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2015 Articles


Strap In, Boys!

Port Hope Goes for Broke at the Deadline

(CBL Newswire) - by Chris Kinsella of the Port Hope Argument

Port Hope, ONTARIO - “Holy #*?$@!!!”

That’s a direct quote from the Commissioner. It’s not all that different from the reaction at Battery Park, either.

Right on the deadline, Port Hope and Quebec pulled off the biggest intra-division trade in CBL history, with the Battery trading three #1 picks - including a #1 and #4 overall - to the Bulldogs for what amounts to the core of the team that won the Beer four years ago. All-stars Trad Ale (2B) and McYett (1B) were acquired along with LF Hank Warner and two top pitchers in Mark Cedeno and Louis Underwood

Just last week, I wrote an article about a team on the rise, rising something like sourdough bread, slowly gaining size and bulk in the warm dark of the bottom of the division. Today, ladies and gentlemen, the rising, kneading, cutting and baking are done in Port Hope. All done, thanks. Tadaaa! Presenting the new Port Hope Battery, all finished and dressed up shiny about five years earlier than anyone was expecting.

Earlier than you were expecting, too, Mr. General Manager?

“Um, well, to be honest, I’m just about as surprised as anyone,” Chris Jones said late Sunday. “We thought we had our club together and were going to just play the cards we had. But [Quebec GM Claude] Seanosky made us an offer we thought we shouldn’t refuse.”

Seanosky’s offer came in about three days before the trade deadline, exactly as the trade went down eventually. “We don’t normally do that, take a trade as it’s presented to us, but this time there really wasn’t any room for negotiation,” Jones said.

It almost didn’t happen at all. Sources in the Port Hope office say Jones initially rejected the trade out of hand. Teenage phenom pitcher Tanner Franklin and new hotshot Danny Linosele are among Jones’s favorite players, and he was not interested in dealing them. But two things happened to change Jones’s mind.

The first was that Port Hope went on an inexplicable 6-game winning streak, their longest in three seasons. It worsened their eventual draft position from 7th to 11th, and brought them within 12 games of wild-card leader Ottawa. The Milk Men (or Milk Maids, as they are known at Battery Park) are long-time rivals. Nobody thinks there’s any really good chance to catch them, at least not that they are willing to admit to publicly, but all of a sudden the possibility was there.

The second was the confirmation of a trade offer to rebuilding Blackwater, bringing outstanding CF Condrey to Battery Park. “We haven’t had a top CF since [Dennis] Szafranski left five years ago. There’s been a hole there. But when we knew we had filled that one, we started thinking that maybe the time to move was now. That was when the brass started looking around at each other and saying ‘hey, what would happen if…’”

Jones was reluctant to deal the team’s draft package, but coincidentally a week before Port Hope had secured Moose Jaw’s drafts for next year, and saw that as a way of compensating the team. In the end, Jones decided to pull the trigger.

“We knew we didn’t have enough hitting to make a run at the Beer, and even adding Linosele didn’t make us true contenders. We still had too many holes. Now,” Jones said, “guys who were hitting 3rd and 4th are hitting 8th and 9th or not even playing. We’ll make a run this year, but next year, when our pitchers are a year older and we’re not dragging around 45 losses at the all-star break, we think we’re going to be tough to deal with.”

Quotes from the Clubhouse:

“It’s a surprise, certainly. Since I’ve been here we haven’t been picking up fellas. It’ll be tough getting everyone to integrate for the last two months of the season.” - Shug Shaughnessy, Manager

“I’m disappointed. I felt like we were gelling as a team, and I was starting to hit a little bit; now I’m on the bench and probably will be the rest of the season. I’ll just have to come back in the Spring and take my job back.” - 2B Marc Frobel

“The last week or so there in Quebec, it was like a slaughterhouse. Everyone knew the axe was coming, eh? This isn’t the place I thought I’d come, but there’s a good energy here, like a karma. And five of us coming over at once, eh? It’s almost like not being traded at all. ‘Cept I have to move.” - 1B Mc Yett

“YEEEEEEHAAAAA! Happy days are here again! I knew Jones would pull something off. Too bad about losing the kids, though.” - Buzz MacReady, longtime fan

Note: Ticket sales shot up over 40% for the Battery’s next series with Toronto. Management reports season ticket inquiries for 2016 have exceeded all previous records.

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