‘Jacks prep for opener Team still busy despite weather

The Portland Sea Dogs had snow to contend with when their regular season opened. The Bangor Lumberjacks have rain in the preseason.

Wednesday’s wet field conditions cancelled Bangor’s scheduled exhibition game with the International Baseball Academy of Japan for a second straight day despite a venue change from soggy Mahaney Diamond in Orono to Winkin Complex in Bangor.

That didn’t prevent the Lumberjacks, the independent Northeast League’s newest team, from holding two practices and making some personnel moves the last two days.

The ‘Jacks re-signed catcher Brad Hargreaves and traded righthanded pitcher Eric Moore to the Rio Grande Valley White Wings of the Central League. In return for Moore, the Wings gave Bangor their first-round pick in the 2004 independent league tryout camp.

Both the Central and Northeast Leagues hold an annual draft of amateur players in San Antonio and Fort Lauderdale, Fla., respectively. The trade gives Bangor a first round pick in each draft next year.

“We had three sidearmers in camp with Eric and two rookies and we felt the other two could do the same job he does,” said manager Kash Beauchamp. “And keeping a rookie player allows us to keep an LS-4 player we really like and improve our outfield at the same time.”

League rules allow teams to have no more than four LS-4 (players with four seasons of professional league experience) per roster. Rules also dictate no more than four veteran players (five or more years of pro experience), but if a team has only two veterans, they can have six LS-4 players.

“I’ll tell you, it’s crazy sometimes with these rules. It’s really like putting together a jigsaw puzzle when you’re building your roster,” Beauchamp said.

The Lumberjacks acquired Moore via an offseason trade in which they sent pitchers Shannon Royal and Quentin Jones to the Central League’s San Angelo Colts.

As far as Hargreaves goes, Beauchamp says he’s all you look for in a signal-caller and leader in the field.

“He’s a Charlie O’Brien [15-year Major League catcher who played for eight teams], if you’re looking for someone to compare him to,” he said. “He’s a good, solid baseball player. He doesn’t have a lot of power, but he has a knack for coming up with a big hit, and we don’t call pitches so you need somebody with intelligence and experience back there.”

Despite the rain, Beauchamp is upbeat about his team’s progress over the last six days of training camp.

“Thank God we have the indoor facility there [University of Maine field house]. It saved us,” Beauchamp said. “We might have an unbelievable advantage in the league now because I don’t know if anyone else has a facility like this to use. We’ve been able to not miss a beat because of that facility.

“In that sense, we might have an edge on everyone with the weather hurting everyone more than it has us. Last year, all we could do was hit off a tee and play catch in the rain, so I’m thankful for this.”

Beauchamp says his team hasn’t missed a beat as far as pitching is concerned, and he’s excited about his offense. The only question mark is defense.

“Usually pitchers are way ahead of hitters this early on, but I’m really happy with our hitting. I think we could have a lot of power, maybe five or six guys in the lineup who could hit 10 or more homers, which is a lot in a short season league,” he said. “And I really do like our pitching. The one thing I can’t tell you about is our defense because of being limited in what we can do inside.”

The ‘Jacks have been fortunate on the injury front. The only casualty so far is left-handed starting pitcher Danny Miller, who will start the season on the disabled list with a shoulder impingement.

“He ran out of anti-inflammatory pills and stopped taking them,” Beauchamp said. “Now he’s back on them, but we don’t want to rush him back.”