Season reviews-SAL edition

Since they are no games today,I figured that I would catch up on how some players that we follow did in 2007 and where they might go in 2008.

Position Players-Batting Average,Home Runs,RBI

Chris Marrero:
Hagerstown: .293, 14,53
Potomac: .259, 9,35.

Marrero tailed off a bit at seasons end,but had a spectacular 1st full season.
Chris could start the year at AA Harrisburg,but may also start at High A Potomac for a month or so.

Justin Maxwell:
Hagerstown: .301,14,40
Potomac: .263,13,43

Maxwell is finishing his season at Washington,but is not expected to be a threat to start there next season.
Maxwell is highly thought of and could begin next season at AAA Columbus,but is guaranteed to be no lower than AA Harrisburg.

Mike Daniel
Hagerstown: .290,7,37
Potomac: .296,4,41

Daniel progressed well,but needs to develop his power numbers.
Mike could start at either AA Harrisburg,but a brief return to High A Potomac is possible.

Adrian Cardenas
Lakewood: .295,9,75

Cardenas had a strong 2007 season and seemed to adjust well to a position change from SS to 2B.
Adrian will be at High A Clearwater next season.

Nick Weglarz
Lake County: .276,23,82
Kinston: .143,1,1

Weglarz had a spectacular first season as an outfielder and projects to have a quite a future.
Nick will return to Kinston,where he had a brief cup of coffee this season.

Matt McBride
Lake County: .283,8,66
Akron: .576,0,0

McBride had a solid season and had a cameo at AA Akron.
Matt is rumored to go to AA Akron,but really should be assigned to High A Kinston

Logan Morrison
Greensboro: .267,24,86

Morrison was a power presence in a great year for Greensboro.
Morrison should be the power anchor next year for High A Jupiter

Pitchers-Won-Loss,ERA

Erik Arnesen
Hagerstown: 6-7 4.61

Arnesen split time between the bullpen and the rotation this year.
Erik finished the season very strongly with two strong efforts.
Erik could move up to High A Potomac or begin the season back at Low A Hagerstown,depending on the Nationals needs.

Cory Van Allen
Hagerstown: 1-3,3.62
Potomac: 3-7,5.49

Van Allen's record was not great at Hagerstown,but that was due more to lack of support than poor performance.
Cory had some problems at Potomac,but showed flashes of potential.
Cory will likely return to Potomac to start 2008.

Marco Estrada
Hagerstown: 1-5,5.25
GCL Nats: 0-0,3.28
Potomac: 5-3,4.94

Marco battled injuries at Hagerstown and early on at Potomac,but was dominating in his last four starts,as he allowed just 4 runs over his last 25 and two thirds innings.
Marco's excellent stretch run should allow him to start next year at AA Harrisburg.

Mike Crotta;
Hickory: 10-5,4.39
Altoona: 0-1,10:12

Crotta picked up his game in the second half after a slow first half.
Mike's improvement was one of the main reasons for Hickory's last to first run in the SAL.
Crotta should start at High A Lynchburg.

Bradley Clapp;
Hickory: 6-10,6.41

Clapp's season was the reverse of Crotta's and seemed to have problems of some type in the second half.
Clapp will likely move to Lynchburg,but Hickory return is not out of the question.

Jared Hughes
Hickory: 8-9,4.64

Hughes was consistently the Crawdads best pitcher over the season,but really fell off over the final month of the season.
Hughes should start at High A Lynchburg.

Eric Krebs
Hickory: 2-2,1 save,4.82
GCL Pirates: 2-0,2.08

Krebs was out with injuries and upon his return was converted to the bullpen.
Krebs and his power arm may be better suited for the pen and his numbers seem to bear that out.
Eric could start at either Hickory or Lynchburg next season.

Alex Periard
West Virginia:7-7,2 saves,3.55

Periard was a main anchor in West Virginia's great season and looks to be a solid prospect.
Alex will start at High A Brevard County and could even move to AA Huntsville with a strong spring training.

Mike Ramlow
West Virginia:5-5,1 save,6.11

Ramlow struggled this season,but I think that he may have a future as a lefty bullpen specialist.
Mike could return to West Virginia or move up to Brevard County.

Bullpen Notes

Here is a great column from the Seattle Post-Intelligencer on the retiring Mack Strong.
A very nice goodbye to a good guy.

Nationals Farm Authority now has their look at Potomac up.

No Devils tonight,but a rare look for me at the Chicago Blackhawks as they battle San Jose on a Shawn off night.
Tonight is the debut for Chicago rookie Jonathan Towes and we will be covering the game here.

And finally,supporters of Al Gore took out a full page open letter in the New York Times (not cheap) imploring him to run for the Democratic nomination.
The main reason that we have not endorsed a candidate here is that we want to keep options open in case of a Gore change of heart.
Here is a link to their website.