Two former Thunder pitchers received some good news over the past few days.
Trever Miller, one of just three players still active from the inaugural Thunder team, signed a one year deal with the Tampa Bay Rays with a club option for 2009.
Meanwhile, Charlie Manning was officially invited to big league spring training by the Washington Nationals, as was former Yankees backup catcher Wil Nieves.
Manning, the winner of my first “Good Guy Award” in 2006, spent the first seven years of his career in the Yankees organization with the notable exception of two half seasons spent in the Reds organization in 2003 and 2004.
He spent parts of the past five seasons with Trenton, and also advanced to Triple-A the past four seasons as well.
The knock on the southpaw has always been his velocity, as he topped out at around 87-88 miles per hour in Trenton. He threw a cutter, two-seamer and changeup while with the Thunder, and it’s certainly within the realm of possibility that Thunder fans could see him again with Harrisburg in 2008.
Mike Ashmore, mashmore98 AT gmail.com
