You may have noticed we did a little redesign on the site just
recently. Actually, it’s not done yet, but the PostNuke software we use
for the blog is a little hard to work changes into when it comes to the
site header, it seems.

Regardless, the changes allowed us to see much more easily whether or
not a comment has been left in a thread. Previously, you’d have to go
fishing into each column, and that took a long time. But now you can
see nice and easily, which has allowed me to go back and find a whole
boatload of previously unnoticed comments.

So rather than simply answer them where they sit, I figured we’d shine
a little light on them and crank out a Notes From The Nat mailbag.

Comment in a story about Ty Bubalo’s switch to the Frontier League:
"Shawn Martinez also plays for them."

Actually, the anonymous commenter was right, though he/she isn’t
anymore. Martinez signed on with the Otters before Bubalo did, back in
January, but when it came time to start the season, he opted instead to
retire. More’s the pity. Who knows what sort of damage the
Bubalo/Martinez combo could have done in the indies? Bubalo, for his
part, is currently hitting .250 for Evansville, with one dinger on the
year.

Comment from The Shullacker:
"Hello this is jimmy shull. Thank you for the nice things you have said
about me last year and now after this injury. It is true that I am
going to have Tommy John, looks like sometime next week. And you are
right, anything that I can do to come back better, WILL BE DONE."

I don’t know what a guy could add to that, other than "GO GET ‘EM, SHULLACKER!"

And it’s always nice to find another NTFN nickname has found a
permanent life beyond a player’s time in Vancouver. I look forward to
hearing the name "Shullacker" spoken by Oakland’s announcers some time
in the near future, as Jimmy Shull bounces back from TJ and continues
to dominate hitters.

Comment:
"OZZZZZ, Whats up? Ive been following the new blog and love it. Hope
all is well and keep me posted on how you are doing and if there is
anything new with the book from the ‘Couv. Thanks for the love on the
site. - Drucker"

And a big howdy to the man with the world’s largest collection of Air Jordan’s, current Stockton starting pitcher and 2004 Vancouver Canadians perma-grin, Scot Drucker.
To answer your question, Druck, the book I was writing on the 2004
Canadians has so far had a home at three (count ‘em) three different
publishers, two of which had second thoughts after the guys who
optioned the book got fired (such is life in Canadian publishing), and
one of which went bankrupt a week after scheduling it for a release.

So right now it’s in cotton wool, but the book lives on. It’s increased
in scope, and will now look at several years of C’s teams, where they
went after Vancouver, the stories they collected while in V-Town, life
in baseball, etc etc. Look for it some time around 2008-9.

Or 2010-11. Or 2016-17…

There’s more in the mailbag, after the fold.
Comment:
"JR Pickens is going to play for the Québec Capitales in the Can-AM
league this year. If you don’t believe me go on their website, his
profile is up in their roster."

You’re right. Or, you were right. The 2002 Oakland 10th
round draftee, who had struggled mightily, spending four years in A
ball or worse, was released at the end of last season and took root
with the Capitales, before being traded to the Coastal Bend Aviators of
the American Association of Independent Baseball. So far, he’s lighting
things up, with a line showing 4-1 with a 2.35 ERA over 11 games
pitching relief. He’s holding opposition bats to a .205 BA, while
striking out 15 and walking just 3 over 11 innings pitched.

Interesting side note: It seems the Lincoln SaltDogs picked up 2004-5
Vancouver pitcher, Clay Tichota, in February of this year, before
cutting him a few weeks ago. The only mention I can find of how he did on the Saltdogs website, doesn’t sound like he had fun:

"In the bottom of the eighth, Fort Worth answered back and regained
the lead off Saltdog reliever Clay Tichota, who hit the first batter he
faced and walked the next two to load the bases with no outs."

Six days later, Clay was sent home.

Comment:
"Any information on Jess Lacasse?"

Not really. The Bellevue University division III All-American pitcher,
27th round draftee, and teammate of 2005 Vancouver pitcher Ron Madej
was unceremoniously sent to Arizona, then cut, without getting much of
a chance to show his wares last season. According to the searching I’ve
done, he hasn’t resurfaced anywhere in a baseball uniform. Maybe if
he’s reading this, he can drop us a note with an update, but that’s all
I have.

Comment:
"Just linked to your site from Athletics Nation. Very nice. Well
written and well laid out. I am an A’s fan currently residing in San
Jose, but in the process of relocating to South Carolina. In addition
to getting satellite radio, I’m compiling a list of the blogs I’ll be
checking out. Yours is now on the list. I thought this three-part
series on your visit here was especially well done, although I think
you were a little too hard on Oakland. You nailed Palo Alto. It could
be I like your stuff so much because I share your opinion of the Giants
and Bonds."

Yeah, Bonds is an absolute ass, isn’t he? I don’t think I’ve seen him
break a jog this season, even trailing deep flyballs in left field with
the game on the line.

It’s true that I gave Oakland a rough time in my three-part series, but
you have to understand, I live in Vancouver. Next to this city, there
aren’t many cities that match up well.

Comment:
"Shawn Callahan awaiting duty due to only catching under 50 games in his life. "

Yeah, it sure seems as if Cally will be back in Vancouver this season.
He hasn’t shown up in Kane County or Stockton, and though he was really
coming along last season, especially towards the end, if Oakland drafts
catchers in the opening rounds of the draft, we’re going to see Dirty
Harry stuck in another season of short season roster merry-go-round.

Comment:
"Not a shocker that Bubs and Tietje are gone, considering Chalon didn’t play that last half of the season in 05"

I disagree. I thought that Oakland would stick with Bubalo for another
year, due to the fact that they drafted him out of high school, so he
wasn’t exactly ancient. Granted, he was progressing slower than they’d
like, but the guy can send the ball long. Sometimes.

With Tietje, he sturck me as the kind of guy that you want to keep
around to keep the kids in line. .A well-behaved, honest, smart,
happy-to-help individual who could hit the cover off the ball at times,
but really didn’t get a great shot at proving himself last season due
to a roster logjam of older players, which saw him taken off the
roster, even though he was still with the team.

I honestly hoped that Oakland would do with him what they did with
Benny Winslow - stick it out for another season, and if he didn’t spike
in stats, then simply ease him into a coaching role, which he would
have been great for. But I guess there’s only so many of those spots a
club can give…