The Nuthouse

According to Wingnuts general manager Josh Robertson (don’t call him “Nate” — that’s an inside joke, sort of), Wichita will sign Dustan Mohr and the veteran outfielder will be in uniform on Saturday against Sioux City for the first-half finale.

Mohr was a Wingnut until late May, when he was sold to the Colorado Rockies organization. At the time, Colorado outfielders Matt Holliday and Brad Hawpe were on the disabled list, so the team needed some guys to step in at the minor league level.

Holliday and Hawpe are back with the big club, and Mohr struggled in his two-month stint with Triple-A Colorado Springs, batting about .160. But Colorado’s loss is Wichita’s major gain. Mohr, a seven-year major league veteran, gives the Wingnuts probably the most dangerous lineup in the American Association and provides another power threat to go along with Michael Thompson and the surging Stephen Peason.

Since Mohr is a classified American Association veteran (a player with more than five years of professional experience), the Wingnuts were forced to release another veteran and an LS-4 (four years of experience) to make room under the salary cap for Mohr. So on their way out are David Gates (when he gets off the 7-day disabled list on Sunday) and Paul Bartolucci, who was mostly a bench player since signing on June 21.

Mohr will take over right field full-time, moving recently-signed Leivi Ventura into a platoon role in left with Blake Gailen. Ventura, a natural third baseman, can also spell Thompson at the hot corner.

When you read the quotes Beauchamp gave after last night’s game, a 4-2 loss to Shreveport, what do you think? Is it — This guy is nuts and he needs to take a step back and calm down. Or do you say — I love his honesty and why should the guy hold back if that’s what he really thinks. If you didn’t see Beauchamp’s comments, here they are:

That’s this team in a nutshell right there. This team, they don’t know if they want to win or if they want to be losers. They have no idea what they want to do. You score 16 runs off their No. 1 starter, then let a guy with a 7-something ERA come in and shut you down. That’s lack of mental focus.”

“This team’s got to figure out what it wants to be. If they don’t want to win a championship, I’ll currycomb the countryside for guys that can get up to play every day. I’m getting sick of looking at it. I told them not even to come to the stadium until 5 o’clock (today). I don’t even want to see them.

I took out the many F-bombs Kash dropped during the interview.

I don’t think Kash is just shooting from the hip. I think he’s smarter than that. I waited 10 minutes before going to the clubhouse and interviewed two players before I went back to his office. So he had plenty of time to think about what he wanted to say, and I think his comments were calculated.

So then the only question remains, is calling out your team like that effective? Only he knows that, I guess. On one level, he definitely wants to motivate these guys so they’ll play better and be able to stay on the team. On another, he’s putting them on notice that pretty much no roster spot is safe. We’ll see if it works.

*Unlike the St. Paul radio … whatever … the El Paso radio guy has earned the title of “guy.” So good for him.

I got a few comments (which were deleted by me — is that mean?) Asking what the relevance was of my post about my sort-of confrontation with the St. Paul radio guy. Well, the answer to that is it’s my blog and I’ll write about whatever I feel to be relevant.

I’m not going to tell you “you don’t have to read it,” because you DO have to read it. This blog is awesome and the last thing I want to do is drive people away. But just know that if something interesting happens to me at a Wingnuts game that doesn’t necessarily involve baseball, I’m going to write about it. You would too if you had a blog.

Anyway, let’s now talk about the El Paso radio guy, John something. As much of a fan as I am, you’d think I’d remember his last name, right? But no. I like him because he had me on the air with him during the third inning of each of the series’ three games. I’ve covered professional baseball for four years, and he’s the first guy to ever ask me to be on the air with him. First of all, what’s up with that? Second of all, good for him. He clearly has an eye for talent.

The only thing I didn’t like was that he kept trying to steer the conversation away from baseball. That’s not a criticism of him, but I’m just not well-versed in anything other than baseball. It’s my sole area of expertise. Well, I can’t say that. But Jim Ross has yet to ask me to go on the air with him and The Eagle, despite my persistence, has denied me of a WWE blog. So baseball it is for now.

Getting ready to start my notes column for Sunday. I won’t spoil anything, but I got some interesting quotes from Byron Embry, whose inflammatory comments after the bench-clearing brawl with St. Paul brought on his recent four-game suspension. The fallout of the brawl extended into yesterday (Friday) when Embry was docked $200. Not sure what took the American Association so long to levy that fine, though.

I was on the radio with the El Paso broadcaster last night for an inning and he said the brawl was the talk of his team. He also said the Wingnuts, because of the brawl, are perceived as “the villians of the league.” Just to be clear, this wasn’t his opinion, just the perception he got by being around his own team and others.

I told Wichita manager Kash Beauchamp about that and he didn’t seem to mind. If anything, it gives this team an immediate identity, as long as it’s understood why the Wingnuts are supposed villains. For the record, I’ve never seen them do anything “dirty” on the field. The team plays hard and plays to win — not at any cost, but almost.

I think there’s some jealousy among other managers because they can’t get their teams to play like the Wingnuts. They really do have a different style than the other teams in the league, and that starts with Beauchamp. He told me last night that this team perfectly fits that style because he got to start from scratch in building a roster and was able to pick players that shared his hard-nosed qualities.

As of last night, the Wingnuts were undecided on a starter for today’s game against El Paso. Wichita played a doubleheader in Sioux Falls on Tuesday, so the rotation is a little out of whack and nobody is on normal four days’ rest. One candidate to start is Doug Hurn, a middle reliever. If he goes four or five innings, next in line would be Adam White, Amad Stephens and Embry.

One roster move yesterday — the Wingnuts signed Paul Bartolucci, previously with Grand Prairie, and released Scott Dunham and Carter McQuigg. Poor Dunham — his family drove to Wichita from North Carolina to see him play last night only to find out shortly before the game that he had been released.

The Wingnuts were forced to released two players because Dunham and McQuigg are rookies and Bartolucci is an LS-4 (four years of professional experience) and his salary requirements essentially equal that of two rookies. So Wichita has 21 players on the roster and is playing with two bench players and five relief pitchers.

Since independent baseball is new to Wichita, I figured there are a lot of unknows attached to it. Even I am learning as I go, but I’ve learned quite a bit so far so I’m going to tackle some of the most-asked questions about baseball on this level.

How much do these guys get paid? The salary cap is $100,000 for the year and the roster limit is 22 players. That averages out, obviously, to less than $5,000 per player. On the Wingnuts, Kevin Hooper is the highest-paid player, making significantly more than the average.

What’s the level of baseball being played? I called it Double-A without the prospects. A lot of these guys could be signed by a major league organization tomorrow and step right in at the Triple-A level. A lot of them have already played Class A ball and will never get higher. There’s no definite equivalent, but on average most of the players are around Double-A level in skill.

Do these guys have a chance to make it to the majors? There’s always a chance but it’s not very likely. Currently, there are only three major leaguers that were signed directly from independent ball. It’s likely that even if a player is signed by an MLB organization he’ll start in Double- or Triple-A and have to work his way up. As an example, former Wingnut Dustan Mohr had his contract purchased by the Colorado Rockies last month and he’s currently hitting about .160 in Triple-A.

What league do the Wingnuts play in? Wichita plays in the American Association, which is in its third year of existence. This is the third edition of the AA — the first one, way back in the late 1800s and early 1900s, was a major league. Then it was a Triple-A league. Now it’s in an independent league with 10 teams, most notably the St. Paul Saints, an original independent franchise that began in 1993. There are currently seven other independent baseball leagues.

Who owns the team? The Wingnuts are owned by local businessmen Gary Austerman, Nick Easter, Steve Ruud and Dan Waller. Detroit Tigers pitcher and former Maize and WSU standout Nate Robertson also is part-owner, as is his brother, Wingnuts general manager Josh Robertson.

I didn’t go to Wranglers games because the roster was always changing. How often does that happen in independent baseball? Wow, that’s a long question. In affiliated minor-league baseball, roster changes are directed by the parent organization. So if the Royals wanted Alex Gordon to move up to Triple-A, he would and we would probably never get to see him back in Wichita again. In independent baseball, players stay much longer, even several years, because there is no parent club to tell teams what to do. So it’s much easier to develop a fan base.

Teams do, however, make roster moves quite a bit. Trades can happen between any two independent leagues and if a player is struggling he can be released, just like in the majors.

Are Wingnuts games fan-friendly? Yes. The only complaint I’ve heard consistently is that the new cashless system is sometimes a pain to deal with. But I know the Wingnuts front office is trying to get the kinks worked out with that. There are several on-field promotions during games, the games move quickly usually and the players often sign autographs after the game.

Why does it seem like every player is batting .300? The American Association is a hitter’s league. There’s a primary reason most players get stuck in independent ball — for pitchers, it’s because they can’t throw a good off-speed pitch; for hitters, it’s because they can’t hit a good off-speed pitch. But nearly every hitter can hit a good fastball, so since that’s usually the only good pitch in a pitcher’s repitoire, he throws it quite often. Hitters crush it, and that’s why we have so many high batting averages.

To prove yourself to a major league organization, as a pitcher you have to prove you can A) pitch inside and B) throw at least two, and preferably three pitches for a strike. As a hitter, you have to be able to take an outside pitch to the opposite field and hit the curveball. Pitchers are the most likely to be signed by an MLB organization because most teams feel they can never have enough pitching.

How long is the season? It’s 96 games long, split into two 48-game halves. There are two divisions, and the winner of the first and second halves of both divisions reach the playoffs. If the same team wins both halves, the team with the second best composite record goes to the postseason. The all-star game is held in the middle of the second half, this year in St. Paul.

Who else plays in the American Association? It took you a while, but I’m glad you asked. In the North Division, it’s the Wingnuts, Lincoln Saltdogs, St. Paul Saints, Sioux City Explorers and Sioux Falls Canaries. In the South, it’s the Shreveport Sports, El Paso Diablos, Pensacola Pelicans, Grand Prairie (Texas) Air Hogs and Fort Worth Cats. The Cats have won the AA title in the league’s only two years of existence.