Graham Released

Outfielder Tyler Graham has been released by the Revolution.  In 24 games, Graham struggled to get in a groove, posting a .245 average without a home run and nine RBI.  It was assumed Graham would be York’s regular lead off hitter and center fielder, but it hasn’t worked out.

Graham ended last season in the Major Leagues, appearing in 10 games for the Arizona Diamondbacks as a September call-up.  The Revolution’s active roster now sits at 26, and must be at 25 for the remainder of the season on June 1.

-Paul Braverman

James Shanks is now Revolution all-time hits leader

When he was re-signed to the Revolution roster on May 10, James Shanks only needed seven hits to tie Scott Grimes for the all-time franchise lead at 374.  On Tuesday night at home against Sugar Land, Shanks picked up hit number eight and 375 in grand style.

Trailing the Skeeters 6-3 with runners at the corners and two out in the bottom of the eighth, Shanks crushed a double off six-season Major League vet Gary Majewski to the right field gap, plating both runners to cut the lead to 6-5 in a game York was trailing 6-0.  Unfortunately they couldn’t complete the comeback and lost by the same score, but that didn’t hurt a great moment when Shanks took hold of the record.  It was Shanks’ second hit of the game, as he tied the record on a second inning single, receiving a nice ovation from the crowd on both occasions.  He is also now the franchise leader in multi-hit games.

As of May 21, Shanks is also second on the Revolution all-time RBI list with 195.  He trails only Ramon Castro at 214.  That record could be in reach some time soon as well.

Shanks, 34, was originally drafted by the Kansas City Royals in 1998, and is in his 15th professional season. He ascended to Triple-A with both the Royals and Marlins organizations.

-Paul Braverman

Scott Rice update: Leads MLB in appearances, on pace for Mets record, wins at Wrigley

Here’s a link from the Newark Star-Ledger, written by reporter Jorge Castillo: http://www.nj.com/mets/index.ssf/2013/05/mets_scott_rice_on_pace_to_set.html

It’s a few days old, but the information is basically the same; former Revolution (’11) left-hander Scott Rice leads the Majors in appearances out of the Mets bullpen.  As of May 20, he’s pitched in 25 games.  He’s on pace for around 100 appearances, which would set a New York Mets record.  I’m guessing after waiting for this opportunity through 14 minor league seasons, Rice is more than happy to pitch in as many Major League games as possible.  He’s pitched 20.2 innings in those 25 games with a 3.05 ERA so far, and has 13 strikeouts.

On May 19, Rice earned his second career MLB win after he retired all six batters he faced with a strikeout in the 7th and 8th in Chicago, in his first big league appearance at Wrigley Field.  Daniel Murphy’s solo home run in the top of the 8th put the Mets ahead for good 4-3, making Rice the pitcher of record.  It was also his first MLB win on the road.  His first big league winning decision came at Citi Field in Queens with the Mets 4-3 triumph over the Marlins on April 7.

-Paul Braverman

Former Braves, Yankees farmhand Cody Johnson joins Revolution

With the June 1 deadline approaching when all Atlantic League active rosters must be limited to 25 for the remainder of the season, the Revolution pushed their roster to the pre-June 1 max of 27 today with the addition of Cody Johnson.

Johnson, an outfielder who has primarily played left, began this season with the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders (Yankees Triple-A) where he played in 18 games.   He spent the 2011 and 2012 seasons at Double-A Trenton and A-Advanced Tampa, also in the Yankees organization.  He was originally drafted by the Braves in the first round of the 2006 draft, the 24th overall pick.  Johnson played in that organization 2006 through 2010 ascending as high as Double-A Mississippi before joining the Yankees.

This is Johnson’s eighth professional season, and he’s accumulated 132 career professional home runs upon signing with York.  In 2008 at Class A Rome he launched 26 home runs with a career-high 89 RBI, and followed that with a career-high 32 homers with 84 RBI the following year at A-Advanced Myrtle Beach.

With six outfielders now on the roster and the 25-man deadline looming, expect more roster moves in the coming days.  At least for now, the Revolution’s injury and depth issues are solved.

-Paul Braverman

Veteran outfielder Mike Coles added to roster

The Revolution have added some outfield/DH depth, as Mike Coles is now on the active roster.  This is Coles’ eighth professional season, and his time with York will be his first Atlantic League action.

A .302 career hitter as a professional, Coles most impressive season came in 2008 with the Windy City Thunderbolts of the Frontier League, where he hit .302 with 12 home runs and 75 RBI, both career-high totals in 89 games.  The season prior, he hit a career-high .330 for Windy City in 2007 with nine homers and 69 RBI.  Coles matched his career-high average by batting .330 again with the Fargo-Moorhead RedHawks in 2009.  He was a four-year player in the Big Ten at Purdue University between 2002 and 2005.

-Paul Braverman

Revolution pick up reliever Paredes

While adding at least one position player is still in the works, the Revs roster is back to 25 active players after the signing of LHP Edward Paredes.  Paredes began this season at Double-A Akron in the Cleveland Indians system, and spent the first five seasons of his pro career in the Seattle Mariners organization, where he was a teammate of fellow York reliever Stephen Penney, and former Revs Ryan Feierabend and Brandon Haveman.

The Dominican Republic native comes to York with 183 career appearances, and 44 career starts in the Class A levels with Seattle between 2007 and 2009.  He’s been exclusively a reliever since then.  Paredes owns seven career saves, and ascended as high as Triple-A Tacoma with the Mariners in 2010 and 2011.

-Paul Braverman

Matt Fox’s contract purchased by Mets

This one was a little wacky…

As the Revolution boarded the bus for their three-game series at Long Island Tuesday morning, Matt Fox hopped on not knowing the New York Mets were about to come through with an offer on his contract.  When Baseball Operations Manager Andrew Ball got the call, the bus had been on the road for maybe 30 minutes.  Ball then had to call Mark Mason to determine a place to pull over, where Ball could drive to catch up with Fox and bring him back to York to gather his belongings.  Ball picked up Fox alone in a Sheetz parking lot in Lancaster County with his luggage.  The bus kept moving to New York.

It’s kind of ironic that the Revolution are due to travel right through Flushing Meadows on their way to Long Island, where Citi Field, home of the Mets is located, but instead Fox will travel from York to their Triple-A affiliate, conveniently located in Las Vegas.  Also ironic, if Fox were to get called up to New York, it would mark the second straight season a Rev alum moved from Vegas to the big leagues.  Last season they were the Blue Jays Triple-A club when Shawn Hill was called up to Toronto.  The Blue Jays and Mets swapped affiliates this offseason (Las Vegas and Buffalo.)

The Revolution roster now stands at 24 active players.  We’ve learned a position player with a somewhat recognizeable name will be signing with York, but that transaction is about a week away.  Stay tuned.

The official press release from the team is after the jump…

The unlucky York Revolution

No, this post has nothing to do with the previous two where one player retired, and another left the team.  Rather, it’s about how unlucky the Revolution have been so far this season in regards to run differential.

Noted statistician Bill James, who is essentially the father of Sabermetrics, developed an equation that tells you your “Pythagorean winning percentage.”  That is a metric that lets you know how “lucky” or “unlucky” a team is based on the number of runs they’ve scored and allowed in the amount of games they’ve played.  This is the equation:

Andy Gonzalez leaves Revolution

The Revolution are experiencing some roster difficultly right now in regard to position players.  Shortstop Andy Gonzalez has left the team for “personal reasons.”  He has been placed on the suspended list and is eligible to return to the Revolution this year.  As of now, his absence is indefinite.

This development reduces the York roster to 25…but with 14 pitchers.  Certainly with the retirement of Jason Repko and Gonzalez leaving, position players will be added soon.

Gonzalez batted .271 with 7 RBI in 21 games for the Revolution this season.  He played in 91 MLB games with the White Sox, Indians and Marlins between 2007 and 2009.

-Paul Braverman

Jason Repko retires at 32

This one caught us off guard last week…but Jason Repko will not make the trip to Long Island on Tuesday and has retired from professional baseball.  Repko informed the coaching staff of his decision during the last home series against Somerset, and the two parties decidied this weekend’s series at Lancaster would be it.

Of course, Repko’s swan song was a 4 for 5 day where he scored two runs, and his final at-bat was a triple to centerfield.  He hangs it up after action in seven MLB seasons between 2005 and 2012, with the Dodgers, Twins and Red Sox.  He played in 360 Major League games, and all 24 so far for the Revolution this season.  Repko batted .253 with a homer and 11 RBI in that time.

The Revolution roster is currently at 26 active players.  It must be trimmed to 25 per league rules by June 1.

-Paul Braverman