Reggie Taylor has agreed to contract terms with the Barnstormers. The outfielder, who hit .302 with 23 homers, 77 RBIs and 25 stolen bases in 115 games here last season, is expected to join the team by the end of next week.
Taylor was contacted by the Long Island Ducks, who were interested in making the Atlantic League All-Star their center fielder, but his preference was to play in Lancaster.
A quality pick-up. Hopefully the team can win a game or two by the time he gets here.
Welcome Back Reggie, we’ve missed you !
Thanks for choosing us over L.I.
Things are looking are starting to look up folks. First, we scored 4 runs last night and now.. Reggie’s smile will be back in The Clipp soon.
Yessssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss. There is a baseball god.
Can Lancaster file a grievance with the league about Long Island breaking the rules and talking to Reggie?
People thinking that Taylor’s going to single-handedly come in and turn this team around are mistaken.
I think Lancaster is multiple players away — pitchers, to be more specific — from being a playoff contender, and they’re going to need a lot more than Taylor to get it done.
Get me Taylor, bring back Foster, and get me one more bat. Someone in the Crozier mold, a good contact hitter with average power who can play multiple positions…
Give me one or two more starters, put Lira in the pen and have him set up DePriest, and then maybe you’ve got something…
But what are the odds of all that coming together?
I don’t think signing Taylor is about jump-starting a playoff run. The Barnstormers just want to look like they’re trying to improve and keep this season from turning into a complete debacle — if it’s not already.
If Taylor had shown up on the Ducks, while Lancaster is eight games out of first place, that would have looked really bad. It’s interesting that the team announced this move a week before Taylor is supposed to arrive. That screams PR to me.
It will still be nice to see Taylor back in Lancaster. He’s obviously a great player at this level.
The glass is always half full. Any positive news is good news. Now address the pitching and we can win the second half. Go Stormers.
I guess that’s kind of the thing though. Are they already in a “why bother” stage of things? Eight games back with 49 games to play is hardly insurmountable, but I don’t think anyone who follows the league has seen any indication that this is a team you’ll see in the postseason. And if that is the case, then why even bother bringing Taylor back?
Jason.. I agree that it is a PR move. Why announce it now.
I do think Taylor will help a slumping team and am glad he is here. He is going to help a lot. But I still think we are in trouble because we get no help with what we need help with the most and that is pitching. We have to get help for the middle part of our bullpen and we also could use one or two (because our starting pitching has hit a wall) starting pitchers. We keep getting guys that will help the offense and are great PR moves but we need help with pitching. I want someone we can count on and know we will get a good outing from every time he takes the mound.
Why bother?
Mostly because there will be 5,000 fans a game at the ballpark the rest of the season and the baseball operations folks failed to improve the team during a miserable first half. If you let Taylor go elsewhere, you’re basically saying you don’t care.
If there’s anything positive to come out of this situation, it’s that BASA will have to be altered next season. This can’t be allowed to happen again. You can’t have one of the league’s most closely-followed teams playing like the Road Warriors. It’s bad for business.
Jason…It was not bad for business if you are ODP/BASA. They put together not a very good team and gave us nothing for the whole first half and no pitching help all year and we still show up for the games, It is great business move on there part. They worked and spent the time to help other teams that do not draw as good and we kept going to the ballpark to watch a bad team. It work out for ODP. It is not right and down right sucks but ODP does not care. All they care about is if they are making money. There is not one person down at ODP/BASA that cares about us fans. They will care if we stop going to the ballpark but untill that happens then they don’t care.
I guess that for as much as I hear that one of BASA’s main priorities is that they try to give the player the best opportunity possible, that Taylor didn’t go to York.
I know that was never an option, but with Bergeron just getting picked up and the Revs actually having a chance at a playoff spot, that there’s a much more dire need there than in Lancaster, although Taylor’s obviously going to play just as much for the ‘Stormers.
Under the assumption that this is a PR move, I think there’s a very strong chance it could backfire. I think a lot of people, as I mentioned previously, have a false sense of hope that Taylor is going to be the team’s savior. And hey, maybe he will be.
But what I think is a more likely scenario is that he’s unable to single-handedly save the sinking ship and it will end up exposing how mediocre the team really is.
Again, the scenario I presented earlier — and it seemed they were headed somewhat of a right direction with the Jose signing (although I believe he was scouted out of a retirement home) — with signing several players instead of just bringing in a familiar name would be a sign that there’s a genuine commitment to winning.
I keep asking for more pitching but may be can hit them to death. We can bring in a couple of more player like Taylor and maybe we can start winning game 16-12. I will take a win any way we can
Sorry. Some bad typing for me. Too early in the moring I guess
James,
You keep operating under the assumption that building up Camden serves some benefit. No one cares in Camden. They don’t get a boost from having a better team and they’re not going to get good attendance for playoff games.
Having a great team in Lancaster is good for business because fans love this team. This is also the third year of the franchise, which means a lot of the advertising and season-ticket contracts will expire. They don’t want the Barnstormers being a huge loser on the field right now. That’s for sure.
Mike,
As for Taylor and York … players have a say in where they ultimately land. You can’t just tell them where they’re going. Taylor wanted to play in Lancaster and got his wish.
It seems like players have far less say about where they end up this year than in years past, however.
Few things would surprise me at this point…
Here is my opinion break down of this team.
C: We have one of the better catcher in the league. He is one of the better offensive catcher in the league and does a pretty good job throwing out runners. We have an good backup.
Grade: A-
1B: We are strong at first base. The problem is Todd has had a bad year for him. If he starts to hit then we will be in good shape.
Grade: B (should be an A)
2B: We have been pretty week at this position and would have been nice to upgrade here. We have two backup type players playing there. I don’t have a problem with Woods there but you need to make up for a bad bat with a strong third basemen bat
Grade: D
SS: We may have the best shortstop in the league and if not then very close. He has done everything ask of him. This may be our strongest position. If we did not have Danny at short this year it really could of been an ugly year.
Grade: A+
3B: This has been a problem for us all year. We needed a strong bat here and never had one. Van note made it clear he was not the guy. Woods could not do it. I do like Martinez here so far but we have not seen enough to say if he is the answer at 3B. If would be nice to go get a 3B with some power and low strikeouts for 3B and move Martinez to 2B.
Grade: F
OF: This is a one of the better area of the team. I would have liked to have a RF with some pop early in the season. Right now the OF is real strong (Will get even better with Taylor coming back).
Grade: A-
Starting Pitching: Well, the starting pitching has not been real good this year. In the first half, the only guy you could count on was Stevens and this second have he has been bad. It may be because he is tired. There is not one guy that you can count on giving you a good solid start. We never know how the starting pitching is going to do from game to game. Last year, we could count in a couple of pitchers. We need some help when it comes to starting pitching.
Grade: D
Bullpen: The middle of the bullpen has been a joke all year. We have people in the bullpen that had no place being on this team. If not for the backend of the bullpen, this may have been the worst bullpen I have ever seen.
Grade: D (I only gave it a D because of Derrick and Eric, it should be a F)
Manager: This was a bad area for us also. Frank has cause a lot of the problems we have now I feel. We did try to fix the problem here by letting Frank go and having Rick take over. Still not sure how Rick will do. Only time will tell.
Grade: F
BASA: This has been a joke from the very start. Nothing I can say good about BASA
Grade: F
ODP: Well, I have nothing good to say here also but I do think ODP did what they wanted to do. They made sure BASA help the teams that do not draw as good for more fans will show up at the gate.
Grade: I like to give them a F, but if you look at them as a business, then you have to give them an A
Check out the number i am, Welcome back Reggie, and Rad your right, i can’t believe AA didn’t give us a hard time. Is she anywhere around? Go Stormers
okay, missed by one. i thought i was quick. 18 isn’t bad but i will have to be quick the next time to hit 17
Jason… It did give Camden a boast in attendance by having a better team. They are averaging 3,550 fans a game. Do you think that many show up for a bad team. I would guess they lose about 1,000 fans a game average by having a bad team (If not more). That is 63,000 more fans a year by having a good team. Lancaster has the same fans win or lose (I know we dropped some but not much). Why not help the team that could give you 63,000 more fans. Are the Barnstomers going to lose 63,000 fans this year because of a bad team. No, they are not. When it comes to the playoffs, I don’t know if Camden is going to draw but if they can get around 4,000 fans a game then they don’t lose a ton than if we were in there. I understand the Barnstomers will lose some ticket sales but ODP is banking on not losing a lot this year. Maybe that will be their mistake but only time will tell.
All this is not right because we maybe are the best fans in the league but we are stuck with ODP/BASA and there is not a lot we as fans can do.
James,
I don’t believe any listed attendance figures for Camden. I also don’t think people there are tuned into the team enough to even notice if it’s winning. There is absolutely no way that Camden is getting an additional 1,000 fans a night based on the standings. I’d wager there are nights there are barely 1,000 fans in the ballpark in the first place.
You may be right. I am only going by the numbers posted. I never been to a game there (Camden is not a city I am in a hurry to see
).
Anyone want to bet that Taylor will never play a game for Lancaster? How about 10 games? I hope he stays the entire rest of the season, but I wouldn’t bet the farm on it.
I have attended several games in Camden and was pleasantly surprised by the area.
I hate to admit this but…I was born there in Cooper Hosp. A true South Jersey girl
I enjoyed “socializing” with the ushers and other employees. We never had any problems or security issues while parking the car or docking the boat.
So PTW give it a try. The waterfront in Camden is coming around, there a lot to see and do… I recommend spending the whole day.
Rad..you have an email!
got it Amy.. sorry
It is easy to grade the players but theses guys have played under the worst circumstances. Yes Steve has 13 errors in 65 games but Felix now has 2 in 7 games, his batting average is 270… not that much better. Craig Paquette from the riversharks is batting a 222 with 14 errors at third base. Nelson Bryant with just 30 games has 8 errors on third. Errors are par for the course on 3rd and grading the players is unfair when they do not have the pitching to help them out. With the catcher injured, the strongest hitter in a slump the manager and the front office not up to par it is a wonder the team can even take the field. I do not think Taylor is the answer but he may help and he is a nice guy. I still do not want to see a player like Dom, Jutt, Russ, Steve or Chris lose a place on the team to someone who just stops by for a paycheck inbetween other oppurtunities.
Have to agree with the last sentence of Maureens post…. thats very well put. I am wondering who will be the odd man out as far as the outfield situation. I am betting that it will be Dom…. he has seemed to get the short end of the stick whenever they get the chance to stick it to him. first of all he should have been in the lineup from the very start and now he doesnt get to play as much as he could. being as he’s the one guy who’s hitting more often than not..I would think he would be playing alot more.
Van Rossum is the only one that makes sense. The past couple of days offer ample evidence of what happens when Ambrosini doesn’t play. Switch Van Rossum and Taylor between RF and DH and keep Ambrosini and Hileman right where they are. If Taylor shows up and is actually going to play, then something has to give, like it or not.
Camden’s already in the playoffs, so if you’re operating under the theory that the Riversharks are getting preferential treatment, there would be no reason for that to be the case.
Again, in theory, if BASA had to pick between a team that’s already in the playoffs, or the three they have that aren’t, Camden isn’t going to be getting the help…
In theory. Do I actually believe that’s how they operate? Meh…
Pitching comparison…we are hitting .264 as a team..our opponents .293..29 point diff. Bad…very Bad. York is hitting .281 and their opponents .273….ok..a positive. Shows you our pitching staff is terrible and that’s just the hitting part…doesn’t include all the Walks..hit batters..WP’s etc. and ERA.
Mike… Camden was helped in the first half. They are not getting much help now. Right before the second half there was a bunch of player for York come in and made them a lot better of a team. Lancaster has had a couple of good players, a couple of PR moves, and a bunch of junk come in as players this year. Of the three teams that is owned by ODP/BASA, we got the short end of the stick this year. In the first half, we need help with players and did not get anyone. We went almopst the whole first half with no backup/util. players. Camden had a player in about two days after losing one. I am done talking about BASA because it makes me so mad. Like I said before, I don’t expect to make the playoffs or even having a winning team every year but I do expect an ODP/BASA to do the best to put a winning team out on the field and they have not done that this year.
Van Rossum needs to be the odd man out. You need to have Dom and Jutt at the corner outfield positions and Taylor in Center. You then have to find time to get Crozier into some games. You mix those players up to be the DH and sometimes have Crozier at 1B and Todd DH. I don’t see any room for Van Rossum.
Maureen.. You said that “I still do not want to see a player like Dom, Jutt, Russ, Steve or Chris lose a place on the team to someone who just stops by for a paycheck inbetween other oppurtunities”.
Well, That is baseball. This happens a lot in Indy ball but it happens in all baseball. It is not fair but if they have someone that is going to do a better job than you then you lose out. Baseball has very little to do about being loyal or if you are a nice guy. It is more of can you do your job and help this team win. If yes, then you play. If no, then you sit the bench or get cut. Again, all this is not right or fair but it is baseball.
I agree with #32 in regards to the outfield. This is a business just like any other business. Having incompetant “nice people” is the quickest way to close the doors. This leads to another question looking ahead to next year …..
When I look at the LI roster, they only had a few players that were on their team from last year. In the Atlantic League, how long do teams have a players rights? On December 1 could Lancaster just cut loose everyone and start over if they wanted?
Also I don’t want to start a war with the ladies, but …..
I hear the same comments about players from my Mom, wife, sister and sister inlaw. All are very knowledgeable baseball fans and HUGE Phillies fans. It’s always Pat Burrel is so cute, Wes Helms is cute, etc, etc. It doesn’t matter that the guys are underachieving. This goes back to the Micky Morendini days.
I really enjoy reading about my Barnstormers on this site, but when we lose 4 games in a row and most of the comments are about Dom being hot, and how cute Ryan Minor looks I start to wonder. We should be talking about how good it would look when our pitchers throw strikes or our runners cross the plate. Again this isn’t personal just had to vent. I love you all!
WHO….WHO thinks Pat Burrel is cute? He looks like Joe Scarborough without the boyish charm. People thinking Burrel is cute is one of the signs of the apocolypse, you know.
PTW, It is easy to say there is no loyalty in baseball but if that is true why would the team want Reggie Taylor back, Quincy Foster or even Travis Hake?
And, you know, the flip side of your post is that there really isn’t much left to discuss. Every idea must have been posted by now but now they’re losing games like, if they keep losing, they’ll win something. So I don’t see where it really matters anymore.
#1 Reggie is a he11 of a ball player no question.
#2 Quincy was a great player last year and for some part this year as well
#3 Travis……. now that Puzzed me, i guess because 2nd base had slim pickins so you take whats there
(But all are fan Favorites)
and i guess Lancaster fans are who are the loyal ones not management
Ha Ha Ha Barney… just tryin to lighten the mood here. we may be playing ugly baseball but at least the guys are CUTE doing it !!!!
“Mike… Camden was helped in the first half. They are not getting much help now.”
Which is pretty much my point, in a nutshell…
Technically, players’ rights belong to their Atlantic League team until Dec. 31. Then they are free agents. But there’s a “gentleman’s agreement” that teams don’t negotiate with players who were on other Atlantic League teams without permission. Long Island didn’t seem to care about that agreement.
As for adding Taylor … he was the best player on last season’s championship team and he stayed here the entire year. So it’s not like he’s some baseball mercenary. Of course you sign him, whether it means releasing someone else or not. The goal is to win and the Barnstormers haven’t done it with their current collection of players.
Don’t get me wrong, I really like Reggie, he is a gentleman and a good ballplayer but so is Dom. Quincy is a different story. If it was up to me and I was picking between Dom and Quincy it would be an easy answer, Dom.
*Gasp* Long Island didn’t care? Oh, my dreams are dashed! The magic is gone! Say it ain’t so, Dave! Say it ain’t so!
Rad – Thanks for being open minded and be able to joke about it. As you said the other day, life’s too short … enjoy! The team should be glad they have fans like you. Keep up the good work.
Jason – Thanks for clarifying the teams rights. The reason I was asking is concivably Lancaster could have a whole new roster if they chose to next year. Not that we need to “clean house” I just was curuius what the rules were. Thanks!
I don’t expect Foster to return. The Barnstormers already have four left-handed hitting outfielders — if you count Taylor.
AA will be happy. She probably has some of his cards for him to sign.
nah…cleaned up on Reggie last year…nothing left on him.
Way to go Lance with your homerun! Here come the Stormers. Miss Steve Van Note again in the lineup. Wish they would let him play. Way to go guys, keep up the great job!!!!!!!!!! Yeah, James!!!!
Way to go James and Stormers!!!!
Who am I going to root for defensively if they let Chris Van Rossum go????
Maybe he will be player to be named later to York. That wouldnt be too bad. Then I could watch him in York with Stormin. Who needs Tanaka anyway???
I just looked, Felix Martinez has a lower batting average then Steve. Maybe Steve will get some play time soon.
Travis’s is.067, that is sad.