I spoke briefly with manager Ed Nottle last week and he expressed some concern about one infield position in particular: “I’m still looking for a catcher.” According to the Can AM League website, he’s found one - Max Bouchard. Stats and vitals for Mr. Bouchard are pretty tough to come by, and I’m dealing with limited time this evening. What I did find was that he was playing for the Mets organization in the Gulf Coast League in 2007. The 22 year old, 6′2 catcher hails from Louiseville (sic?), Quebec. More later.
Speaking of Mr. Nottle, Ed was making the rounds this evening, speaking to members of the Orleans Little League out at the Kennedy Arena. Now that he’s back in town, look for more opportunities to see and hear the Raps skipper shortly.
And finally, several of you have noticed that the UOLB has gone dark. It’s temporary. Let’s just say I’ve got some housekeeping issues to deal with over there. Rest assured, it will be back - I’m hoping to have it firing on all cylinders by the weekend.
Senor Sager’s got the scoop on the Raps most recent acquisitions. It’s funny though - the local press is beating the Rapids to the news release because the players are telling reporters about the contracts directly. In some instances it appears that the team hasn’t even received the fax before the deal is revealed.
“Maranacook Community School graduate Jared Lemieux has another chance in professional baseball.
In a phone interview Saturday evening, Lemieux said he had signed a contract with Ottawa Rapids of Canadian American Association of Professional Baseball.
Lemieux, who graduated from Bowdoin College in 2006, said he will report May 9 to the team, an expansion franchise in the Can-Am League.
“It’s been a little stressful,” Lemieux said of waiting to sign a deal. “This was the No. 1 team I was trying to get with. It was just a matter of me waiting it out.”
Lemieux said he signed his deal and faxed it Friday to Ottawa. This is Lemieux third stop in the Can-Am League. He signed with the Worcester Tornados in 2006 but lasted just two weeks with the team. In the fall of 2006, he signed to play with Sussex for the 2007 season.”
The twenty four year old Lemieux has designs on being the Raps starting centrefielder. The other pickup is infielder Jabe Bergeron, and wouldn’t you know it, there’s a hockey connection:
Head Coach Dave Barnard on Jabe Bergeron:
“Jabe Bergeron is the best hitter we’ve had in my 11 seasons at Williams. He combines power with plate discipline and the ability to put the ball in play. In addition to being the all-time leader in every Williams College offensive category, he was also a three year starter in hockey, leading the team in scoring in his junior year……watched many hockey games over his career and never saw him take a penalty.”
Couldn’t find the hockey stats, but here are the relevant baseball numbers:
Or perhaps “vernacular” would be more appropriate. We continue to pick up on the baseball lingo, and the lesson this week has been the difference between “signed” and “acquired“. What we’ve learned: Don’t spend too much time blogging a player until he’s been signed. Sharp readers of the blog have been quick to notice that recent acquisition Abner Arroyo is already gone. On today’s transaction wire comes the news that Raps RHP, Matt Varner has been traded to Schaumburg of the Northern League for Orlando Trias - a former Toronto Blue Jays prospect.
Until Trias is actually signed, this will have to suffice:
Hey, sometimes it pays to read the Unofficial Ottawa Rapids blog! I received this invite by email today:
Hey Ottawa Baseball Fans!
We’re going to be at Brewer Park on Saturday May 10th filming an episode of Road Grill, the traveling BBQ television show. Our host, 2-time Grey Cup Champion, Matt Dunigan, and his Grill Team will be cooking up delicious food for our audience to sample.
Come and be a part of our audience and you’ll have the chance to win some great Baseball prize packs. The Parkwood Hills Softball Association Heart & Stroke Charity Tournament will be taking place so they’ll be some ball to watch, a great cause to support, and free food and prizes.
We are there from 9-6 but we currently have a slot for readers of the Unofficial Ottawa Rapids Blog from 10AM – 1PM.
For someone who is by his own admission, not comfortable in front of the media, Rapids GM Don Charrette seems to be finding his rhythm. Here’s the interview he gave to the Carleton School of Journalism a few weeks back. Don does a very nice job, and gives us a good idea of what’s coming up and what to expect from the Raps in 2008.
Just a quick note for this afternoon/evening - from the Can-AM League’s official website, Ottawa’s claimed infielder Abner Arroyo from the Sioux Falls Canaries of the American Association (Indy). More on Arroyo to come. And speaking of “filling out” - Sussex has acquired FLP, Walter Young. Walter reportedly tips the Toledos at 320+ lbs and is quite possibly the heaviest player in all of professional baseball. Atlantic City was rumored to be in the running for Young’s services, until Surf stadium and league officials became concerned about the structural integrity of a clubhouse that also included Cecil Fielder.
Just a quick post today on a rumor that won’t go away. There is growing speculation that uber-photographer, John Bradley will be joining the Raps as their official photographer. This would be an absolutely stellar addition to the roster. Mr. Bradley was kind enough to send over a timely photo that was missing from my collection - FLP and current member of the Raps roster, Napoleon Calzado:
Napoleon Calzado, 2006 Ottawa Lynx (Photo courtesy John G. Bradley)
*** UPDATE ***
GM, Don Charrette has confirmed the rumor: John Bradley will “shoot the Rapids” in 2008!
I confess that I don’t check the Rapids website as often as I probably should. I did look today, just to see how things have changed and updated and this caught my eye:
The Ottawa Rapids Baseball Club is in need of housing for our players arriving in early May.
The Ottawa Rapids are looking for people in the community who have, or know of anyone in Ottawa who has an apartment to rent or sublet or a room available for the summer. The Rapids players arrive in early May and will be looking for places to live during the season. Finding housing in Ottawa is a difficult task, and for our players who are renting for only four months, it can be even tougher. The Rapids are looking for housing leads that we can pass on to the players as they arrive. If you have any leads or information on housing, please e-mail me at the address below. Thank you for your help, and we look forward to our inaugural season of Rapids baseball in 2008!
Couple of things to note here. First up, I believe that some of the younger players (e.g. rookie age) may want to billet with families for the season. I expect that Francois would be able to confirm that if anyone is interested in that option. Second, I note that Mr. Marchand’s job title has changed to Director of Media & Public Relations. Good move on the Rapids part.
That according to Mike Kusiewicz, the Raps first signing. Follow the link to the article in today’s Centretown News Online - it’s a good piece, complete with opinion from Howard Darwin.
The arrival of a new baseball team is bittersweet for Howard Darwin, former co-owner of the Ottawa 67’s, and the man who brought professional baseball to Ottawa in 1993.
Darwin led the effort to bring the Lynx to Ottawa and convinced city council to approve the construction of Ottawa Stadium.
“I was very, very disappointed when the Lynx left,” Darwin said. “We worked hard to bring the team here and build that stadium.”
Darwin said despite the Lynx’s attendance problems, there is still a market for baseball in Ottawa.He also points to the Rapids later start date as something that will help the team.
“I hope they succeed, and they might, because they’re starting around the end of May,” said Darwin. “At one point they had to shovel the stands before a game. People won’t watch baseball in the snow.
Darwin also said he will head over to Ottawa Stadium to see a few home games.
While he says the quality of baseball won’t be the same as the Lynx, he’s just glad to see the stadium in use.
He hopes the Rapids do what it takes to ensure Ottawa residents can enjoy professional baseball.
“Whatever the hell they can do to keep baseball here,” said Darwin, “I wish them the best.”
In other news, the Raps signed infielder Jose De Los Santos a couple of days back. Jose De Los Santos, 23, hails from the Dominican Republic and in his three professional seasons has played every infield position, save pitcher. It was difficult to pin down his whereabouts in 2007,
According to Baseball America’s 2007 stats, it looks like Jose played for the Hickory Crawdads of the South Atlantic League. The Crawdads are the Single A affiliate for the Pittsburgh Pirates.
Proper Name: Jose Luis De Los Santos (De Leon) Born: Feb. 17, 1985 in Santo Domingo, D.R.
The Commissioner, Miles Wolff, was back on familiar and decidedly friendlier turf today speaking to City Council ahead of the regular Council meeting. For those of you that didn’t catch the webcast, things went off without a hitch. Friends of the Rapids, Jean Pierre Allard (freelance), Terry Marcotte (CTV Ottawa) and Don Campbell (The Citizen) took time to speak with Miles pre and post ceremonies.
Miles Wolff and Mayor Larry O’Brien
Miles Wolff, letting Council know he’ll be back soon, looking for a lease beyond 2009.
Terry Marcotte gathers the Commissioner’s thoughts.
What no one would have seen was the amount of work that went into the relatively brief presentation. Bruce Murdock (Deep Fly, if you prefer), the Raps point man at City Hall, made sure that all of the material was delivered to Laurier Avenue yesterday and helped out with the letter that went to each Councillor.
Look for MSM reports on CTV and The Ottawa Citizen this evening and tomorrow.
Couple of things to note here. First up, I believe that some of the younger players (e.g. rookie age) may want to billet with families for the season. I expect that Francois would be able to confirm that if anyone is interested in that option. Second, I note that Mr. Marchand’s job title has changed to Director of Media & Public Relations. Good move on the Rapids part.
