So, what with all the changes at the Vancouver Canadians, and the recently improving weather, I decided to lock the blog for a week or so and get back to some normal life stuff.

It was sure weird to get out of the basement, change my underwear, and emerge blinking at the strange thing you surface-dwellers call the sun, but after a day or two, I kind of began to appreciate it. Makes me think there might be baseball on the horizon…

So let’s get into a brief recap of stuff that happened while I was starting a new business laying in the sun.

WES LONG GONE: Yep, that’s right - Wes Long has lived up to his nickname and been given his release by the Oakland A’s. You might remember Wes as the kid who was ripping it up in Vancouver in 2005, only to foul tip a fastball into his own face, fracturing an eye socket. The A’s sent him to all the right people and helped him get back on his feet, but the whole episode set Long back about a year in his development (you’d have to think the high and inside fastballs made him cringe a little for a while after he returned), and though he was strong in Kane County last year, he was simply not far enough up the ladder to get another season of pro ball at his age. Tough break, but hopefully he’ll try to catch on somewhere else. Thanks to Jeremy at the Roadkill Sports Blog for the heads up. Jeremy is also live-blogging UBC games and has done several daily spring training reports on ex-C’s players. He’s becoming a great source of info - can’t wait to see him unleashed on the C’s this year.

OUTFIELD FENCES MOVING SOON: The saga of the ‘have they moved or not’ routine continues, with certain journalists claiming the fences had been moved while certain beerhawkers clarified that they haven’t, but they soon will… or have been… Anyway, before the C’s season starts, we can expect a new more hitter-friendly outfield. This will mean more beat-up pitchers, more home runs, more outfielder-testing at the warning track and wall, and happier advertisers - albeit less of them (yes folks, not only are the walls coming in, they’re also coming down).

UBC THUNDERBIRDS TRAVELING ROUGH: Bob from TBirdBaseball.net tells me that there’s a nooner on at The Nat today between the University of British Columbia Thunderbirds (5-8) and the Lewis-Clark State Warriors (19-1). It’s likely to be a slaughter as the National NAIA Champs go about their business against a team decimated by the departure of a flock of seniors post 2006, but the TBirds do their best work when they’re up against it, and it would be quite the moral victory to take one of the LCS juggernaut.

However, those hoping the TBirds would be bringing out their top flight pitching staff for this series may be left wanting. According to Bob:

If you look at the schedule, [UBC] have three games the previous weekend at Concordia-Portland, and three more games the following weekend hosting Oregon Tech. [Their] plan is to give the L-C games a lower priority for [the] pitching rotation, basically conceding first place to L-C State. The deal is, L-C State doesn’t want to host the Region I tournament (they’ve got their hands full with the national tournament), so, assuming that L-C State finishes first, the second-place team hosts the Region I tournament. So, the games against Concordia and Oregon Tech are more important.

 There you have it, folks, the inner workings of the NAIA schedule writ large. It’s probably a wise move, as LWC is nasty up and down. They’ll be starting 5-0 Chris Kissock for Thursday’s game starting at 1pm, and if his win/loss doesn’t scare you, his 0.50 ERA should as hell should.

EX-CANADIANS MOVING AND SHAKING AT SPRING TRAINING: There are way too many ex-C’s to go through them all one by one at this year’s Oakland A’s spring training camp, but one that should be mentioned often is 2005 Canadians pitcher Mike ‘M&M’ Mitchell. He threw 8 scoreless innings in big league camp, and though he’s now been sent back to minor league camp, word on the street is he might be called upon to make his big league debut if a spot opens in the bullpen.

Not quite as happy is 2004 alumni Jason Windsor, who could have worked his way into the 5th spot in Oakland’s rotation with some good spring performances. Probable 5th starter Joe Kennedy has been getting eaten alive, potential replacement Shane Komine has been ordinary, as has Brad Halsey (he’s likely to start the year in AAA), so the chance was there for Windsor. Alas, he got worked, and so the question remains - who will be Oakland’s 5th starter?

The inside money is on Colorado Rockie Byung Hyun Kim, which could be bad news for 2002 Vancouver Canadian Dan Johnson. Or good news, since he might actually hit home runs in Colorado’s ballpark.