07/20/2007

Bums deal Vincent to Gateway

TC receives two players for benched outfielder

BY JEFF PEEK

jpeek@record-eagle.com

Vincent

Bradburry

TRAVERSE CITY — Five days after being benched for disciplinary reasons, Jeff Vincent has been traded.

The Traverse City Beach Bums dealt the former Boston Red Sox prospect to the Gateway Grizzlies on Thursday for rookie infielder Kyle Bradburry and a player to be named.

The 6-foot-4, 205-pound Vincent batted .295 in 48 games and was leading the Bums in runs (39), RBIs (33), steals (12) and triples (4).

"Jeff has great talent. He has all the tools to play organized baseball,” said Jason Wuerfel, Traverse City's vice president/director of baseball operations. "But he has a unique personality that didn't fit well with the personnel we have.

"It's not that Jeff is a bad person or didn't play well while he was here. It was just better for all concerned that we part ways.”

Bums manager Jon Cahill said Thursday that Vincent arrived late for batting practice at Wuerfel Park on Sunday prior to Traverse City's game against Slippery Rock. Cahill said Vincent told him he got caught in traffic, then was pulled over by police for speeding on his way to the park.

Cahill said it wasn't the first time that Vincent had been late.

"There are three things I ask of my ballplayers, and they all hear it on day one — play the game hard, play the game right and be on time. That's all I ask,” Cahill said. "So I pulled him from the game that day. He came down for batting practice and I told him not to worry about it, that he wasn't playing. He reacted by gathering up his things and walking off the field.

"That did it for me. He walked out on his teammates,” Cahill said. "It's not fair to these guys to have a teammate walk out on them. He crossed the line.”

Vincent, who drove to Sauget, Ill., on Thursday to join his new teammates, admitted that he was late to the ballpark on Sunday because his family was in town and he misjudged how much time it would take to drive across town.

But he denied that he was habitually tardy or made trouble. In fact, despite his differences with Cahill, Vincent wanted to stay in Traverse City.

"I didn't want to be traded. I was hoping we could work things out,” Vincent said. "I don't think (the organization) could handle my personality. I'm a little edgy.

"When you have a young manager and a young organization... maybe someone else would have done things differently.”

Cahill admitted as much.

"This whole thing with Jeff, from his standpoint he might not have done anything wrong,” Cahill said. "Another manager may handle it better than I did. The bottom line is, Jeff needs to play. He's a good player.”

Vincent said he hopes to turn a negative situation into a positive one.

"I'm pretty excited about the team I'm going to. They have a good shot at making a run at the playoffs,” he said. "I just feel bad about what happened. I don't want people to see me as something that I'm not.”

Bradburry, a 23-year-old native of Yukon, Ohio, appeared in 26 games for the Grizzlies, who are in first place in the Frontier League's West Division. He is hitting .220 with two home runs and six RBIs.

Cahill said the player to be named "will definitely be a pitcher,” and Wuerfel said he hoped the deal would be completed "within a week.”

The Beach Bums also announced Thursday that they have released third baseman Ben Ramsey, who re-injured a troublesome hamstring that has hampered him since being acquired from Washington last month. Ramsey batted .228 with one home run and five RBIs in 18 games.

"The guy has such a great work ethic that he got himself back on the field and played through the pain,” Wuerfel said. "But we felt he just wasn't going to be 100 percent this season.”

In addition, Cahill said he has returned Phil Tognetti to the bullpen and replaced him in the starting rotation with right-hander Jeff Williams. Williams (4-1, 4.73 ERA) will make his first professional start tonight against Rockford.