Final MLB rosters were set a few days back, but what are you gonna do? Quick status report on some of the FLPs that the blog follows.
2007 Lynx alumnus Joe Bisenius, begins the 2009 campaign in Reading. Joe split 2008 between Lehigh Valley and Reading, appearing in just 43 games.
Another Ottawa pitcher, Brian Mazone appears to have just missed making the Dodgers 25 man roster – and not everyone is happy with that turn of events (WARNING: for those of you not fond of Hannah Montana, you may wish to turn your speakers down. Or off).
On the brighter side, former battery mates J.A. Happ and catcher Jason Jaramillo have both made their respective MLB squads – Happ with Philadelphia and Jaramillo with the Pirates. JJ’s promotion over Robinson Diaz was seen as a victory of his defensive ability and game calling talent. Jaramillo will backup starting catcher Ryan Doumit to start the season, and will be reunited with Former Lynx manager, John Russell.
“I’m so excited,” Jaramillo said. “It was an unbelievable moment when I got called in and they let me know I made the ballclub. There’s a lot of stuff that flashed in my memory.
“It’s been a long road, but I’m ready to get started on this journey now.”
Happ, on the other hand, narrowly missed out on being named the Phillies fifth starter – he lost the final spot in the rotation to Chan Ho Park, and wasn’t entirely pleased about being sent to the ‘pen:
Asked what explanation he was given for the decision, a disappointed Happ paused a moment later in the day, then simply answered, ”He [Park] had a good spring,” before quickly adding, ”I feel like I had a good spring as well.”
”If I can get a job in the bullpen and if I can have some success down there, then I think an opportunity will come where I can get back a starting job,” Happ said.
”If he’s one of the best 12, I think he’d benefit from being up here,” pitching coach Rich Dubee said. ”I think he’s proved himself last year at Triple-A and I think he proved himself somewhat up here. I think the key factor is how much work he gets if he does make our staff.
”He’s not a guy we want to let sit around and not get any work because he’s still in the process of becoming a consistent major league pitcher.”
Finally, blog favorite Joe Thurston has made his way back to the bigs, this time in a St. Louis Cardinals uni.
La Russa declined to go into much detail as to why Barden started over Freese in the opener, but he was more forthcoming about the choice of Thurston. The coaching staff has liked Thurston’s defensive play at third base, and the hope is that his left-handed bat will help against Snell.
Thurston also took the No. 8 spot in the batting order — a spot that evidently will be occupied by Cardinals pitchers less often in 2009. La Russa acknowledged that Thurston fits the profile of the “second leadoff” hitter, but didn’t want to stack left-handed hitters in three consecutive spots — ninth, first and second.
In last night’s game against Pittsburgh, Joe went 2-5 and drove in two runs.
Joe Thurston beats Pirates catcher Ryan Doumit’s tag – April 7.
the Philadelphia Inquirer, touting its release this week. I’ve said this before, but after seeing how Coste conducted himself after being sent down to the minors at the beginning of 2007, I lost a lot of respect for him. I get it – he had a great season with the Phils in 2006. But with no disrespect intended, at the start of last year he had a whopping 198 plate appearances in the bigs. 198. I’m sorry, but it wasn’t like they were sending down A-Rod. Unfortunately, (from my perspective) that’s how he chose to conduct himself; as if he was above all of this. 
