5/30/2011: Fargo, ND – Fargo is amidst a spiraling 2-11 record in their last thirteen games.  The Dinos have lost their starting third baseman, right fielder and a starting pitcher for 1 ½, 1 and 3 months, respectively, and find themselves 8 games out of first in their division and 6 ½ games out of the final wildcard spot.  Things are looking pretty dire, as we have passed through the quarter mark in the baseball season.

A rash of moves is reportedly being made, and foremost is Tuesday’s news that the Dinosaurs had signed Bob Petersen to take over at 3B.  The 33-year-old veteran signed a deal for $5.7 million with the team.  Petersen played in Bakersfield all of his career prior to reaching free agency this past offseason, but found little interest and went into this season unsigned.  Questions remained about Petersen’s 2010 season, where he hit 15 HR, 37 2B, and had an OPS of .880.  That was an outlier among two previous seasons where he struggled to salvage sub .700 OPSs.  But with the loss of Salvador Ruíz, the Dinosaurs’ regular starting third baseman, for a month and a half to a partially torn labrum injury, and a struggling offense that ranks in the bottom quarter of the league in hitting with a team OPS of .697 and only 4.2 runs scored a game, Fargo brass have decided to take a risk and hope that this can kick start the struggling offense.

A prime culprit has been the big offseason signing of Pedro Silva, who has struggled with a .186 batting average and a .656 OPS.  Add in a bunch of injuries and also the regression of second baseman Cipriano Carnossi, who had a career year last season but, like Silva, is sitting on a .656 OPS thus far this season.  We could go on and on, and certainly these are not the only players struggling out the gate compared to their 2010 output.

Also of surprise comes the news that Randolph Teague will be promoted into the starting rotation to fill in for the injured Danny Bentley.  Teague has been an amazing fire-balling power pitcher through his years in the minors and enters the majors coming off of a AAA season where he has posted a 11.57 K/9 and a 3.43 ERA thus far.  Control is the name of the game for Teague, who has struggled walking hitters in the minors, but it will be exciting to see how he adjusts to major league hitters and if he can keep up those strikeout numbers.  For Teague, making it to the majors at the age of 21 is considered a great success, and he is one of the great group of prospects that team scouting director Scotty Ross has signed through the international market.