6/19/2010 Odds & Ends: Completely Unbiased Edition

- First of all, my game schedule for this season is looking pretty screwed up. In a perfect world, I could see every team on a completely even rotation, watch them during their home and away games, and cover everyone fairly and equitably. Of course, this isn't a perfect world, so what I was hoping for was to finish out this week by catching the Pilots and Oilers and being able to at least say that I've seen every team one or more times by now. However, apparently my wife, my in-laws, their entire families and all the teams of the Alaska Baseball League missed the memo that says they need to consult me and arrange their plans around my schedule. Unbelievable!

But seriously, I'm not going to catch either of those teams before they head up to Fairbanks, so unless someone has a lot of money lying around and wants to put some gas in my van for a big road trip, I'm just going to do the best that I can to cover the other teams in person for now and then switch my focus when the Pilots come back and the Oilers make their big Anchorage-area road trip in July. I apologize to the Pilots and Oilers fans out there who may feel that I'm being biased against their teams; that's not my intention, I'm trying to do the best that I can, and hopefully by season's end I'll have covered everyone relatively equally. I'll also try to take the opportunity to do some recaps of the audio feeds, player profiles, random stories, etc. regarding the other teams so that you guys aren't completely left out.


- So in other news not related to why I'm the worst ABL blogger ever, a lot of our recently-drafted alumni have been signing pro contracts (keep in mind that just because a player is drafted, it doesn't mean that they have to sign; many who have college eligibility left won't.) Here's my count so far:

Emsley-Pai	Kawika	Oilers	2008	Arizona	10	301
Hur	Michael	Bucs	2009	Arizona	20	601
Tracy	Mark	Oilers	2009	Colorado	22	680
Gagnier	Drew	Bucs	2008	Detroit	16	523
Cole	Ryan	Miners	2009	Houston	34	1023
Mitchell	Jason	Pilots	2009	Kansas City	15	449
Rivers	Alex	Miners	2007	Kansas City	39	1169
Gould	Jeremy	Oilers	2008	NY Mets	28	842
Kountis	Jonathan	Panners	2007	NY Mets	19	572
Snow	Forrest	Bucs	2009	Seattle	36	1092
Whitney	Tyler	Pilots	2008	Seattle	34	1032
Berl	Brandon	Oilers	2008	Toronto	40	1206

The short-season minor leagues should all be in full swing by now, or pretty close to it if not, because the major league clubs have also been handing out assignments to their new draftees and guys who have been in extended spring training. This means that....

- Pretty soon here (maybe this week since I got screwed out of my game plan!) I'll be going through the Pro Prospect List and updating where everyone is at, adding the 2010 draft picks, and possibly removing some retirees from the list. On a semi-related note, I've been asked recently why I don't maintain a list of former ABLers with MLB experience, and the only answer I've been able to give is that I haven't gotten around to it yet. I've been toying with how to fit that into the structure of the site and the best answer I can come up with is to expand the "Pro Prospects" section to become "Pro Players", and add another listing of MLB-experienced guys. That might be a project for a slow period -- perhaps during the offseason -- so there's a look at what's coming down the road in the near and possibly distant future.

- Are you sitting around your house wondering what to do? You can still catch a Pilots game tonight! Tonight the Glacier Pilots are hosting the Miners in a 10:00 PM match-up at Mulcahy Field. And if the weather in Anchorage is anything like the weather tonight, it'll probably be delayed even later. So you've still got time to get out there and get a good seat; if you're in Anchorage, why not check it out?

That's it! That's all I've got. With all these games going on, and the excitement of the regular season in the air, it seems so lame to write these. So I'll just go ahead and leave it at that. Have a good weekend and a happy Father's Day!