Ed Yeats reporting for the Tempe Gazette

6/7/2009: Yuma, AZ – Markus Hancock is having quite a second season for Tempe and has been simply dominating.  His record is 6-4 with an ERA of 1.85.  With a little luck he could very well be 12-0.  One thing is for sure: all the naysayers who criticized GM Chris Van Hauter for bringing him up too early have not been very vocal, and according to Van Hauter, "It is very hard to verbalize when your mouth is full of crow.”  Hancock is a cinch to make the All-Star team and he is a key ingredient to Van Hauter's five-year plan for Tempe to be a championship caliber club.  Even though Tempe's record is 22-36, Van Hauter is confident his team will surpass the 65-win mark from last year and believes that – with the newly acquired Jeremy Lawrence, David LaFrance, and Tim Eaton (just to name a few) – Tempe is a legitimate threat to contend for a championship in the not-too-distant future.

In other news, Gary Fisher’s tenure with Tempe looks like it will only last a year because he refuses to negotiate with the Knights.  Van Hauter stated that he would listen to offers for Fisher, who is a quality starter but obviously does not find Tempe to his liking.  "It is a shame," according to Van Hauter, “because Fisher could have been part of something special, but we do not want people here who do not want to be here.

It looks like Tomás Ramos will be called up pretty soon if Van Hauter is able swing some roster room for him.  Van Hauter tried to swing a deal but did not receive any offers to his liking, so Ramos is here to stay.  According to Van Hauter, "Sometimes the best deals are the ones you don’t make, and hopefully that will be the case with Ramos."

The Terry Thorton watch is in its third month and he is impressing Van Hauter even though his numbers are not sparkling.  Thorton started the season hitting a horrid .160, but over the last month has raised his average to .229 and is swinging the bat a lot better.  He is also fielding his position very well and Van Hauter stated as before that Thorton is not going anywhere.  Van Hauter concluded that, "Everyone was up in arms about Hancock and they were wrong, and the same thing applied to Thorton; he will also be serving up crow at the end of the year."

Van Hauter is a little concerned about António García who, after starting the season 5-0, has been shelled his last few outings.  The GM hopes that it is just a little slump and he will right himself but admits that García will not be up much longer if he gets hit hard his next few outings.  He concluded that, "Although I like García's stuff, I do not want him  to keep getting shelled every time out and if he needs to go back to the minors to work on the mechanics that helped him start the season 5-0 I will not hesitate to demote him.”

Stay tuned for Tempe’s notes on this year’s draft and the players selected.