Media Day Wrap-Up

That’s a ton of posts and quotes and so on for you guys.  Enjoy. 

It was good getting to chat with some of the guys I got to cover last year, and to meet a few of the new guys as well.  I promise you I’ll have more stuff with some of the other players new to Trenton as things wear on, but I can’t exactly interview everyone on the team in one day…and besides, if I do, why would you need to come here?

Here’s a quick wrap-up…

— Christian Garcia, Ryan Pope, Jeremy Bleich, David Phelps and D.J. Mitchell is your 2010 starting rotation.  With the first seven games being at home, you’ll be able to see all of them.  I personally would flip Phelps and Mitchell if it were my rotation, but it isn’t. 

— Garcia, will throw between 75 and 85 pitches on Thursday night.  Garcia said 80-85, Tony Franklin said 75.

— Grant Duff will, according to Tommy Phelps, get the opportunity to close out some games this season.  Being in that spot can speed up his Triple-A promotion quite quickly if he handles it well…

— Franklin did not have his Opening Day lineup set just yet.  I’ll have that for you on Thursday afternoon, a few hours before game time.

— Franklin also did not have the names of the players who wouldn’t start the season in Trenton.  There are 26 players currently with the team, and only 24 can be on the active roster.  My guess is you see an infielder and a pitcher moved in one way or another…but Scranton apparently has 27 players, so there could be some trickle down-effect with them as well.

— Bleich evidently stayed in Tampa a little later than most of his teammates, and was walking in the stadium as I was on my way out…which was around 3 PM.  Media Day festivities, including the team photo, began at 1.

— Josh Schmidt was one of many players to get swarmed by a rather large group of media…probably the largest group of people I’ve ever seen in front of him.  SNY was there, as was the New York Post.  Schmidt was also rather subdued, as he knew all the questions would be about him not starting the season in Scranton, something he’d rather not discuss. 

Mike Ashmore, mashmore98 AT gmail.com