Adopted home town?

From the Newcastle News in Newcastle, Washington:

When players report to spring training later this month, which one of the top Seattle Mariners’ pitching prospects hails from Newcastle?

Stumped?

Ryan Rowland-Smith was Seattle’s most effective starter in the second half of the 2008 season, finishing with a 3.39 ERA and a 4-3 record from his 11 starts.

Rowland-Smith, originally from Newcastle, Australia, is the first player with a hyphenated last name ever to appear in a Major League game. The 26-year-old had an auspicious debut. The left-hander made his major league debut for the Mariners on June 22, 2007, against the Cincinnati Reds at Safeco Field. He struck out the first batter he faced, Ken Griffey Jr., and pitched one and one-third scoreless innings.

And although he isn’t from this Newcastle, Rowland-Smith is no stranger to the city nestled between Renton and Bellevue. His girlfriend’s sister lives in Factoria and Rowland-Smith has been to The Golf Club at Newcastle for a fundraising benefit for cystic fibrosis.

“I had never been to Bellevue until two years ago, when I met my girlfriend,” he said. “I was driving up the 405 freeway, because I was staying down in Tacoma, and I saw a sign saying Newcastle, and I just had to call my mum to tell her there’s a suburb here called Newcastle.”

I do the same thing -- well, I don't call Rowland-Smith's mum so it's not exactly the same thing -- when I go by towns with the same name as my hometown. Oddly, that happened the last time I was in Australia. Or, was it Ireland. I'm either really mixed up or lying.

Rowland-Smith was a Timber Rattler in 2002 and 2003. Here is how he got interested in baseball:

Baseball is not as popular as cricket, rugby and surfing in Australia. Rowland-Smith saw a U.S. baseball game on late night TV in Australia and he was hooked. He also studied videotapes of the 1993 World Series and was impressed by the play of John Olerud, who he would later meet in spring training.

“I thought the game was fascinating,” he said. “My dad was upset I didn’t take up rugby.”

When he was a child, Rowland-Smith was teased about being “too soft” for playing baseball. But at 6-foot-3 and 240 pounds now, no one is teasing him about being soft.

Go read the whole thing.

Did you see?

A former Rattler trainer picked up an award at the Winter Meetings.

Seattle Mariners Double-A athletic trainer Jeremy Clipperton has received the Professional Baseball Athletic Trainers Society's (PBATS) highest Minor League award as the top athletic trainer in all of the Minor Leagues.

Voted on by his peers in PBATS, this award is given to an athletic trainer that exemplifies the best in athletic training for their players and demonstrates a deep concern for the community and fellow athletic trainers.

Richie Bancells, president of PBATS, said, "Jeremy Clipperton has demonstrated that excellence in athletic training is important at all levels. His dedication to his players and his profession show that he is a consummate professional all the way."

Clipperton, an Iowa native, was the Timber Rattlers trainer for five seasons, from 2002 through 2006.

Roadie to Reading

Steve Roadcap was the manager of the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers in 1999 and 2004. He is now the manager of Reading Phillies in the Eastern League. And he couldn't be happier.

For the first time in his 25-plus seasons in professional baseball, home games really will be home games for Steve Roadcap.

The Reading Phillies' new manager was born in Pottsville, grew up in Dauphin County and considers "Baseballtown" home turf.

"It'll be great," said the 48-year-old Roadcap, who has managed in the Philadelphia Phillies organization the past three seasons. "I grew up a big Phillies fan. It's kind of neat, now being able to come in there and manage.

"I have a lot of good memories of Reading, and the Phillies. I'm real excited about it. I'm looking forward to the opportunity."

The Phillies, behind on their normal offseason schedule because of the World Series run and the many front office changes, haven't gotten around to officially announcing Roadcap's promotion from low Class A Lakewood, where he managed the past two seasons.

Reading is a place for former Timber Rattler managers. Gary Varsho was the manager of the R-Phills from 1999-2001 after he was Rattler manager in 1997 and 1998.

Please come to Boston

Please come to Boston for the springtime
I'm stayin' here with some friends and they've got lots of room
You can sell your paintings on the sidewalk
By a café where I hope to be workin' soon

Well, I'm not sure if that Dave Loggins song was used in the negotiations, but Boston is the destination of another member of the Seattle front office with ties to the Timber Rattlers.

The Mariners probably will begin the 2009 season without an advance scout, a position filled by Steve Peck for the past five years.

The position opened when Peck accepted a scouting job with the Red Sox.

Peck was the pitching coach of the Timber Rattlers in 1998 and 1999. There is a very brief mention at BostonHerald.com.

Though they’ve yet to publicly announce it, the Red Sox have hired longtime Seattle Mariners advance scout Steve Peck.

Peck has served as the M’s advance scout since the 2004 season, but will not serve in the same capacity with the Sox. Rather, he will work as a pro scout.

The last two seasons, the Sox have utilized a unique advance scouting operation in which Dana Levangie and Todd Claus shared the duties, alternating between scouting future opponents and joining the team to offer input. Claus left the organization last month to take a college coaching job at Jacksonville University.

Peck had worked in the Seattle organization since 1996 and was a former minor league pitcher.

Alumni stuff

Yesterday, there was a post about JJ Putz ('00) and the possibility of him being traded to the Brewers.

Here is a post with a pointer to Newsday baseball writer Ken Davidoff's blog. There is a post there about a different ex-Rattler, an ex-Appleton Fox, and a possibility of them becoming a Yankees.

The Beverly Hills Sports Council, which represents Brian Fuentes, Trevor Hoffman, David Weathers, Arthur Rhodes and Tom Gordon in this free-agent class, showed up today, and they'll almost certainly meet with the Mets today or tomorrow. Jeff Borris, one of the BHSC's agents, said he has been playing phone tag with Omar Minaya to line up a meeting.

Rick Thurman, who represents Fuentes, said this: "New York is on our radar. ...I think New York would be a great place for him. He would look forward to talking with them."

Thurman added that Fuentes would likely want to visit the cities of interested teams and chat with the respective front offices. So we can expect a "Fuentes in New York" day.

I asked Thurman about Gordon, since I always felt that Gordon got a raw deal from Yankees fans. Thurman said that Gordon, who will turn 41 in November, is rehabilitating from elbow surgery and will have a better idea of his future in three-to-four months.

Fuentes was a Rattler in 1997 and Gordon was an Appleton Fox in 1988.

Bernie's Crew has a few links to stories about Fuentes possibly becoming a Brewer.

Here's a quick hint. Check Bernie's Crew often. Jim was updating all day the last two days on stuff from the Winter Meetings. In a post that started yesterday at 9:31am, his final update was at 11:34pm.

Lookout Landing checked in with this post about JJ.

Let's look at it like this. Let's put JJ's current trade value at X. It doesn't matter what X actually is - it's just a number, or a player, or a group of players, or something.

(A) The Mariners decide X isn't enough, and they hang on to him. JJ pitches well for the first few months, and come July X has increased by 10%. There's less time for him to make an impact, and teams might be less willing to give up a young ML-ready player or two than they were over the winter, but overall his effectiveness elevates his value.

(B) The Mariners decide X isn't enough, and they hang on to him. JJ struggles, or gets hurt, and come July X has decreased by 80%. A team might be willing to take a flier on a guy a year and a half removed from being awesome, but overall JJ has stabbed his value in the nuts.

Faced with those theoretical black-and-white percentages (this is just an example), the breakeven rate for hanging on to JJ is 1 - (.1 / [.1 + .8]) = 89%. In other words, the Mariners would have to be at least 89% certain that JJ would follow path (A) in order to justify keeping him around. Alternatively, they'd have to believe that an effective JJ would be worth more than 1.1*X around deadline time. Whichever the case, were the M's to keep JJ through the winter, they'd be doing so because they believed there was a really good chance that he'd improve his value by pitching well out of the gate.

LL also caught this bit of news that I missed on the transaction wire.

New York Yankees
Signed: RHP Jose Valdez, C Ben Blumenthal, 3B Carlos Mendoza, OF Justin Leone

They would catch it since the original name of the blog was Leone for Third. Leone was a teammate of JJ on that Rattler team in 2000.

Award goes to Rattler Alum

It is the award season and here is another one for an Alumni of Appleton baseball.

The Southern League of Professional Baseball Clubs is pleased to announce that Jeremy Clipperton of the West Tenn Diamond Jaxx has been named its 2008 Athletic Trainer of the Year, as selected by his peers and honored by the Professional Baseball Athletic Trainers Society (PBATS). It is the second honor in three years for Clipperton, who was named the Midwest League’s Trainer of the Year in 2006.

That's where they are

Jay over at Mariner Minors has some new about ex-Rattlers representing their countries at the IBAF Olympic Qualifier in Taiwan. And he had it a couple of days ago.

Kuo Hui Lo ('07) is playing for Taiwan.

Michael Saunders ('06) and Jon Lockwood ('05) are playing for Canada.

By the way, the new IBAF website is a serious upgrade from the old one.

I think these stats are through Day Five.

Lo is 9-for-22 with 2 homers and 8 RBI.

Saunders is 6-for-24 with 6RBI
Lockwood has allowed six earned runs in 7-1/3 innings over two appearances.

Canada, Taiwan, and South Korea have all advanced to the Olympics in August with one day left in the qualifier.