06/26/2007

Bums shake up roster, cut 3 pitchers

Yamamoto also released; trio of pitchers signed

BY JEFF PEEK

jpeek@record-eagle.com

TRAVERSE CITY — The Ship has sailed.

Three of his teammates are gone, too.

The Traverse City Beach Bums announced Monday that they have released popular pitcher Steve Shippey, a Frontier League all-star selection last summer, along with pitchers Buddy Klovstad and Dan Hawkins and catcher/third baseman Takeshi Yamamoto.

"They are classy, high-character guys who have been true professionals,” said Jason Wuerfel, vice president/director of baseball operations. "Unfortunately, the results just weren't there.

"They gave it all they had, but this is a business. We had to make some moves.”

Shippey began the season in the starting rotation but lost his spot to Hawkins. Both Shippey and Klovstad were in the rotation at the end of last year.

The Bums were the first team in Frontier League history to bring back their entire starting rotation from the season before, but the staff hasn't performed as well as it did in 2006.

Shippey struggled the most, going 0-4 with an 11.79 earned-run average. Shippey, Klovstad (0-3, 6.48) and Hawkins (0-4, 7.71) were tagged with 11 of the Beach Bums' 19 losses this season.

"We thought were set,” Wuerfel said of the Beach Bums' rotation. "Baseball is a strange game.”

Wuerfel said he believes that "at least one” of the pitchers will land with another professional team — "maybe all three of them.”

"We just couldn't wait any longer for things to change,” he said.

Yamamoto, who played professionally in Japan last summer, batted .292 with two RBIs in 24 at-bats with Traverse City. Arm problems forced him onto the injured reserve list to begin the season, and he continued to have throwing problems after he was activated.

Most of Yamamoto's at-bats came as a pinch hitter or designated hitter.

"Yama struggled defensively (at third), and he struggled behind the plate,” Wuerfel said. "Whether or not he's 100 percent healthy, I don't know. He tells us he has no pain, so maybe it's just that his arm wasn't as good as advertised.

"Whatever it is, we only have so many guys that we can DH.”

Wuerfel filled three of the four roster spots by bringing in pitchers Tim Dugan, Bryan Rembisz and Derek Bell.

Dugan, a 6-foot-3 left-hander who was recently released by River City, is scheduled to start tonight against Central Division-leading Windy City. Game time is 7:05 p.m. at Wuerfel Park.

"He's the typical Frontier League lefty. He throws in the mid-80s — cutter in to right-handers,” Wuerfel said. "He has a good breaking ball.

"He had one bad outing against Kalamazoo, and he had a pretty high ERA at home.

"But he pitched well away from River City.”

Rembisz, a right-hander, completed his collegiate career at the University of Vermont this spring. He was the Catamounts' regular second baseman — batting .309 — when he wasn't pitching. He was 5-3 with 2.05 ERA on the mound.

"He's a bulldog,” Wuerfel said.

Bell, a 6-foot right-hander, went 4-2 with a 4.11 ERA at the University of North Florida.

"He's been calling me and calling me, telling me how badly he wants to play for us,” Wuerfel said. "I love that about him.”

The Beach Bums' offense has heated up in recent games. TC (13-19) is now ranked second in the league in runs — Kalamazoo has scored 212, the Bums 208.

Five players are batting .283 or better — Zack Kalter (.317, 1 home run, 14 RBIs), Jeff Vincent (.308, 2, 23), Curtis Ledbetter (.300, 3, 25), Justin Holmes (.291, 3, 15) and Sam Orr (.283, 2, 20).

And all-start second baseman Steve Young, who separated his shoulder during training camp, is throwing again and could play as soon as July 4, about two weeks ahead of earlier estimates.

Young's return will not only help the offense, but it would be a shot in the arm for a defense that has committed the third-most errors in the league this season.

Another pleasant surprise for the Bums has been the quick rehabilitation of infielder Ben Ramsey, who was hitting .400 in a short stint with TC when he suffered a major hamstring injury running out a ground ball.

Ramsey has been working out at Wuerfel Park and been cleared by doctors to play. Wuerfel said manager Jon Cahill will test Ramsey's base-running ability today before deciding what to do. If Ramsey is ready to go, he would likely be re-signed and added to the roster.

In addition to tonight's game, the Bums will host the Thunderbolts on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday nights.