Shorebird flies away

During the offseason, hundreds of baseball players gain, lose, or change employers. The big name free agents make headlines, but a lot of young men are uprooted as they are released or traded.

Yesterday the Orioles made a trade with the Chicago Cubs for outfielder Corey Patterson. They sent two players to the Cubs, and one of them was a familiar name to me.

Carlos Perez, traded to the Chicago Cubs organization January 9.

Carlos Perez started the first Shorebirds game I saw last year, and it was a memorable performance – 2 hits and 10 strikeouts in 5 shutout innings. While he didn’t get the win that day, he did finish 11-8 on the season with 146 strikeouts in 151 1/3 innings for Delmarva. Even though he was 4th in the South Atlantic League in strikeouts, he was only 3rd best on the Shorebirds staff! But his 11 wins were also in the SAL top 10 and led the Shorebirds’ pitchers.

I would expect the Cubs to place him with Daytona in the Florida State League, one level up from Delmarva. He obviously has some good power stuff but I’m thinking he’s more suited to be a reliever on down the line.

A team like Delmarva, which is several steps away from the Show, doesn’t often get players who make it all the way up or get traded for big leaguers. It will be interesting to follow a player that another team coveted as he continues his career, knowing he once played ball for the hometown team.

Author: Michael

It's me from my laptop computer.