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Several days before the Northeast League-mandated roster freeze for all teams, the Bangor Lumberjacks front office spent much of its time burning up the phone lines.
With numerous injuries to key players occurring over the last three weeks, Bangor has had to make several trades, signings, and other transactions just to plug all the holes on its roster.
After completing a preseason deal that netted the NEL’s travelling “filler” team known as the Aces former Lumberjacks outfielder Schuyler Doakes in between games of a Sunday doubleheader, the ‘Jacks made a few more moves before the league’s final roster deadline of midnight Sunday.
After all was proposed, discussed, and hammered out, Bangor had reactivated former all-star pitcher and current pitching coach Kevin Pincavitch; released batting coach Chris Carminucci, who has had one pinch-hitting appearance for the team; and released slugger Donnie Ross, who has been unable to play since he was hit by a pitch on his right hand last month.
“Donnie has a broken bone in his wrist and they couldn’t find it at first on the MRI [magnetic resonance image),” said Bangor manager Kash Beauchamp. “He got hit above the wrist and he just couldn’t swing a bat at all.”
If all that wasn’t bad enough, Bangor’s ranks were further thinned by an unusual incident at the end of the team’s first game against Elmira in a Thursday doubleheader in which catcher Brad Hargreaves blocked the plate and apparently tagged out an Elmira runner trying to score the game’s only run. The runner was called save, prompting Bangor’s players and coaches to rush out of the dugout and dispute the call. Hargreaves bumped the umpire during the incident and was automatically suspended for the second game, forcing Beauchamp to start pitcher J.C. Huguet – the team’s emergency catcher – behind the plate for game two.
Huguet, who had been promoted to the starting rotation, suffered a shoulder sprain during a collision with a baserunner and will likely miss his next two starts.
“That was a horrible, horrible incident because, number one, it cost us the game; number two, it forced us to catch a guy because of the incident and that guy got injured; and number three, we lost our catcher for a game,” said Beauchamp, who was still visibly angry over the incident three days later.
Beauchamp is hoping a pair of moves that landed Bangor Brian Baker, a Frontier League all-star selection, and power-hitting first baseman Josh Tranum last week can help fill the power void left by Ross.
“We need Josh and Baker to perform at the level they were at before they left and we need that because you can’t replace a guy like Donnie,” Beauchamp said.
The level they were at was .269 with 15 home runs and 74 RBIs for Tranum, who was traded from the Jackson (Miss.) Senators of the Central League to Bangor for future considerations and cash, and a .303 batting average with 18 homers, 62 RBIs and 19 stolen bases for Baker, who was signed as a free agent after being let go by the Windy City (Ill.) Thunderbolts.
Baker came in a bit rusty and struck out in 10 of his first 12 at-bats with Bangor, but rebounded over the weekend with a grand slam in Sunday’s first game and triple in the second.
“We spent some time with Baker in the cage yesterday and I think it really paid off because he was mechanically off a bit when he got here,” Beauchamp said. “We made some adjustments in the cage with him and he listened and caught on to it. We threw a lot at him very fast because we’re running out of time here, but it kind of clicked and he had some big hits for us this weekend.”
“I’m just trying to straighten out some mechanical flaws so I can try to get back to where I was and help these guys,” said the 6-foot-3, 200-pound outfielder from Union City, Tenn. “I’m still not where I want to be, but I feel a lot better than I did the first couple days.”
The outfield, which was perilously diluted by injuries, could become one of the deepest positions on the team with the return of Jose Garcia, who has served as designated hitter while resting a leg injury, to the field.
“What it does is give me some options and a chance to make defensive substitutions and pinch-hitting moves and set a guy down if he’s struggling,” Beauchamp said. “If a guy’s hot, he’s going to play.”
‘Jacks back Jackals
With a 22-11 record and 13 games left on the regular season schedule, Bangor is well positioned to secure a playoff spot. With the NEL split-season system giving playoff spots to the first and second half winners in each division, Bangor will make it even if it doesn’t win the North Division second half title.
As long as first half South champ New Jersey finishes first again (the Jackals held an 81/2-game lead Monday) and Bangor stays at least three games ahead of fellow north team Brockton, which trailed Bangor by eight games, and the other three south teams (Aces, New Haven County and Elmira), the Lumberjacks will secure the final playoff spot because they will have the best overall record of any of the non-division winning teams.
If the current standings prevail, New Jersey, first half north champ North Shore, and Quebec, which is currently three games ahead of both North Shore and Bangor, would advance into the postseason best-of-five semifinal series along with Bangor.
Andrew Neff can be reached at 990-8205, 1-800-310-8600 or at aneff@bangordailynews.net
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