Corey Thurman (pictured above) had his best season in the Atlantic League last year. The longest tenured player (2008-2011) in Revs history went 13-3 with a 3.33 ERA. It would be a shock if the York resident didn’t return to the Revs in 2012, but Thurman would only say he remains in negotiations with the Revs.
Thurman talked about his two offseason stops in winter ball this offseason, including a stint in Mexico and Venezuela.
The Revs will host “Home Runs for Hearts” presented by the American Heart Association and Lincolnway Flower Shop from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday. Fans can purchase tickets online at YorkRevolution.com but the first 40 people to spend $40 on Revs tickets at the stadium box office Saturday will receive a $40 gift card to Lincolnway Flower Shop.
All merchandise at the First Cap Team Store will be marked down 50 percent until 3 p.m. for the one-day event. And the Revs will donate $1 from every individual ticket sold — and $5 from every six-pack of tickets sold — to the American Heart Association for research for congenital heart defects in children.
Revs pitcher Corey Thurman will also be signing autographs from 10 a.m. to noon. Continue reading
* Here’s more talk about the Atlantic League returning to Atlantic City. (The article talks about the city that won the inaugural league championship hosting one — as in a single — game this year.)
It makes sense. The ballpark was opened in 1998, so it’s not even 20 years old. It’s sitting empty. There’s no reason a team doesn’t play there. But it’s a big step to go from “an Atlantic League game” in The Sandcastle (pictured above) to an Atlantic League team returning to the Jersey shore. But we’ll see what happens.
* Former York Revs closer Francis Beltran reached a deal with the Orioles Continue reading
The Revs bolstered their pitching staff, particularly their bullpen with three player signings announced Monday. They also announced the return of fan favorite Liu Rodriguez, 35, as a player/coach for 2012.
York brought back The Professor, left-hander Kris Regas. Regas, 32, posted a 3.57 ERA in 33 combined appearances with Lancaster and York last season. He appeared in five postseason games, allowing three hits and no earned runs. Regas has an interesting offseason gig, teaching math at Globe University (Sioux Falls, S.D.).
The Revs also signed Dumas Garcia, 28, the man who struck out the only batter he faced to save York’s 5-4 10th-inning victory in Game 5 of the divisional championship series in Lancaster. The win allowed York to advance to the Atlantic League Championship Series. Garcia (pictured above) went 2-3 with a 4.70 ERA last year for York.
York added former Road Warriors right-hander Omar Javier, 24, after he went 0-6 with a 5.65 ERA in 2011. But last year marked his first experience above rookie ball.
… they’re chanting “Liuuuuuuu!”
Liu Rodriguez, 35, will return for his fourth season in York in 2012 as a player/coach. A fan favorite almost from his first day in York in 2009, Rodriguez continues to be greeted by chants of “Liuuuu!” each time he walks to the plate. The former big leaguer (1999 White Sox) will join the coaching staff of manager Andy Etchebarren, pitching coach Mark Mason and hitting coach Enohel Polanco in 2012.
Rodriguez batted .231 in 75 games with the Revs last season, but the Venezuela native helped York find Lorenzo Barcelo late in the year. And Etchebarren turned to Rodriguez in the postseason to help improve York’s infield defense. He has established a club record by playing 172 games at second base for the Revs.
Read about Rodriguez’s return in the York Sunday News.
The Revs had been looking at Santo Luis (pictured above) for several months. At the end of the 2011 season, York’s coaching staff tried to bring on the hard-throwing right-hander for the Revs playoff push. The move never happened, but the Revs made Luis one of the first signings of 2012. Continue reading
Revs reliever Sean Stidfole (pictured above), one of the big cogs in York’s bullpen during its back-to-back championship seasons, won’t return to play for York next season.
“I got a pretty good job offer and I just figured it was about time,” Stidfole said about his retirement from baseball. “The last two years have been so great. We had two great teams with some great team chemistry, and I want to remember (my career) like that. I would hate for it to end another way, and I’m ready for it to be done.” Continue reading
Former York Revolution skipper Chris Hoiles wants to return to work for the Baltimore Orioles, and he’d be open to working at the minor league level.
MASN staffer and former Baltimore Sun reporter Roch Kubatko caught up with Hoiles recently. A resident of York County, Hoiles has been out of coaching since stepping down as Revs manager in August 2009.
“The job I’d really enjoy is working in-game with pitchers and catchers, and with the pitching coaches, and having a plan before the games like we used to do. Go over the opposition and have a game plan, and then work with them in-game, talk to them,” Hoiles said. “I could help with their hitting, too. I think I have a lot to offer with that.”
Pitcher Nick Schumacher became a big part of the York Revolution’s championship run last fall, but he won’t start the season with the York Revolution.
The right-handed starter has signed a deal to return to Sioux City in the independent American Association. Schumacher traveled to Australia in the offseason, but he has agreed to terms to return to the Explorers.
The Revs acquired him for the stretch run last year, trading for his rights for a player to be named later. The player to be named later, as is almost always the case in these type of out-of-league deals, proved to be Schumacher. It’s a win-win move for both teams. The American Association finds a few extra weeks of work for its best players, and the Atlantic League clubs that pick up the late-season players bolster their rosters. There is one catch, though. Few players actually stick in the Atlantic League after such a deal, otherwise the American Association would never agree to trade away its best players at the end of their season for fear of losing its top talent.
* Several former Atlantic League players are headed to spring camp with major league organizations. Former York Revs relievers Mike DeMark (Arizona Diamondbacks) and Scott Rice (L.A. Dodgers) are included in that group.
* More news out of Malden, Mass., expected. Developers hope to plant an Atlantic League franchise in the Boston suburb.
* Organizers hope to bring baseball back to Atlantic City. One of the six founding teams in the Atlantic League in 1998, the Atlantic City Surf jumped to the short-season Can-Am League in 2007. The Surf folded in 2009.
York Daily Record/Sunday News Sportswriter Jim Seip has covered minor league baseball since 2001. He's covered the York Revolution since the franchise's first game in 2007.
