by Patrick Bailey, Charleston Gazette

11/11/2012: CHARLESTON, WV – One year after making the post-season for the only time in franchise history, the West Virginia Coal Sox clanked over the finish line of the 2012 season, winning only one more game than the low mark of the team set in 2009 and 2010.  The conclusion feels inescapable – the post-season excitement of 2011 was the exception.  The Coal Sox are a franchise mired in mediocrity.

This year began with promise.  The Coal Sox had lost to division rival Florida in the first round, 3-1, to end the prior year’s campaign, but the team had breathed in the intoxicating odor of October baseball.  Rookie manager Pedro Castellanos had taken a team expected to finish fifth in the Division and led them to the third-best record in the league.  The addition of mega-prospect Ronald Harmon and former SL All-Star Norberto Pacheco appeared to bolster an already young and impressive team.

And then, like so many seasons in the past, the team underperformed.  Out of contention by mid-May, the most exciting events of the season became the all-so-familiar trade deadline fire sale and watching the September call-ups.

Popular frustration has begun to mount against management.  Castellanos, formerly fancifully bandied about as a candidate for mayor of Charleston, is now public enemy number one.  Ownership has increasingly been under fire for perceived mismanagement and penny-pinching.  Owner and general manager Tyler Babcock has steadily withdrawn from interacting with the public, trusting assistant general manager Jane Pomfret with the majority of the public relations responsibilities for the front office.

No apparent plan for the 2013 season has emerged yet for the team.  Uninformed speculation on the future of the team runs the gamut from a full-scale rebuild to a budget-busting free agent frenzy in pursuit of the Rodriguez Cup.

Expect a slow off-season in Charleston.  The Coal Sox appear to be shutting down the mine.

Arbitration Nears: The Coal Sox have three players eligible for arbitration this year: SP Harumi Yamamoto, MR Dominic Bélanger and MR Jake Tate.  Negotiations with all three are ongoing and have been characterized as “difficult” by Dennis O’Riley, the agent for both Yamamoto and Tate.  O’Riley says both of his clients want a multi-year deal, a demand the Coal Sox are reluctant to meet.  Belanger is widely expected to receive a multi-year contract with little trouble.

Wood Explodes: Ernest Kaufman couldn’t believe it when he heard about it.  “That’s not the kind of guy he is,” Kaufman said after having been informed of former Coal Sox Jon Wood’s assault on Seoul Crushers GM Mark Kierstead.  “I guess playing in the LRS finally got to him.  Maybe he regrets going overseas.”  Kaufman played with Wood on the Coal Sox during the 2009 and 2010 seasons.

Minor Update: The Coal Sox have named Ángel Cortéz (AA Maine) winner of the organization’s minor league player of the year award.  will receive the award during the 2^nd Annual Blood for Bats charity softball game at the Ballpark of Maine on December 1^st.  The Red Cross fundraiser will return by popular demand.  Near-freezing temperatures for the round-robin tournament turned last year’s event into an instant classic community event and raised over $10,000 for the Red Cross.

Stat of the Week: $1,127,265.00 – The revenue sharing bill for the Coal Sox this year, half as much as the team paid out last year.