Three Dragons move up, three new faces arrive

[OnBaseMachine]

Three Dragons move up, three new faces arrive
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By Staff report

Wednesday, May 28, 2008

Six players exchanged uniforms Tuesday, May 27, with three joining the Dayton Dragons and three moving up to Sarasota of the Florida State League. Joining Dayton are outfielder Anthony Gressick and pitchers Juan Rafael and Steve Otterness. Outfielder Daniel Perales was promoted to Sarasota with pitchers Philippe Valiquette and Enerio Del Rosario.

Gressick was a pitcher with the Dragons last season but has been converted to the outfield, where he went 3-for-22 for Sarasota. Rafael, a rookie last season, had been in extended spring training, while Otterness, a 29th-round draft pick last season, had not allowed a run in five relief appearances (7 2/3 innings) for Sarasota this season.

Perales hit .231 in 11 games for the Dragons while Del Rosario was 2-2 with a 1.59 ERA and four saves. Valiquette, in his fourth season in Dayton, was 0-1 with a 3.12 ERA.

The Dragons open a four-game series at Fort Wayne today and return home Sunday for a 4 p.m. game with West Michigan.

http://www.daytondailynews.com/s/content/oh/story/sports/pro/dragons/2008/05/28/ddn052808spdragons.html

[OesterPoster]

Great, right before I'm about to see my first Dragons' game this year. I really wanted to see Del Rosario, Carroll, and Montano. :bang:

Maybe with Jocketty under control, they'll place some new draft picks in Dayton (college kids) for the 2nd half of the season instead of Billings.

[membengal]

I am very pleased with how active the team has been in moving prospects since Jocketty took over.

[camisadelgolf]

I am very pleased with how active the team has been in moving prospects since Jocketty took over.

I don't mean to take credit away from The Jock, but this is an honest question, and I'm not sure anyone on the board can answer it: Does Jocketty deserve any credit whatsoever for players being moved up and down in the minor league organizations? Personally, I like that Lehr and Shearn were traded to Korea, but it looks like the trade-to-Korea idea came from a contract that Krivsky authorized. Naturally, when you remove players from AAA, other players have to be moved up to replace them. I think it was pretty obvious that Thompson would get a promotion, and Ramirez was a fairly easy choice, too. I like the movement, too, but I'm not sure any of it has to do with Jocketty.

[membengal]

Sure seems like a philosophical change in approach to me, but perhaps I am reading too much into what is happening now versus my memory of how glacial moves seems to be under Krivsky.

[AmarilloRed]

I don't mean to take credit away from The Jock, but this is an honest question, and I'm not sure anyone on the board can answer it: Does Jocketty deserve any credit whatsoever for players being moved up and down in the minor league organizations? Personally, I like that Lehr and Shearn were traded to Korea, but it looks like the trade-to-Korea idea came from a contract that Krivsky authorized. Naturally, when you remove players from AAA, other players have to be moved up to replace them. I think it was pretty obvious that Thompson would get a promotion, and Ramirez was a fairly easy choice, too. I like the movement, too, but I'm not sure any of it has to do with Jocketty.

It always seemed to me that Krivsky was very slow on promoting players up in the minor league system. I have my doubts on whether Krivsky would have made some of these moves. He might have moved Thompson to AAA; but he might also have let Thompson spend the whole year in AA. As for Ramirez, I think he spends the whole year at AA under our previous GM. I liked Krivsky as a GM, but he was very cautious.

[JayBruceFan]

Gressick had no business pitching in the first place

[highheat11]

Gressick had no business pitching in the first place

I agree, but only because he was an All-American hitter twice in college. He showed in his first two seasons in Billings and Dayton that he had some good stuff, especially a solid slider in the game I saw him pitch in Dayton last year...