Team News

Notes Around The League: New York Flatirons

by Stan Koczkodaj (7/31/07)

Doug Mirabelli (C) was the odd man out after the NY Flatirons acquired Clay Hensley in a trade with the Minnesota Moose earlier this evening, as the team released him immediately after the Hensley deal was announced.

The handwriting was on the wall for Mirabelli this year as he was buried in the depth chart as a 4th-string catcher with highly eroded hitting skills.

"Maybe I can catch on somewhere where they could use a good knuckleball-receiving catcher." said Mirabelli, as he cleaned out his locker.

Which could explain a few things, since NY has not had a knuckleball pitcher during Mirabelli's tenure with the team. (Mirabelli did try to influence Flatiron management to deal for Tim Wakefield when Chicago had offered the knuckleballer in a trade.)

by Stan Koczkodaj (7/31/07)

One hour before the trade deadline, the NY Flatirons dealt part of their future to fortify their present.

The Flatirons dealt away their First Round Pick in the 2008 Draft in exchange for starting pitcher Clay Hensley, who had been exiled to the Minnesota Moose bullpen for part of the year. New York also received Minnesota's Seventh Round pick in the 2008 Draft, along with Hensley.

Hensley is expected to fit right into the Flatiron starting rotation. The back end of the rotation behind Carpenter, Schilling and Dave Bush had been held down adequately by a mixture of starting pitchers. The Flatirons could be positioned nicely for a wild card spot but have ambitions of winning their division in what appears to be a barnburner down te stretch with the Pittsburgh Conspiracy.

by Stan Koczkodaj (9/17/05)

* Travis Hafner has really stepped up his overall production. In many slugging/hitting categories, he trails only Barry Bonds. Hafner is hitting .351, 3rd in the league behind Baroid Bonds (.357).

* Curt Schilling won his 20th recently, joining Johan Santana who has 21 wins. Schilling paces the league with 6 shutouts. The Flatirons are definitely riding the broad shoulders and bloody sock of this outspoken player this year!

* Carlos Beltran has indeed become a member of the 40/40 club, currently strutting around the Flatirons clubhouse with his 40 homers and 43 steals (not to mention his 120 runs and 103 RBI). He is in contention for Most Valuable Player in the American League.

* New York, 7-3 in their last 10 games, is nipping at the heels of the big offensive leaders. The Flatirons still pace the league with a .292 BA and is now pretty darn close in Runs with 855 (PIT-883, CHA-877, OAK-869) and Homers with 245 (OAK-264). Most of this production doesn't show up on the individual League Leader boards, as the numbers are spread out among the collective starters and bench players.

* Talk about unsung heroes: Joe Horgan has quietly moved into the ranks of stingy relievers with an Inherited Run Score % of .179, good for 6th in the league. Billy Wagner of Cleveland leads the league with .116.

* Curt Schilling pitched a one-hit shutout against the Philadelphia Phanatics on July 24 as New York won on the road, 7-0.

* As Block 8 ended, offensive spark plug Carlos Beltran became the first member of the 30/30 club for the season, reaching 30 homers and 30 steals after only 104 games.

* After the recent series of interleague play games, offensive duo Travis Hafner and Mike Sweeney have disappeared from the batting average leader board and other offensive charts as they each lost a fair amount of playing time. Hafner sat because of the lack of a DH in NL parks, while Sweeney felt the pines on his hinds during a rest period to preserve his stamina for the stretch run.

* The Flatirons recently took over the league lead in Team Batting Average with a .295 mark, just ahead of the Pittsburgh Conspiracy at .293. Pittsburgh remains in first place in the AL East Division as well as the league-leading run-producer with 654, followed by Chicago (615) and New York (608).