Heads22 Posted April 8, 2004 Share Posted April 8, 2004 Barons Announce 24 Man Roster By Alex Ernst April 7, 2004 FutureSox.com The 2004 Birmingham Barons, led by new manager Razor Shines, announced their Opening Day roster. The pitching staff is led by All-FutureSox preseason team pitcher Kris Honel. Jim Bullard, subject of the last FutureSox chat, will also be traveling to Birmingham for the upcoming season. Besides Bullard and Honel, the pitching staff also includes Arnaldo Munoz, who spent last season in Charlotte. He is being converted to a starter this year and the Sox decided with the stellar rotation in Charlotte to give him a chance to ease into the starting role at Birmingham. Tetsu Yofu also pitched for Charlotte last year, as well as Birmingham,and he was bounced around from starter to reliever to closer. He is projected to begin this year in the starting rotation. 2003 saves leader Jeff Bajenaru will be back with the Barons in 2004. Ryan Meaux, Heath Phillips, Matt Smith and Dennis Ulacia all spent time with the Barons last year and return again for this upcoming season. Kristopher Keller is the new face to the organization, spending last season with Chattanooga, Louisville and Portland, as well as Brian McNichol. Wyatt Allen, Josh Fields and Preseason All-FutureSox team pitcher Ryan Wing round out the staff. Fields and Wing will start out the season on the DL. Jonathan Aceves and Carlos Maldonado return to the Barons catching corps this year. Chris Stewart will join the Barons despite a somewhat lackluster season in Winston-Salem last year, batting .207 with two home runs and 27 RBI. Aceves will start the season on the DL. Speedster Ruddy Yan moves up to the Birmingham infield from Winston-Salem this year, bringing along with him Mike Morse. Morse slugged 10 homers and 55 RBI last year in Winston Salem. Aaron McNeal spent last season in Reading, where he had a nice season at the plate as far as power numbers with 13 home runs and 71 RBI, but he still lacked some at the plate, batting only .234. Josh Shaffer and Guillermo Reyes return to Birmingham this year, while Rob Sasser spent parts of last year in Bowie, Omaha and Ottawa. Birmingham will carry four outfielders in 2004, with none returning as stars Scott Bikowski and Jeremy Reed move up to Charlotte. Nate Murphy comes down from Charlotte after hitting .238 with eight homers and 15 RBI, while Michael Spidale has been bumped up from Winston Salem. Darren Blakely joins the Barons from Brocton of the Independent League while Micah Franklin joins the team from Japan. Note: The easy-to-read format of the Barons roster will be up soon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DBAHO Posted April 8, 2004 Share Posted April 8, 2004 It'll be very interestin to see how Meaux and Munoz go as starters in their rotation. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heads22 Posted April 8, 2004 Author Share Posted April 8, 2004 http://www.futuresox.com/index.php?module=...=display&ceid=6 There's the easy to read version. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chisoxfn Posted April 8, 2004 Share Posted April 8, 2004 Good work as always Alex I'm looking forward to seeing how that staff does in Bham. It should be pretty stinking good. And Rex pointed out to me that they got a lot of veteran bats, so once again it should be a team competing for the postseason. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SoxFanForever Posted April 8, 2004 Share Posted April 8, 2004 Birmingham has to have the coolest names for guys on the coaching staff....I mean come on, Razor Shines, Joe Nine. They sound like guys you wouldn't want to run into in a dark alley. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soxguy Posted April 8, 2004 Share Posted April 8, 2004 I was looking at the other minor league roster and noticed a catcher, Carlos Lee on the warthogs Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YASNY Posted April 8, 2004 Share Posted April 8, 2004 I was looking at the other minor league roster and noticed a catcher, Carlos Lee on the warthogs If I'm not mistaken, that is Carlos Lee's younger brother. Kind of like Larry, Darryl and Darryl from the old Bob Newhart show. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jordan4life_2007 Posted April 8, 2004 Share Posted April 8, 2004 I'm lookin forward to see how Honel does. I've been hearing so many good things about this kid..I hope he does well... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CWSHarris1 Posted April 8, 2004 Share Posted April 8, 2004 If I'm not mistaken, that is Carlos Lee's younger brother. Kind of like Larry, Darryl and Darryl from the old Bob Newhart show. Carlos has a borther Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hatchetman Posted April 9, 2004 Share Posted April 9, 2004 Do I count 9 guys age 26 or older? That doesn't sound good. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rex Hudler Posted April 9, 2004 Share Posted April 9, 2004 Do I count 9 guys age 26 or older? That doesn't sound good. Not a lot of "prospects" in Birmingham this year. There are a few guys who this could be a make or break year, but also more veteran free agents than I have ever seen here. This shouldn't be a surprise because Winston-Salem hasn't been strong in terms of position players in a couple of years. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
southsider2k5 Posted April 9, 2004 Share Posted April 9, 2004 Do I count 9 guys age 26 or older? That doesn't sound good. Yeah that sounds a lot more like a AAA roster. I guess between trades and flops, this was to be expected. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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