Independent League Notebook

By J.J. Cooper
September 9, 2004

Roadrunners Stand Pat, Win Title

For most independent league managers, the season is filled with roster juggling. Between releasing players who didn't work out, filling in for injuries and replacing players who have signed with affiliated clubs, roster management is a full-time job.

Unless you're Edinburg manager Chad Tredaway. The Central League champion Roadrunners didn't have to overhaul their roster during the season--they hardly had to tweak it.

The Roadrunners signed Mexican Leaguer Pat O'Sullivan around the all-star break, released righthander Daniel Henderson and sold closer Jeremy Flanagan to the Devil Rays in late June. And that was it. With those exceptions, the team that sprayed champagne and beer in early September was the same team that arrived at spring training.

"That's what I'm most proud of. We made one release this year," Tredaway said. "That's so rare in professional sports. The team we started with in spring training is the one we won with, which I'm really proud of."

The Roadrunners dominated the playoffs like they had the regular season. They swept Amarillo in the first round and swept Shreveport in the finals. Edinburg outscored its opponents 40-11 in the six games.

Edinburg led the league in ERA, paced by four starters who finished in double digits in wins. Rookie Julio Ruiz, 22, moved into the rotation at midseason and went 8-3, 2.24 to lead the league in ERA. Pedro Flores (10-5, 2.49) and Eric Montoya (10-2, 2.59) were also in the league's top five.

Edinburg had plenty of pitching last year, when it won both halves of the regular season but lost in the first round of the playoffs. Instead of viewing the loss as a fluke, Tredaway saw it as a reason to tweak.

"I think we had to make some improvements. We did have a great season, but I felt we were short a starter and short a bat. We knew we had to improve our clubhouse too," Tredaway said. "We took a chance on some guys."

This year, the offense was able to keep up with the pitching. The Roadrunners led the league in runs, paced by outfielders Ryan Webb (.338-8-41) and Ryan Lehr (.322-6-72) and O'Sullivan, who smashed 14 home runs in just 47 games.

Bridgeport's Best

They were born exactly two months apart in 1969, they have been tied for the Atlantic League lead in wins much of the latter half of the season, and they've posted ERAs within a fraction of one another.

Yet despite all their success with the Bridgeport Bluefish, righthanders Tim Cain and Kevin Henthorne haven't drawn any interest from affiliated teams. "It's hard to deal with," Henthorne said. "Especially when you see guys with less numbers getting signed."

There are younger prospects and harder throwers in the Atlantic League, but no one has pitched better. Cain and Henthorne were 12-2 and 12-3, respectively, and Cain's ERA of 2.60 topped the leaders, slightly lower than Henthorne's 2.69. The dynamic duo also possesses pinpoint control. Cain allowed just 29 walks in 138 innings, while Henthorne had 19 in 139 innings, or one walk every seven innings.

"I'd rather give up a hit than walk a guy," said Henthorne, who works almost exclusively off a two-seam and four-seam fastball. "I've always taken pride in throwing strikes. I have to live by location."

Neither Henthorne nor Cain has eye-popping radar gun readings. They throw in the mid-80s and succeed with good control and knowledge of hitters.

"They are two professors," said Bluefish pitching coach Gil Rondon. "They like to know everything. Tim is more of a low-key guy. Kevin is more outspoken. He's got a little more experience because he's pitched all over."

Henthorne, a native of Wisconsin, began his odyssey with independent San Antonio in 1994. He was a juvenile detention officer and decided to attend the team's tryout. He spent 1996 and '97 with Double-A Norwich when it was a Yankees affiliate and was released after going 2-1, 3.31 in 1997. He spent the next two seasons dominating Taiwan's China Professional Baseball League, and then spent time in Mexico. He was back in affiliated ball briefly in 2002 before latching on with Bridgeport, where he has compiled sub-3.00 ERAs for the past three seasons.

"When Kevin came here I was just coming back from a torn rotator cuff injury," recalled Cain, the Atlantic League's all-time leader with 63 career wins. "We wound up sharing a locker."

By then, Cain was accustomed to traveling. A Rangers 39th-round pick in 1990, Cain lasted two seasons before being released. He was out of baseball in 1992 and had to wait for the arrival of indy ball in 1993 to get another chance. He spent two seasons in the Northern League before being signed by the Red Sox. He spent four seasons with the Red Sox, mainly at Triple-A, before being released.

He's since become an Atlantic League stalwart. He reached double digits in victories in four straight seasons with Newark before joining Bridgeport in 2002.

--EVERETT MERRILL

Falling Like A Rock

Rarely has a season that started so well ended so poorly.

The Windy City Thunderbolts had the best record in the Frontier League three weeks into the season, after an 11-game winning streak helped the team to a 20-8 record. Over the next two months the team slowly drifted back to .500, and with three weeks to go they were 37-37, needing another winning streak to get back into the playoff race.

No one would have imagined the team had won its last game. Hurt by player sales, trades and a general slump, the T-Bolts collapsed, losing their final 20 games of the season to finish 37-57 overall. Manager Steve Maddock was fired during the losing streak, but new manager Joe Charboneau was unable to reverse the slide.

"We went on a road trip after an 11-game winning streak," general manager Lydia Bergeron said. "We lost some games, and we just never seemed to rebound after the road trip.

"Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. Nothing seemed to work. Their hearts were in it, but it seemed we couldn't come back as we had during the winning streak. We didn't seem to have it toward the end."

Windy City lost its top hitter, outfielder Peanut Williams (.332-11-43), when he was sold to the White Sox at midseason. Righthander Matt Hines (2-1, 4.43) was sold to the Twins as well, but there was no one move that seemed to cause the team's disintegration. Whatever it was, the team that had started strong, finished flat. Windy City hit .221 in August while its pitching staff was 3-27, 6.25.

Charboneau, the 1981 American League rookie of the year, is being considered for the manager's job for 2005 after taking over late in the losing streak.

"Joe seems to have the respect of the players. We lost some players who went back to school. Joe stepped to the plate and did the best job he could," Bergeron said.

INDEPENDENTS' DAY

• The Northern League saw a number of records fall this season. With his .376 average, St. Paul's Adam Olow broke Terry Lee's Northern League season batting record, which had stood since 1995. Schaumburg's Geoff McCallum set a record for hits with 138, Schaumburg's Mario Delgado set a record with 104 RBIs and Kansas City's Rick Prieto set records with 97 runs and 78 walks.

• Gary (Northern) will be looking for another manager for next season, firing Garry Templeton after he went 67-119 in two seasons. The RailCats did send five players to affiliated ball during Templeton's tenure.