Buddy Wills

A little text about the 2013 first pick of the Jokers, Buddy "high pocket" Wills. Buddy is the grand son of ex star ball player Maury Wills. He plays in the 60 mostly for the Los Angeles Dodgers. Buddy, like his grand father always shine on a baseball field. But, instead of playing infield, he pitch.

The Las Vegas organisation quickly had an eye on him and they were very pleased to see that he was still available in 8th spot in 2013 draft. They select him but had a tough time to sign him. His nickname of high pocket was not a fluke, the kid want a lot of money. But they finally agreed on a contract and the youngster start in Victoria were he maintain an ERA of 2.30 with 2 wins and 3 defeats. The team is not very powerfull so they decide to jump him in AA with Calgary. He had a rough time in his first three start, according 13 runs in only 14 innings. But he learn quickly and start to shine. In his last three start, he gave only 4 runs in 20.2 innings with a perfect nine innings against Ashville.

The kid want to jump right now in AAA but the management will wait a bit. If he continus to dominate, he may finish the year with Reno in AAA but right now, the plan is to keep him in AA, gaining experience and developing him well. The organisation think they have a diamond in Wills.

Buddy Wills

 Rumors... there's a lot of rumors right now in Vegas. Management didn't answers to interview demands but some says that Juan Ramirez and Colin St.John could be trade. Management want to cut down the payroll a bit and they have a surplus of outfielder. There's talk with Minnesota mostly but some others teams join the mix and offers good players... Will see what the management will do but the teams is right in a dog fight to win the division pennant. Fans will surely take it bad if a move is made to cut the payroll... We will follow things closely in the next weeks.

The return of "Spring"

End of may, the Jokers leads their division by 3... thanx to the 4 games sweep of Eureka, first team in the chase with K-C not to far behind. That's why the return of Gordon "Spring" Thornton is welcome in Vegas. We will need everything to stay on top of the division.

Thornton has been acquire from Montreal in the Bob Rudyard trade. Montreal gave him mostly for financial reason. Thornton has a huge contract, 21M this year and 23 next year. He won't be keep by the team after that, 24M is too much when you need to keep Gould and Smith with the team.

But since his arrival, Thornton did a good job, a very good one in fact. He hit .323 (OBP .412) in 2013 and did better last year with a .332 (OBP .432). Unfortunately, he injuried himself late in the season and was a big miss in the final game defeat. So he's return could just boost the lineup, the team hope he could go on the field and do what we expect from him... hit and run...

Gordon "Spring" Thornton