Now we really are Gambling (2004-5 off-season notes) 2005-1

[Fat Nige]

January 31st, 2005

As the teams of the MBBA gear up for the 2005 season with Spring Training a month away news comes that the Atlantic City Gamblers have finished their off-season pack shuffling.
GM Nigel Laverick has announced the with the departure of five players and the arrival of six he is not expecting any more movement to or from the Gamblers camp before the influx of players to Spring Training.

The five departures were:

32 year old Catcher Chayo Beltrame (2004: 111 games, .188/.302/,275, 3 HR & 23 RBI) who left as a free agent and signed with Vancouver.
32 year old Catcher Bobby Bushnell (2004: Triple-A Brooklyn) left via free agency – unsigned to date.
32 year old Reliever Godfredo Calerera (2004: 24.2 IP, 0-0, 1 save with 6.57 ERA) left via free agency – unsigned to date.
30 year old RF Ramon Villon (2004: 33 games, .267/.267/.400, 1 HR & 4 RBI) was picked in the Rule 5 draft by Washington
28 year old Jeremy Pompey (2004: 19 games (10 starts) 3-6 with a 4.93 ERA) was picked off waivers by Des Moines.

Joining the Gamblers 40-man Roster for 2005 will be

30 year old closer Louwe van der Heyden signed as a free agent on a five-year $62.3m contract. Pitched in the EBA for Paris the last three years ( 201 games, 15-15 97 saves 2.71 ERA).

34 year old Reliever Jonathan O’Neill signed as a free agent on a two-year $8.3m contract. Pitched the last two years in the EBA for Brussels ( 151 games, 8-8, 6 saves with a 3.26 ERA) after nine years and 235 games with Calgary.

24 year old closer Jeff Thomas signed on a one-year $460k contract. Spent the last five years pitching for Portsmouth Vikings, the A-ball affiliate of Des Moines (159 games, 22-14 41 saves 2.01 ERA). He is expected to start the year in Triple-A Brooklyn.

31 year old catcher Aurélien Bodin signed as a free agent on a one-year $800k contract. Spent the last three years playing in the EBA for Munchen ( 381 games, .267/.341/.348 13 HR & 159 RBI)

23 year old LF Bob Goodwin was drafted with the fifth overall pick in the Rule 5 draft from Omaha. He has spent the last two years in Double-A Parker (233 games, .184/.235/.300 with 13 HR & 74 RBI).

33 year old Jean-Paul Jean-Paul was claimed off waivers from Valencia. A veteran of 1084 MBBA games Jean-Paul is a career .282/.325/.419 hitter with 71 HR & 374 RBI with Phoenix, Des Moines, Baltimore and Valencia.

Laverick said “We pretty soon missed out on our main starting pitching targets, I suppose if we pushed harder we might have got one but the sort of money they were going for was a bit rich for us for what was essentially old and aged goods. We were a bit annoyed to let our identified catcher slip through our fingers, we really needed a good catcher. So we had to look elsewhere, the EBA offered the chance to pick up a couple of class relievers who were younger than most of the MBBA free agent class and offered what we considered to be great value for money. Aurélien came from the EBA too, perhaps not the solid hitting catcher we were looking for but he offers us a very sound defensive option for the next year at least. We had identified four targets in the Rule 5 draft but only one, Bob Goodwin, was eventually left unprotected. We were pleased to get him, he’s a good prospect. The 27-man roster allows us the flexibility to hide him a bit on the bench but we like his defence and will not be shy at inserting him here and there, if he hits that will be a real bonus. Jean-Paul was a real bonus pick-up too, he was with me in Baltimore in the nineties and Valencia pinched him from me on waivers when I just couldn’t fit him into the outfield with Daniel Labrie, Brett Caves, Mike Clarke and ‘Woodchuck’ Sue. I really didn’t want to lose him them and I’m pleased to pinch him back, I hope he plays as well now though !”