I like the Bourne roster. It may include some “old school” to it. For starters, Scott Woodward is a catalyst-type player. If USA doesn’t intercept him or any other Braves players, SW will be a fan favorite. Great video interview with him on the Coastal website.

http://www.goccusports.com/baseball/woodwardteamusa.wmv

If you look at his 2008 stats, he is an on-base machine and base stealer, a classic 2-hole hitter.

Ben Klafczynski will be interesting to watch. He is about as 5 tool an athlete as they come. Ben has a 70 plus arm, game speed wheels about 6.7/8 and uses the entire field with power. He hit a couple bombs against Cotuit and Wareham in 2008 exhibitions while Columbus visited and plays with solid makeup and fundamentals. I heard he has a running 44″ vertical leap and a great baseball body type.

Josh Richmond from Louisville is another solid athlete and can play SS if needed. The Cards moved him to the outfield to play his bat. Austin Stadler who is a freshman at WFU can do it all, and should be a Deacon contributor from the get-go, the same for Zack Macphee from ASU.

On paper, the Bourne pitching looks solid, so I expect them to contend.

Your comments on Cotuit pitching are right on. Those are 3 talented arms on that staff, and make it 5 with Storen and Simon. Hague is a heck of a player in all facets. Rupp is a solid backstop.

On Hyannis, watch for Eddie Rohan from Winthrop. He is one of those hitters who can get hot and square anything up with great power. It runs in the family I guess. His cousin Greg is the cleanup hitter for Kent State and hit 20 bombs in 2008 for the Flashes and was one of the tops in the nation in slugging %.

The Mets also have Cole Johnson from ND. He was a PWO for the Irish in 2008 and an opportunist. He has a pitchers body(6’3-200) and a nice slider.

Dan Marrs and Tyler Wilson are strong armed pitchers also. I saw Wilson pitch in the summer and he dominates right handed hitters.

Orleans newcomer Deck Mac is the real deal. Big, strong, and can be dominant. Same for Burny Mitchem out of Dayton. I seen him pitch also in the summer in a few games.

Wareham. For starters, Derek Dietrich made the 2008 USA team and his summer ended with about 50 at bats? Touted to be a 1st rounder in 2010, my guess is he will make it to the Cape to show his stuff against all these great pitchers scheduled to come.

Where do some of these players come from?

From that great HS class of 2007, now college sophs, many played in the 2006 USA Baseball Tournament of Stars:

Cole Green, Wareham
Derek Dietrich, Wareham
Brandon Workman, Wareham
Ben Klafczynski, Bourne
Tanner Robles, Bourne
Seth Blair, Cotuit
Deck McGuire, Orleans
Tyler Burgoon, YD

Others who have played in this in 2006:

Kevin Rhoderick
Christian Colon
Hunter Morris
Robert Stock
Joey Wong
Matt Harvey
Curt Casali
Greg Peavey
Kentrail Davis
Tommy Medica
Chris Hernandez

Maybe people are experiencing election withdrawal; or maybe they are sitting at their computers watching their 401K’s shrink.

I think it is time to fire up the Cape League version of the Hot Stove League. I know one sure-fire way to do that, but you’re not going to catch me saying “I wish team “A” would do as good of a job as team “B” at _____.” (fill in the blank). Nope. No way. I’m not going there ever again. But that does make me wonder when Brewster will announce to the world who their new manager is. OK, OK, I promise, I’m not going there!

As for who looks good on paper on November 11… We have to keep Falmouth, Harwich, Brewster and Chatham out of the discussion for now since we haven’t seen their rosters. Hmmm. Well, since it’s just you and I out here, I don’t have to say it depends on “IF” this player or that player comes to the Cape. For purposes of this discussion, let’s assume that everyone on each team’s roster comes to the Cape.

I’m not overly impressed with Bourne’s roster. Drew Pomeranz and Tanner Robles look solid. Pierre LePage was a sparkplug for the Braves in his short time on the Cape this year. Ben Klafczynski will be an intriguing player to watch.

Cotuit looks real good. Seth Blair, Chance Ruffin and Gerrit Cole could be the foundation of a very good pitching staff. Kevin Patterson and Ricky Hague should be imposing bats in the lineup.

Not too impressed with Hyannis. Again, much of that is my unfamiliarity with most of their players. 1B/3B Cam Seitzer has some good baseball bloodlines since his father, Kevin, was a solid major leaguer. One thing for sure is that the Mets won’t have the experienced players like they had this past summer. In ’08 they were heavy with juniors. The ‘09 roster is dotted with many freshman and Notre Dame’s Eric Maust is the only junior.

Orleans could be very good. The soon-to-be-renamed Cardinals have eight players from this year’s team returning. Rob Catapano also returns to Orleans after playing for them in 2007. Devin Lohman who played for Chatham this year brings more Cape League experience to Orleans. Newcomers to watch include RHP Deck McGuire, LHP Josh Poytress and the Muno brothers, Danny and Kevin. Kevin Muno also had a short stay in Orleans in 2007. Since Danny and Kevin go to different colleges, I’ll bet Mr. and Mrs. Muno are happy to have the two boys playing for the same team this summer. In 2004, the Muno’s purchased a 40’ boat and moored it in the harbor at Marina del Rey in order to cut their 50 mile commute from their home in Thousand Oaks to their high school in Los Angeles from an hour to twenty minutes. Maybe they will moor the boat in Town Cove next summer to avoid the Route 28 congestion.

Wareham should be competitive. That probably just ended their chances for success. I thought the Gatemen looked very impressive when I saw their 2007 pre-seson roster and I expected good things from them this year too. Wareham lists eleven returning players, led by staff ace Brandon Workman.

Scott Pickler usually puts a competitive team on the field. Pickler credits much of Y-D’s recent success to being able to find players who are willing to play in a team concept. Whispers around Wilson Field this past summer indicated the team chemistry may not have been as good as what the Red Sox had during the years when they won three of four league titles. Tyler Waldron, Anthony Ranaudo and Brett Mooneyham should pitch a lot of innings and it will be fun to see star catcher Micah Gibbs and to watch the progress of returning 1B/DH Andy Wilkins.

So what does this mean? Nothing. Since I like the look of Cotuit and Orleans, those teams will probably miss out on the playoffs. Because I said I’m not too impressed with Hyannis and Bourne, fans of the Mets and Braves should expect their teams to battle for supremacy in the West.

How ’bout you “chirp” in with your thoughts?

Nice to see your name. Chirp chirp.

This time a year it seems people have turned their attention to mundane things like the NBA and uh the global meltdown. Chirp chirp

As Pink Floyd once pondered, “is there anybody out there?

We’ve now had a few early rosters posted. Who do you like so far?