Charlie's Back … and More

Charlie Montoyo at the old DAP, May 2011

Watching Durham Bulls Baseball has returned from doing battle with Google and Go Daddy with a domain name back in place and ready to go forth and write about our favorite baseball team in 2014.

The best news of the last couple of weeks is that Charlie Montoyo and crew are back!

Every season I worry that Mr. Montoyo is going to get hired away or promoted, but it didn’t happen this year and that is very, very good news for Bulls fans. Without a doubt, he is one of the best, if not the best, managers in minor league baseball. His record (scroll down to bottom of page) is simply spectacular with championships galore to his name. He has won the IL South Division championship 6 out of  his 7 years with the Bulls. And it is that title that, in the opinion of WDBB, marks the quality of the team and the management for a year.

Could it be that the Rays recognize his contributions to the system and prefer he stay in Durham? And compensate him accordingly? We can only hope so.

We should not overlook either Neil Allen or Dave Myers. They are coming back as well. Neither of them could be considered chatty, at least I don’t recall more than the few cryptic comments to the press over the years. Nevertheless, you can’t argue with their results.

Other news:

• I could not be more appreciative of the Bulls’ participation in an anti-bullying campaign. Just a terrific way to leverage Wool E. Bull’s “star power” to a very, very important cause. Great idea! Thank you!

• Alex Torres, about whom we have written a great deal over the years, most recently here, is off to the San Diego Padres. Last year he seemed to find himself as a reliever. We can expect to see at least a couple of the folks he was traded for this season.

One More Bull Who Won't Be Back ... And More

Mike Fontenot, Aug 20 2014
Photo courtesy Durham Herald-Sun

• Mike Fontenot has signed with the Nationals, so he won't be back. He played in 120 games for the Bulls last year and, as we reported in our year-end summary, he was a key part of the championship team. We always considered him something of an infielder-in-waiting if the Rays needed someone in a hurry. Very solid stats. He only had 12 errors and he participated in 56 double plays last year. Good luck, Mike. Hope you get a shot at wearing a Nationals uniform. Otherwise we'll see you in a Syracuse Chiefs outfit when the Bulls come calling on May 5th.

• Rays pitchers and catchers report to spring training in 32 days, Port Charlotte, Florida.

• First Bulls game in 80 days.

• Meanwhile, remember all those extra folks walking around with cameras and press passes last year? Well, mark your calendar for February 23d at the North Carolina Museum of Art when the Bull City Summer exhibit goes on display. Now, here's WDBB's question: is the opening going to be black tie, champagne and canapés? Or is it going to be jeans, flip-flops and t-shirts, beer, and hot dogs? Art as baseball or baseball as art?

• How about that grass? Looks like it survived the cold snap. Had me worried.

DBAP, Jan 13, 2014

Is Ray Olmedo Coming Back?

Ray Olmedo Hoisting the 2009 Governors' Cup for the Bulls

The Rays signed four players to minor league contracts and one of them is well-known to Bulls fans — Ray Olmedo. He was most recently mentioned in this blog when he started a triple play in a Rochester/Norfolk playoff game last year. We’ve written a lot about Ray over the years (he was a Bull in 2009 and 2011). He was first mentioned back on April 12, 2009. Interesting game, apparently. Obscure pitcher named Price was the starter. Ray got one of his rare home runs. He had 6 in 2009, but only 25 in his 11 years in Triple-A. He's always been an asset, particularly at 2B and 3B. And he always looks like he's having fun.

Are we sure he will be coming back? Well, no. What actually happened is that the Rays signed four ballplayers to minor league contracts with an “invitation to spring training.” If past is any prologue, almost all of the minor league free agents who get contracts worded like that are 1) released at or near the end of spring training, 2) assigned to the Durham Bulls, or 3) (rare) assigned to the Montgomery Biscuits. We’ll be writing more about this when spring training starts.

How about the other three players signed?

They are hitter James Darnell, catcher Ali Solis, and a young right-handed reliever named Santiago Garrido. You could not do better than to check out the profiles of these players by Robbie Knopf over at Rays Colored Glasses.

Grass!

DBAP, Morning, 31 Dec 2013

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

More 2013 Durham Bulls Who Will Not Be Back

We're beginning to think that the postage for mailing off International League Championship rings is going to really add up this year. Here are a few more players who won't be back.

• Leslie Anderson had been released. After a fairly rough start in 2011, he was a mainstay of the Bulls in 2012 and 2013. We did not expect him back, and that’s the way it looks like it will play out. He’s had a good winter so perhaps he will look good to a Korean, Japanese or Taiwanese team.
• Backtracking to the middle of the month, shortstop Tim Beckham won’t be back until mid-season at the earliest. He hurt his knee working out, has been operated on, and is beginning his rehab.
• Pitcher J.D. Martin won’t be back at all. He signed with the the Samsung Lions (Korea). He was our favorite pitcher last year and he will be sorely missed. We’ll have to do a rant some day about how Major League Baseball could keep some great ballplayers here in the US by simply paying AAA players a bit more. 
• Chris Gimenez got claimed off waivers by the Athletics. Apparently the Rays wanted to make some room on their 40-man and the Athletics pounced. He will be joining former Bull Stephen Vogt out there. Vogt had a decent year  with the Mud Cats and the A’s last year. We liked Gimenez a lot and think that he is yet another catcher that might have been able to help the Rays more if they had let him.
• He was only in three games as a Bull while on on a rehab assignment, but Rays DH Luke Scott is off to Korea as well.

For a short trip into the land of the bizarre, here's news of Bull Durham, the Musical. Somehow I just don't see Crash Davis breaking into song … and a duet with Annie just seems a bit odd.

Meanwhile, they've started installing seats in the DBAP and there's only 96 days to Opening Day!

DBAP, Dec 21, 2013

Craig Albernaz Will Not Be Back

Craig Albernaz is one of WDBB's all-time favorite Durham Bulls, right up there with Chris Richard,  Jon Weber, Fernando Perez, Joe Dillon, and Elliot Johnson. His numbers aren't all that spectacular, but in our section of the stands that was always attributed to his lack of playing time. And that really was a problem from our point of view. Over 5 seasons, he only got in 121 games, far fewer than many lesser catchers we've seen come through the DBAP. We thought that 2013 was going to be his year, since, other than Chris Gimenez, the Bulls were light on catchers. Didn't happen.

Mr. Albernaz is certainly a fan's ballplayer. He appears to be focused every minute of the game. He seems to handle pitchers extremely well. He has caught every star pitcher that has come up through the Rays system for the last several years. His work on behalf of the Rays was noted on his departure.

He is off to the Detroit system on a minor league contract, reportedly because he has been offered an opportunity for more playing time. That means he may be coming back to the DBAP in a Mud Hens uniform. Or maybe not.

To be perfectly honest, I could not be happier for the young man. We have often thought that the Rays simply were not giving him the opportunities he deserved and were continually puzzled by their unwillingness to put him behind the plate more often.

Lastly, as we wrote back when in happened, he is responsible for one of our greatest thrills as a Durham Bulls fan. Let's look at it a again. Thanks, Craig! Good luck!

Hemstitching: DBAP Progress, New Jerseys, Rays 40-Man, and More

DBAP, Dec 3, 2013

Looks like they've got the drains in place and more of the subsurface. Bulldozers appear to be putting new dirt on top. Next is grass?

This appears to be a photoshopped image of what the Blue Monster is going to look like next year. Story here.

This is what it looks like today. Note the corner where there used to be those shaky stairs going down from the top of the monster to the seating bowl. Wonder how that's going to work next year.

The Bulls recently announced that the team will be in new jerseys next year. 

I am not a fan of squiggly fonts. I find them hard to read and simply not very pretty. But that's just me. At least they left the "D" in the logo alone. Will have to wait and see regarding legibility of numbers at at a distance. 

• Meanwhile, some of last year's Bulls are very likely to be coming back! And have a shot to make it up to the Rays. Vince Belnome, C.J. Riefenhauser, and Kirby Yates were added to the Rays 40-man. See commentary here, here, and here.
• Former Bull, and a guy WDBB really liked to watch back in 2007 and 2008, Jeff Niemann, has elected free agency. Niemann has spend a bunch of time on the DL the last couple of years. At 6’9’’ it was fun seeing all those moving parts when they arranged themselves to put a fastball across the plate. Comments here and here.
• I can't find the link just now, but I'm sure I read somewhere that Jason Bourgeois has done a deal with the Reds.