Remember Nick Walters?  If you didn’t catch a C’s game in the first two weeks of the season, you’d scratch your head and ask yourself who he is.  Well, Walters quickly moved up the A’s farm ladder this season, starting out in Vancouver, then going to Kane County, before quickly advancing to Stockton.  He did get demoted to the Cougars, but he still had a great year after a couple of sour seasons with the White Sox organization.

Walters was about to be available to any minor league team - thanks to Minor League free agency - but according to the Oakland Clubhouse on Scout.com, that won’t happen.  Along with Walters, Brad Ziegler the sidearm phenomenon and Danny Borrell will remain with the A’s, hoping to quickly progress to the Big Leagues.

The OC later released the names of players who are now open to finding contracts with any MLB team (most will get a minor league contract though).  Players of interest to C’s fans are easy to be found.  From the original 2000 C’s, to guys like Casey Myers who played in Vancity as recent as 2006 (on a rehab stint, after earlier playing here in 2001).

Those players are Myers, southpaw Ron Flores, 2002 closer Jeff Muessig and 2003 OF Luis Perez.

Myers was plagued with injuries throughout his career, while Flores progressed to the Majors, doing a pretty good job with the A’s.  Flores finished 2007 with a 3.57 ERA with Oakland, and an even better 2.72 with the River Cats during his 40-game AAA stint this season.

Muessig’s story is some-what similar to Myers’, injury wise.  He could’ve have bought a pad in Stockton, because he spent much of the last few seasons in the single-A city.  He did reach Midland, but after struggling in the California League, his effectiveness was probably questioned.

Perez was one of the better hitters in C’s history - but injuries killed the Venezuelan who had spent 8 years in the A’s system.  Playing with Dustin Majewski and Andre Ethier in the C’s outfield way back when, Perez wasn’t the better known player on the ‘03 roster but he certainly left his mark on the Canadians.