2008 Clearwater Threshers Roster Announced

It is finally official…the team’s 2008 roster was announced early this afternoon.   The 2008 squad will have nine players returning who were with the team during their 2007 FSL Championship run, and seven other players on the team have at least some prior playing time in with the Threshers.

Clearwater

C:  “Tuffy” Gosewisch, Alan Robbins, Orlando Guevara (DL),

INF: PJ Antoniato, Welinson Baez, Adrian Cardenas, Fidel Hernandez, Carlos Leon, John Urick, Clay Harris (DL)

OF: Quintin Berry, Jake Blalock, Jay Miller, Gus Milner, Matt Spencer

P: Antonio Bastardo, Dan Brauer, Darren Byrd, Andrew Cruse, Edgar Garcia, Matt German, Brett Harker, Nate Johnson, Carlos Monasterios, Joe Savery, Brian Schlitter, Alex Concepcion (DL), Kyle Drabek (DL),

It will be a pleasant surprise to see so many familiar faces on the team this year, since most years the squad is about 90% new. 

The season officially begins on Thursday night as the team hosts cross-county rivals the Dunedin Bluejays.  This Tuesday evening there will be a scrimmage between the Threshers and the extended spring training squad at Brighthouse field beginning at 6:00, and then on Wednesday evening the team will host a happy hour at the stadium beginning at 5:00 where you will get a chance to meet the players and the 2008 season ticket holders.  Both events are open to the public, so whether you are a season ticket holder or not it should be fun.

Black Monday for Phillies Minor Leaguers

Today was the day for big cuts in the minors.  Here is a list of the Phillies transactions based on the latest minor league roster , and a summary of the changes from the week 3 roster including the cuts made today.

CNBC Minor League Logos Contest

This is semi-off-topic, but I thought I’d post it anyway for grins.  CNBC is having a March Madness style tourny to select the best logo in minor league baseball.  In today’s brackets voting three of the Philllies minor league teams are in the running.  The Clearwater Threshers face the Modesto Nuts, the Williamsport Croscutters face the Quad City Riverbandits, and the Lehigh Valley Iron Pigs face the Gary Southshore Railcats.

Click here to view the site and place your votes for the best logos.

2008 Clearwater Threshers Projected Roster

I don’t know how much of a limb I am going out on to project this, but I have updated my Clearwater Threshers website with this (click here) as my projected 2008 line up. The projection is based on the latest 2008 ST roster mixed in with a little intuition. I’m guessing I’ll have about 20 of the 25 players correct, with a few free agent signings thrown in at the last minute just to mess things up and maybe a few other moves in the mix.

It will be hard to top the team’s 2008 FSL Championship, but I am looking forward to some good times at the park regardless of the team’s record.

This Week’s Updated Minor League Rosters

Alright gang, here are this week’s updated minor league rosters.   You can compare this to week 3 rosters, the week 2 roster and week 1 rosters that I had posted earlier if you would like.

Group 3 is what is projected as the Clearwater Threshers 2008 roster, though there will still be moves made before the roster is absolutely final. With the changes from 3/22/08 the roster is probably at least 90% accurate.

I’ll keep on the lookout for each new officially posted roster and keep them updated here as needed.  Next week’s roster will likely be final, or at least as close to final as it will get barring a few last minute changes.