On this cold, blustery Tuesday, I thought of how much I’ll soon be missing baseball, which made me think of how much I’m already missing the Cape League. The translation of this is that pretty much any kind of day will make me think of a way I can ease into an off-season notes column. Cold and blustery? Cape League all the way.
It has not been the quietest off-season, due in large part to the drama in Falmouth. In case you missed it, you can catch up here. To make a long story short, Falmouth general manager Robert Clark removed manager Jeff Trundy from his post in a decision that was reportedly unilateral. The Commodores Board of Directors quickly convened and reinstated Trundy, which prompted Clark, his wife and team president Christine Clark and secretary Helen Kennedy to resign. Just a weird situation all around. I don’t know enough about the situation to take a side here, but it seems the majority opinion was with Trundy on this one. He’ll be back in the dugout next summer.
There were some moves in Bourne too, without any drama. Dan Dunn will take over for Tom Fink as general manager.
Sean Manaea got plenty of love in summer top prospect lists, but the biggest news as far his future is concerned came from Perfect Game’s Allan Simpson. In his early top 100 for the 2013 draft, Simpson put Manaea in the top spot. There’s a long way to go, obviously, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see Manaea cement that status with a dominant spring. Whatever happens, there’s a decent chance a former Cape League will go No. 1 overall. Manaea, Mark Appel and Ryne Stanek are getting labeled early as the big three of college arms and they’ll all have a shot to go first. The Astros will have the first pick for the second year in a row. And though it’s only fall, Manaea is already getting scouted. Get used to it, Indiana State.
Plenty of Cape League alumni alive in the MLB postseason, led by the Giants tandem of Buster Posey and Tim Lincecum. I’m also a big Tommy Milone fan. The Oakland A’s lefty played for the other A’s in 2007 and was fighting the soft-tossing lefty label even then, when he didn’t make the Cape League all-star game and then surged late in the year to earn Outstanding Pitcher honors.
The guys at Bullpen Banter had some nice Cape League coverage and have continued it into the off-season. Al Skorupa, Peter Wardell and E. Tyler Bullock have a First Team, Second Team, Sleeper Team and a Best Tools list up there now. Check it out here.
