and Kurt Birkins, but he should at least provide insurance for the big league bullpen while putting up good numbers in the pitcher-friendly Norfolk Stadium.

Congratulations Howie!

This comes as a bit of a relief - fan favorite, Howie Clark, has been signed by the San Diego Padres according to Baseball America. I blogged about Howie here (the Junior Lynx Clinic) back in September. Nice to see that he's secured a job for another season. I'll have to look at some of the left coast blogs to see what his prospects of making the Padres are (or, as is more likely, what the "speculation" is). You can watch a little bit of Howie "in action" at the end of the Junior Lynx Clinic video which appears in the "Instant Replay" section of the blog on the right.

"Homefield Advantage"

Oh sure, PhuturePhillies is breaking down the importance of 07 for Kyle Kendrick, and has sailed past 10,000 hits in less than a month. And over at beerleaguer, they've got all the news on the Chase Utley signing and a preview of the 2007 season, but do they have a picture of my daughter in her brother's Lynx toque?




{Shhhh.... Don't tell Zechariah....}

Or a video of Lynx Stadium, shot in January while riding a bike? Damn straight they don't. Clearly I can't compete on the analysis side - but while I was at a 67's game today, I gave this some more thought. As much thought as you can give to something while surrounded by fifteen 10 year old boys in the birthday section. With all due respect to Dave Gross, my afternoon was more like something out of "Lord of the Flies" than his experience last Friday night (I'll swear a heard a conch shell between the second and third period). Am I going too fast for anyone?

Where was I? Right. Clearly, this is a layman's type of blog - all I have to offer are blood, sweat and tears. Okay, that was a little over the top - all I have to offer are photos, the occasional video, and stolen analysis. It is what it is. But once April rolls around - homefield advantage swings to ottawalynx.blospot.com (I can't even take credit for the "homefield advantage" thing - that belongs to RD.)

Rats.

A blast from the past

The internet is truly an amazing place/tool. Using www.archive.org I was able to pull some old Lynx websites out of the vault. This link corresponds with the screenshot (ed: Just figured out how to capture a screen image - can you tell?) taken above. Some of the lynx, er... links are no longer active (Oh come on - that's gold!), but there's a transcript of a Q+A with Kyle Bostwick that still works. The parts of the page that work give a nice snapshot of the club six years ago. Of the pages that were archived (that I looked at) this one seemed to be the most functional.

Writer's block

Some days are just tougher than others. Which isn't to say that there isn't anything to blog about - quite the opposite, lots of news and stories are out there. Since the advent of phuturephillies, I've really begun to question the value of my own blog - do people want to read stuff I've just "cut and pasted" until April? Any feedback would be appreciated.

Onward and upward - how many days until Opening Day?

Fed up? - UPDATED

Do you get the feeling Chris Coste has had enough of people questioning his ability?

"I had absolutely no idea what to expect, coming into this season," Coste said. "I did think I was in a pretty good spot."

And then the team made it known that they wanted a better backup to Ruiz. Why?

" 'Lack of experience,' " said Coste, putting air quotes around the phrase. He understands that the Phillies are uncomfortable with his unorthodox catching style and the fact that he is a converted pitcher and infielder. "It's a mirage. Because they don't see me as a top-line catcher, I must be bad."

Not that he bears a grudge: "If I was a GM, to have only Ruiz would be a gamble."

Of course, the catcher spot isn't his real concern now, anyway. It looks as if he'll need another strong spring: "I hope a .472 average will be good enough to make the team this time."
(Entire article can be found here)

Most of the pundits believe that the Phillies will carry three catchers - including ESPN who've actually placed Coste ahead of Ruiz in their depth chart.

*** UPDATE ***

From over at beerleaguer:

When asked about the catching situation, Gillick restated his confidence in Carlos Ruiz and Rod Barajas, indicating Ruiz is here to stay. Meanwhile, it seems Coste has dropped out of the catching mix entirely; Gillick even went so far as to restate Jayson Werth’s ability to catch.

This came from a radio interview given by Pat Gillick yesterday. Here's a link to the podcast where you can hear the entire interview.

Mike Costanzo update

I've been following Mike Costanzo's contributions to PhillyBaseballNews this off-season (see here and here). Mike's most recent contribution came in yesterday:

With the end of the football season, I've started to really get anxious to head to Florida. I'll head to Clearwter in mid-February and start getting ready. I won't be in the major league camp this spring, but that's okay. No matter which camp I'm in or what I'm doing, spring training is all about getting ready for the season and I'm looking forward to it. I've been doing a lot of work this winter and I'm in great shape heading toward spring. I've been hitting, fielding and throwing just about every day, but nothing replaces getting outside and starting to get ready for another season. I'm looking forward to Double-A ball this summer in Reading. It's a big step and I've worked hard to get there.

Before baseball season though, there's bowling. I was part of the Garry Maddox-Drew Katz 21st Annual Bowling Classic on Wednesday night. It was a great experience to get to hang out with former and past players. You can check out a picture of me with Von Hayes in the photo gallery at Phillies.com. We had a lot of fun and raised over $300,000 for charity. It was a great night and I'm proud to have been a part of the event.

The prospect rankings are starting to come out. Baseball America didn't even have me in their top ten, which was a little surprising. I thought I would be in there, especially since I was sixth on their list last season. I don't pay a whole lot of attention to rankings like that, because it's something that you can't control. All I can do is go out and play hard and see what happens, so in some ways, not getting on a prospect list just serves to motivate me even more.


Coincidentally (?) phuturephillies.com broke down the stats in his profile of Mike Costanzo yesterday also.

Straight from the source

Pilfered entirely from the Lynx website and reprinted with permission....



Take Me Out to the Ball Game
01/16/2007 3:56 PM ET
MLB.com


Are you trying to increase your company's status in our community? Have you heard about the Lynx Take Me Out to the Ball Game program? It's as easy as it is charitable.



Your company buys 200 of the best seats in Lynx Stadium for a local charity. The charity distributes the tickets to their beneficiaries. You receive fantastic exposure at Lynx Stadium:

● 2 PA announcements at the selected game

● Company name on the scoreboard at the selected game

● Recognition in a letter sent to the charity organization

● Inserts promoting your company given directly to every child who receives tickets

● Inserts promoting your company in the game day program at the selected game

● Recognition for your generosity on the official Ottawa Lynx website



For $949 (taxes included) your company can provide kids with the opportunity of coming to Lynx Stadium to watch some great live baseball action. In return, your company will get in-house exposure and recognition



Contact Sales Director François Marchand at 613-747-5969 x 236 or marchand@ottawalynx.com for more details!



Working for the Weekends?
Take a look at the Employment Opportunities page on ottawalynx.com. There are three great jobs posted: Head Groundskeeper, Game Day Event Manager and Account Executive. Here's your chance to work in baseball!



Suite Deals
Information is now available for 2007 Group rates and Suites! Contact Bryan Cook, the newest member of the Lynx Sales team for all the details at 613-747-5969 x 237 or cook@ottawalynx.com.



Oh Give Me a Home...
The 2007 season is right around the corner and the Ottawa Lynx need your help finding living arrangements for the team's players and coaching staff!

Tell us the price, location, distance by minutes from the ballpark, furnished/unfurnished, parking, what is included (or what things are extra), and who to contact.

Houses, townhouses, apartments, rooms to rent.if you know of a place for rent
from April to September, send the information to Riley Denver, Director of Media and Public Relations, at denver@ottawalynx.com. You can also fax information to 613-747-5969 or send it to 300 Coventry Rd., Ottawa, ON K1K4P5.

CollegeBaseballConnect

I was pleasantly surprised by the level of local baseball coaching at Zak's Winter Ball training camp - I believe one of the coaches is from the East Nepean Baseball Association, home of the 2006 Canadian Junior Little League champs.

Late last season, one of the Lynx staff members suggested that I should take a look at CollegeBaseballConnect a local company that helps connect "young players with American college baseball programs and scholarship opportunities.

College Baseball Connect grew out of the personal experience of a Canadian father, enduring first hand the trials and tribulations of finding the right baseball program for his son. Hard work and hundreds of cold calls later paid off for us. "

It looked really interesting, but at 9 years old, notwithstanding his clear God given talent, we figured Zak was a little too young to take advantage of the services offered. I recently discovered the President of the company is a former Lynx employee.

Don't look now

But the counter is creeping up on 2000 - maybe later tonight it'll roll over. Sorry, no contest this time, just my thanks for dropping by.

Since there's some speculation that J.A. Happ will make the Lynx rotation, I'll add in a small profile about him today courtesy of scout.com:

If you watched video of young Phillies' pitchers and tried to match them to their stats, odds are that you wouldn't match J.A. Happ with his stats. Watching him, there is nothing special to him, except for an exceptionally smooth delivery. You almost get the impression that he's not really trying out there and you're waiting for him to finish his warm-up tosses when you realize he's pitching to live hitters.
Happ is ultra-relaxed on the mound and seems to have the game secured tightly in his glove at all times. At 6' 5", Happ seems like he really should be able to throw much harder than he does. Against New Britain on Sunday (August 19), he topped out at 87 miles per hour, right around where he usually throws. Plus, many of his pitches were up in the zone, which is a no-no for pitchers. So, how has he struck out 146 hitters in 141 2/3 innings?

The key is that Happ doesn't worry about what's supposed to happen. Instead, he just goes out and pitches. He's got just enough deception in his delivery to keep hitters off-stride and just enough movement on his fastball that even though it's not that fast and it's high in the zone, it's tough to get good wood - if any wood - on the ball.

Another signing

There's a growing consensus among the Phillies blogosphere that the team is adding more players destined to play in Ottawa. For a far less acerbic assessment of the signing of Greg Dobbs, I recommend visiting phuturephillies.

John Brazer (the Phillies PR guy)has finally updated his blog. I'm betting that most of the Eagles players will have gotten out of Dodge before Opening Day.

A "challenge" - UPDATED

Most of you know that I have frequently taken shots at the media in the blog - shots which I hope aren't deemed unfair or unreasonable. I have also, on the rare occasion, been more complimentary - in fact, two of my designated "Friends of the Lynx" are journalists (i.e. Dave Gross and Erin Nicks).

The constant irritant has been on the quality of the reporting of the dispute between the City and the Lynx over the parking lot. The difficulty I have has been in the lack of substance in the reporting - typically what you'll read or hear is that the City takes this position with respect to the parking lot (or no position as the case may be) with the Lynx taking another. It all begs the question: What does the lease say?

So here's the challenge. I will pay $100 to anyone who can find any mainstream media report (e.g. The Citizen, The Sun, CBC, CFRA) which indicates that the reporter has reviewed the lease agreement between the City and the Lynx. Send me a link or a copy of the story and $100 is yours.

Why issue the challenge now? Because I've now got what I don't think any reporter in Ottawa has ever bothered to look at: the operating agreement.

*** UPDATE ***

Please amend "I will pay $100 to anyone" to "I will pay $100 to the first person". Not that I'm worried or anything...

"Need to know" basis

Frequently I "Google" past, present and future Lynx players names, just to see what's going on. Of late, I've been trying to find out what's happened with many of last year's players who are now free agents. One of my first posts was about one of our favorite players, Brandon Marsters. Last night, I found this article on Brandon. I knew there was something different about this guy:

Marsters off-season life has not been contained merely to the ball field, as he took this past winter off from baseball to help out with something far more important in the grand scheme of things: helping in the rebuilding of New Orleans in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Marsters recognized something far larger than himself and baseball, and threw himself into the recovery effort, serving as a volunteer cook for 3 ½ months, cooking three meals a day for over 1,500 recovery workers and national guard troops. Marsters spent those months rising around 3:30 AM and cooking meals over an 18 hour work day, with no power.

And I thought getting out of bed at 3.30 to ride my bike was something special. The cynic will say that baseball, indeed all of sport is full of stories like these. And I agree - thankfully. It would, however, be nice if the local media would print some of them when the guys behind the story are playing at our ballpark.

More on spring training

Courtesy of Kevin in the ticket in office down in Clearwater:

Phillies Minor League Spring Training Games start on Wednesday, March 14 and continue through Saturday, March 31. The Minor League Phillies break camp on Monday, April 2nd and that is when we should find out who made the Opening Day 2007 Clearwater Threshers roster.


I would assume then that AA and AAA teams would also have rosters released on or about the same date.

All things being equal, I'd rather be in Clearwater today.

Your Ottawa Lynx

ottawalynx.blogspot favorite, phuturephillies.com, has phinally gotten around to their predictions about the Phillies AAA roster (just kidding about the "phinally" - the man's a blogging Clydesdale). Interesting that he's not projecting Mike Costanzo to make the roster at 3rd base. Perhaps with just cause; Mr. Costanzo has fallen out of Baseball America's Top Ten Phillies prospects, when last year he was rated #6. A post on his fall in the rankings can be found over at Balls, Sticks, & Stuff, although they're a little pre-occupied with the Eagles loss yesterday. (OT: if you have the time, rent Invincible)

Important dates (and other stuff)

Springtrainingonline.com has reporting dates for all the MLB teams on its site. I've read somewhere (and subsequently lost the link) that the MiLB teams have pitchers and catchers reporting on March 2 with the rest showing up on March 6.

In my "googling" today I found that former Lynx pitcher, Scott Rice, was picked up by the Texas Rangers - a bunch of guys including Brandon Marsters are still FAs.

Nice!

From the Ottawa Lynx website. I can't get the actual timer to work on the blog, so you'll have to visit the Lynx homepage to see how much time before we hear:

PLAY BALL!

I don't "gush"

Not really anyway - and I'm not on the payroll, but you really should go look at www.phuturephilies.com. I'm starting to think that the WordPress blog format is superior to Blogger's, but at this point I think I'm committed to sticking with Blogger.

Beyond the format differences, the content of the phuturephillies blog is outstanding - he's currently working on the roster/depthchart(s) for the entire Phillies minor league organization. He admits that they're best guesses for the moment, but they're well informed guesses.

So at the risk of sending the ottawalynx.blogspot audience elsewhere, never to return, I commend the site to you.

We're getting closer

With each passing day, April 17, 2007 draws nearer (it's actually 95 days out, not that I'm counting). I noticed that the first promotion has been listed on the Lynx website. I missed Opening Day last year - I can't remember why, so it obviously wasn't a good enough reason. This year, the date's circled on the calendar and will be the reason why other events/meetings/invitations will be declined. With that in mind, I've made a couple of resolutions for this year:

1) Plan ahead. I had the most success in getting friends to come along when I invited them well in advance, as opposed to the last minute. Making "a date of it", worked best.

2) No "giveaways". On more than one occasion, I have witnessed or been "guilty" of this practice. There have been occasions where I've had an extra ticket or two - thinking that I'd be a "nice guy", I'd give them to someone waiting in line to buy them. While this is well intentioned, I think it's a mistake - just my opinion. Giving away tickets to people who are standing in line to buy them diminishes the value of the ticket and (I think) the perceived value of the product (i.e. the team). On the other hand, I will give my tickets to people who I know will use them but might not otherwise go - e.g. co-workers, friends. I could be wrong - it's happened before.

3) Blog like a madman. Once the season starts there will be more strictly Lynx material and less OT stuff (like my weekend sans kids, and my son's black eye - which is doing quite well, thank you. Easy for me to say; my eye isn't swollen shut. Like all good parents, we're just thankful it happened at school in front of many, independent witnesses).

Now that the door's been opened

I'm going to have to walk through. Reporting on Allentown will NOT be a regular part of this blog. Having said that, one of the issues I brought up a couple of days ago was the revised ballpark cost (from $34M to $50M). It's being reported today that the projected cost is now $48.4M. No comment from this corner - but you may want to read the article (and the comments that follow below it).

But you should see the other guy!

Or in this case, the fence. Who knew that the game of tag could be so hazardous? Boys will be boys. Now that I'm back home, regular blogging will resume shortly.

Q+A ** UPDATE **

With Baseball America - I really will have to quit being such a cheapskate and become a subscriber. They had a live "chat" at 2 p.m. today about the Phillies farm system, hosted by Chris Kline.

Philly fans (phans) are tough though - here's a question posed by one:

Oh, and if they could find out what compromising photos Karim Garcia has of Gillick, that would be much appreciated!

*** UPDATE ***

Check out the Reading Phillies website - they've got a recording of a call with Chris Kline on their media player. Not to be outdone, PhuturePhillies has a much better wrap-up of the chat with Chris. What most bloggers seem to have taken away from the Q+A was how far Jason Jaramillo has fallen in the estimation of BA.

Player updates

The rumour about Karim Garcia on Monday turned out to be true yesterday. The Phillies have signed the outfielder to a minor league deal. On Monday, The Philadelphia Inquirer reported "The Phils have offered outfielder Todd Hollandsworth a minor-league deal, but he's still looking for a major-league contract...". That offer may now be off the table. According to MLB.com, "Todd Hollandsworth is also believed to be mulling a Minor League contract, but he is hoping for a guaranteed deal. Randall Simon will be Garcia's main competition for the job, with Michael Bourn and Chris Roberson likely starting the season at Triple-A Ottawa."

And finally (for this morning at least), Scout.com has a nice breakdown of the catching situation and the implications of the Barajas signing.

I'm going to be without computer access for most of the day (again!), so it's unlikely the blog will be updated before this evening - thanks for checking in though!

To blog or not to blog

Yes, that is the question. Fox News’ motto is “We report. You decide.” And it is in that same spirit that I make this post. It is with great trepidation that I make this post; regular readers of this blog will know that I’ve made almost no reference to 2008 or Allentown. That has been a conscious decision on my part – I’m not sticking my head in the sand, but I don’t want to be guilty of what I’ve accused local media of: speculating about the future of this team. What I hope to do here is offer information without connecting any dots which may or may not be there – you’ll have to draw your own conclusions about what, if anything, the information means. Having said that, you know (or should know!) what my bias is - full disclosure is here. Discretion may be the better part of valour, but here goes...


Clearly, before the team leaves Ottawa, the stadium in Allentown has to be completed. Funding for the stadium came from three sources – the State of Pennsylvania kicked in $17M and the county and the team came up with the other $17M. In October, it was reported that the initial $34M estimate to construct the stadium was low. Way low. The actual cost is likely to come in around $50M – the difference is to be made up by Gracie Baseball, owners of the Allentown Ironpigs. But they’re not cutting a $17M cheque to the builders – it’s being reported that they will cover the difference with increased lease payments, payments that are reportedly over $700,000 a year currently. According to the article, Gracie Baseball will now be paying $1.25 million per season for 30 years, instead of $700K per season for 20.

The other bit of news came in late December. Most people are aware of the deal which fell through concerning the Pittsburgh Penguins. The Isle of Capri bid for a casino in Pittsburgh included the construction of a new arena for the Penguins – gratis. Again, most people are aware that that bid failed. What most people don’t know (because it wasn’t widely reported in Canada, or Ottawa), is that theirs wasn’t the only failed bid. Who else missed out? Tropicana Pennsylvania LLP. They were planning on putting a casino in Allentown, right next to the Ironpigs stadium. The mayor of Allentown was so dejected by the news he walked away from reporters mid-sentence. Earlier, he’d warned that if Allentown didn’t get the casino, the city was doomed to become a “black hole”. As part of a pre-approved agreement, the county and the team will now buy the land the casino was meant to occupy for $450K.

What does all this mean? You decide. As I see it, Gracie Baseball is shelling out a lot of money. $14M for the team (reportedly), a $37.5M lease commitment (initially $21M), plus a portion of the $450K to buy the adjacent land. Wow.

Local Allentown reaction has been difficult to find on the web. It would be nice if Ottawa media would pursue some of these stories with the same vigor that they had for the team itself, lo these last few years. Again, in simple terms, I would guess that the city will rely on their lease agreement with Gracie Baseball to insulate the taxpayer against the stadium costs, costs which have now jumped by 50%. However, the mayor has said that without a casino, "Allentown's financial depression will worsen, and the Lehigh Valley's anchor will become a "black hole," draining its neighbors' resources and diminishing the region's appeal" (see the previous link). I should note that these comments are paraphrased, but they do not appear to have been challenged by the mayor or his office as false or inaccurate.

I'm just sayin'....

Winter tour?

We don't need no stinking tour! I had some time yesterday before meeting friends for a long ride, so I figured I'd shoot a little video "Winter tour" of our own. This was a "direct to video" sort of effort, so the editing's a little rough. It opens with Lynx Stadium, followed by a close up of my seats behind the third base dugout ("Immigrant Song" by Zeppelin is tongue in cheek, "Waterloo Sunset" was playing on the MP3 player at the time and just seemed to fit). From the park we move on to the Rideau Canal, National Art Gallery, Parliament Hill, a shot of the US Embassy, Art Gallery and Gatineau Hills, Library of Parliament and it finishes as all good rides do - at my house. My wife recently admitted that she prefers it when I ride inside; there's less chance of an accident (2 weeks before our wedding I was hit from behind by a drunk driver, a year later my bars snapped and I broke my right arm in six places). Truth be told, I was nearly "doored" twice yesterday - cars aren't used to cyclists in January.

The field looks like its in great shape - good enough to play ball (on January freaking 7th!!!!).

More great local news

It seems there's no shortage of local baseball talent. I was at Zak's first Winter Ball camp last night and was really impressed by the quality of the coaching (if not the temperature inside the dome at Algonquin College - I think it was warmer outside). The coaches and most of the kids take their baseball seriously. Back in November, I blogged about Chris Bisson who's on his way to the University of Kentucky on a baseball scholarship. We can now add 18 year old Philippe Aumont's name to the list of local players who've hit the big time. Who's Philippe Aumont? He's only Baseball America's 12th best prospect in this year's MLB draft. And it sounds like he's got his head screwed on right:

"I've looked at (bonus) figures in Baseball America" magazine, he says. "You can see what others have gotten.

"But money doesn't matter. Where I get picked doesn't matter. If it's the first round, good. Or the second round, that's fine too. I want to compete. I just want to play and compete." (Read the entire Citizen article here.)

A cynic would argue that he's just being circumspect in his comments and delivering a well scripted sound bite for the media. I would argue that 18 year old kids aren't very good at giving scripted responses and that it's a genuine belief.

Add his name to the list of kids I hope will agree to come to Lynx Stadium for a proper Ottawa send-off.

Another former Lynx player

Potentially returns to the fold, er... pride? ESPN and others are reporting the news that the Phillies have claimed pitcher Anderson Garcia off of waivers. As the Phillies website notes, this now brings the Phillies up to 37 on their 40 man roster.

Lou Collier (another former Lynx player) and Brent Abernathy have also received non-roster invites to spring training.

Finally, more catching news concerning Carlos Ruiz - looks like he won't be spending time here in Ottawa (at least not to start the season).

Light blogging today

Well in the "frozen wasteland" of Ottawa, we're currently enjoying 10C temperatures (50F) and absolutely NO snow. Incredible.

Congratulations to the three winners in the first blog contest - I've sent each of you notices by email this evening.

Couple of things today:

Things no man should ever witness

Zak's about to start his "Winter ball" program, and one of the requirements was that everyone wear a jock. As a teenager I played minor football, but we never wore jocks (probably should have) - it wasn't mandatory. So I had no experience in this field. We went to SportMart yesterday evening, picked one up and Zak tried it on when he got home. Regular readers of this blog know that I get up "stupid-early" in the morning in order to get in my time on the bike - this means I'm usually in bed no later than 10 p.m. I was woken up last night around 10.30 by my wife, laughing so hard she was in tears - from downstairs I could hear Zak saying "Hit me again, Bekah!". I came downstairs and watched as my daughter, repeatedly struck my son's jock area with a toy plastic hammer. I had to look away as my knees went wobbly.

We don't belong here

While the rest of the country watched the Canadian Juniors win gold today, Bekah and I took a long nap and Zak played MLB 2K6 on the XBox. We didn't find out who won until well after 5 p.m. We're poor excuses for Canadians.

"Feel good" post 2

As promised, part 2 of what I started this morning. Curtis Pride received an invite to the Angels spring training - I noted his Lynx story here. The other former Lynx player making news (yesterday) is Jamey Carroll - he agreed to terms on a 2 year contract with the Rockies. Jamey was so highly thought of here in Ottawa, that he was one of only two Lynx players to have their number retired by the club (the other being FP Santangelo). Unfortunately, the day intended to honor him by the club turned out to be the same day that the infamous power outage hit much of northeastern North America in August of 2003. What a shame. Here's a link that has several articles about Jamey and his time here in Ottawa (including one by Dave Gross).

"Feel good" post 1

Post 2 later today....

There's a feel good type article over at ESPN.com featuring Canadian, Justin Morneau. The piece is featured in their magazine, but they've published it on their website as well (nice that they didn't restrict it to subscribers only).

A couple of my favorite quotes:

Morneau has always been a hard worker, Gardenhire says; that wasn't a problem. The issue was whether Morneau would change his off-field habits to give himself the best possible chance to be successful every day. "You could do a lot of things other players can't," Gardenhire told him. "Once you realize that, you'll do amazing things."

The player listened quietly, then stepped out of Gardenhire's office and walked over to where the lineup card was posted. He wasn't starting. Soft-throwing lefty Jamie Moyer was pitching for the Mariners that night, and Morneau looked at the names in the Twins' batting order and told himself there was no reason he shouldn't be in the lineup, except for this: He'd been terrible. "I had let people down," he says.

Morneau decided there would be no more late nights, no more partying into the early morning. "I had let myself be distracted," he says, "instead of concentrating on what I needed to do."

And then this:

Morneau is arbitration-eligible this year, and the money he will make is almost inconceivable to him. "I'm happy when I get free shoes," he says. "To even think ... " His voice trails off. "It just doesn't seem realistic. A lot of responsibility comes with that."

He'd like to give each of his parents a home. He'd like to install a batting cage near his place. Beyond that ... "Give Justin a glove and a bat," Mauer says, "and he'd be fine."



Nice to see another class type guy in professional sport; a guy like Wayne Gretzky or Steve Yzerman (YOU HAVE TO READ THIS ONE) or Jim Abbott (one of the things that really impressed me about Abbott was when he met kids with disabilities - no cameras or reporters were allowed; the meetings weren't photo ops. They were for and about the kids, not Jim Abbott - the way he wanted it.

** UPDATE **

or, David Segui.

Slighted? ** UPDATE **

Or just too far away?

The Philadelphia Phillies are set to embark on their 38th annual "Winter Tour". If you're hoping for a stop in Ottawa, hope again. Note that they'll stop in Reading, Pennsylvania (home of their AA franchise), and in the Lehigh Valley (home of, ahem, nothing for the moment). Sour grapes on my part? Possibly. In 2006, they made stops in Lakewood (A), Reading (AA), Scranton (AAA). An Ottawa stop would have generated a nice media buzz around the team, particularly during a slow time of year for baseball locally.

I'm just sayin.....

*** UPDATE ***

Mea culpa. The Winter Tour is probably designed to reach local (i.e. Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey) area fans. I'm just in a crabby mood... left a pair of Oakley's in a bathroom at the movie theatre accidentally. Literally, less than 2 freaking minutes later, they're gone. In the last six months we've "lost" my son's bike, my ball glove and now this. Paint me "bitter" today, I just have absolutely NO respect for anyone who's a thief.

Sorry 'bout that. And now back to your regular programming....

What limited thunder

I have is rapidly diminishing - I sit in awe of this new blog, Phuture Phillies and could pretty much yield the floor to it.

My role is going to be relegated to the "local scene" - i.e. strictly Ottawa, Lynx based stuff, rather than commenting/speculating about who might end up where. Of course, no sooner do I say that than I notice this piece about the catching situation (it's from Scout.com and is subscriber only):


Chris Coste has never gone to spring training with the security of having a job on a major league roster.
Next season won't be any different.

It took Coste 12 years, including five in independent leagues, to break into the majors as a 33-year-old rookie catcher last season. And, even after batting .328 (.356 with runners in scoring position) and becoming the Phils' feel-good story of 2006, he wasn't banking on a guaranteed spot in 2007.

But two moves in December left Coste in danger of being a one-year wonder.

The Phillies finalized a one-year deal with free agent catcher Rod Barajas, who will vie for the starting job with rookie Carlos Ruiz, leaving Coste in a tenuous position as a right-handed pinch-hitter and third-string catcher.

Then, even after trading pinch-hitter Jeff Conine to the Reds for two minor-leaguers, general manager Pat Gillick wouldn't commit a bench job to Coste. If the Phillies can find the left-handed hitter they want or decide to carry an extra pitcher, Coste could be edged out.... Maybe this is good," Coste said. "Maybe it'll give me extra motivation to come into spring training and hopefully hit .460-something and make the team. But I haven't run out and bought any new cars. I'm not going to count on my paycheck until it's in my hand."

Important Dates

Circle these on your calendar. Most notably:

February 15, 2007

Voluntary reporting date for pitchers, catchers & unsigned players.
CBA, Article XIV (A).


Also:

Midnight January 4, 2007

ottawalynx.blogspot contest closes - only 4 more chances to enter. Get 'em in!

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year, my friends!

Pitchers and catchers report next month!