Perhaps the biggest name next to Roger Clemens to come to the Atlantic League, slugger Vladimir Guerrero will be bringing his talents to Long Island this season.

Guerrero, 38, has signed with the Atlantic League’s Long Island Ducks, according to a report Thursday night from Foxsports.com reporter Ken Rosenthal.The Ducks’ Twitter account confirmed the news Thursday night.

The Ducks had yet to announce the signing Thursday night and message left on the cell phone of Ducks’ manager Kevin Baez was not returned.

While York Revolution manager Mark Mason is happy about the news, he said the Revs might have just missed out on signing Guerrero after having discussions with him most of this off-season.

“We were basically trying to tell him a better opportunity afforded him here to get back to the big leagues,” Mason said. “As of yesterday the way it was left was that he would think about it and maybe give us an answer early next week and see what went on from there.

“I’m happy that he’s in the league. I think it’s great that he’s in the league. Am I disappointed that he didn’t sign with us? Obviously. He’s a borderline Hall of Famer.”

Guerrero, 38, last played in the big leagues in 2011 as a member of the Baltimore Orioles. Mostly a designated hitter, he batted .290 that season for the Orioles, with 13 homers and 63 RBIs in 145 games. Guerrero is a career .318 hitter in 2,147 games in the majors, with 449 homers, 1,496 RBIs, 1,328 runs scored and 2,590 hits.

The Dominican Republic native played in just 12 total games last season split between the Toronto Blue Jays’ Class High A Dunedin and Class AAA Las Vegas clubs. This season, Guerrero was deciding between coming to the Atlantic League or going to the independent Can-Am League to play with the Quebec Capitals.

In a string of tweets from Rosenthal late Thursday night, Guerrero released the following statement on signing with Long Island:

“I loved playing in Canada and really wanted to play for Quebec and old friend Michel Laplante. I grew up with the Montreal Expos and played there for almost 10 years. The fans there are my friends. However, my ultimate goal is to make it back to the majors and reach 500 homers as soon as possible Quebec’s season starts about a month later than Long Island. I own a home on Long Island and am also very comfortable there. I am very grateful and excited for the opportunity.”

Revs’ third-base coach Enohel Polanco, formerly a resident of the Dominican Republic, had been working the phones from his New Jersey home over the off-season.

“Polo talked to him (Guerrero) for awhile (Wednesday) basically telling him that we would give him all the lee-way he wanted,” Mason said. “Three weeks ago he said he was gonna go to Quebec and play. A part of it was he had signed his first pro contract in Canada with Montreal.”

Mason said he would’ve given Guerrero the chance to go Quebec if he didn’t enjoy playing for York.

“I would give him an opportunity to come here, go through spring training and see what the league was about,” Mason said. “If he liked it, great. If it’s something he didn’t like to do and wanted to go to the Can-Am League, I would release him or send him up there in a trade.”

This isn’t the first time the Revs have had discussions with Guerrero, either.

“Originally we tried to talk to Vladimir about coming down here last season before he went to Toronto,” Revs’ baseball operations manager Andrew Ball said. “Polo knows Vlad’s brother. He also knows a guy who owns the facility where Vlad works out at. He’s been talking to the two of them. I know at least this past weekend he talked directly to Vladimir himself.

“I’m not surprised he signed with Long Island but I’m surprised he signed now because Polo just talked to him the other day and had no indication that he was going to sign anytime soon.”

Mason said the move makes sense.

“I just think maybe with the condition with the Yankees are in right now, playing in Long Island, it’s a little bit closer to New York,” Mason said. “If he can put up numbers right away he has a good shot at getting signed quickly.”

Mason said he was going to give Guerrero a chance to play left field in addition to being a designated hitter.

“I was gonna give him an opportunity to play in the field at least a couple times to show he can play out there, which would get interest from National League teams and not just the American League.”

Despite losing out on Guerrero, the Revs’ outfield is already stacked with former big leaguers Jeff Fiorentino, Tyler Graham and Jason Repko.

Plus, York fans might get a chance to see Guerrero play if he’s still a member of the Ducks when Long Island visits York for a three-game weekend series May 3-5.

“I’m happy that he’s in the league,” Mason said of Guerrero. “Would I like to have had him? Yes. It’s good for the league to have guys like him in here.”

From Polo: I caught with with Polanco by phone on Friday afternoon to get his take on the Guerrero discussions. Polo said he last talked to Guerrero on Wednesday.

“He said his agent was working on something,” Polanco said. “And then we just found out he signed with Long Island. He told me he had a home on Long Island. He thinks maybe because of the location of Long Island, it’s close to the Yankees and the Mets.”

Polanco said Guerrero is a nice, humble guy not wanting to make much noise. That makes sense considering how much Guerrero thought about going back to play in Canada, where he has spent most of his career.

“He’s a nice guy. He’s just glad to play the game,” Polanco said. “He’s not one on making noise. He doesn’t like to talk.”

Alumni updates: Former Revs’ pitchers Scott Rice and Shawn Hill had impressive outings Thursday night. In his first start for Class AAA Toledo, Hill went seven innings and allowed three runs on five hits with four strikeouts and no walks. He gave up two home runs. Toledo lost to Louisville, 4-3.

In his second appearance for the New York Mets, Scott Rice pitched two-thirds of inning out of the bullpen, allowing two hits. The Mets lost to the San Diego Padres, 2-1. Speaking of Rice, the left-hander was on the MLB Network’s “Intentional Talk” on Tuesday. Click here to check out the York Revolution’s blog post about it, which includes the six-minute clip of Rice on the show.

DeMark: Former Revs reliever Mike DeMark, released by the Diadmondbacks last month, said in a text message Wednesday he is now in the minors of the Oakland Athletics’ organization.

Kazmir on DL: Former Sugar Land Skeeters’ pitcher Scott Kazmir will indeed miss his first scheduled start with the Cleveland Indians on Saturday. The Indians put the left-hander on the 15-day disabled list Thursday with what is being described as a right rib cage strain. The setback delays Kazmir’s return to the majors, where he last pitched in 2011 as a member of the Los Angeles Angels.

Tryouts: The York Revolution are set to hold open tryouts this Friday at Sovereign Bank Stadium. We already know one of the players scheduled to participate is 53-year-old Tony Phillips, an 18-year major league veteran who made his pro debut in 1978. Click here to read the full story from Revs’ media guru Paul Braverman on the Revolution’s blog.

Mason said Thursday night former Revs’ reliever Andy Wells might also participate. Wells, 24, is a free agent after being released by the Mets recently. Wells made just three appearances for York last season, allowing a total of 10 runs (eight earned) on eight hits and nine walks in 4.1 innings of work (16.62 ERA), before being released in June. He has been pitching indy ball his entire three-year pro career.

Ball said Thursday night Northern York High School graduate Nate Eppley could show up, too. Eppley is a 24-year-old right-handed reliever. A 29th-round draft pick of the Oakland Athletics in 2011, Eppley was released by the A’s last month. In 2012, the righty went 3-0 with a 1.98 ERA in 14 appearances at Class Low A Vermont and 1-1 with a 9.00 ERA in seven games at Class A Burlington. If Nate’s name sounds familiar, it’s probably because his older brother, Cody, also a Northern York grad, is a New York Yankees’ pitcher.

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In case you haven’t checked it out yet, here’s an earlier blog entry on former Rev Scott Rice making his MLB debut with the New York Mets on Monday. Rice threw a 1-2-3 ninth inning, striking out two.

With MLB rosters set, I thought this would be a good time to give an update on where former Revolution players are (or aren’t in some cases) in affiliated ball.

We started off with a list of 12 former York ballplayers in minor league or major league camp: OF/corner infielder Chris Nowak (Diamondbacks), outfielder Mike Hernandez (Tigers) and pitchers Scott Rice (Mets), Justin Hampson (Mets) Andy Wells (Mets), Victor Garate (Dodgers), Mike Benacka (Blue Jays), Ryan Feierabend (Rangers), Shawn Hill (Tigers), Mike DeMark (Diamondbacks), Ian Thomas (Braves) and Omar Javier (Giants).

Of that group, Rice is the only one who began the 2013 season on a big league roster. As for the rest of them? Well, six will begin the season playing somewhere in the minors, four are currently free agents after being released by their respective clubs and one – Nowak – has retired after being released by the D’Backs last month.

In the minors: Of all former Revs players starting the 2013 season in affiliated ball, Hill has the best chance of making it to the big leagues this year. Hill, a former big leaguer, had a 4.50 ERA in three spring training starts and six total appearances with the Tigers’ big league club. In his final spring training start last week, the right-hander Hill allowed just two runs on six hits in five innings of work against the Atlanta Braves, striking out three and walking none. He’s expected to be in the starting rotation at Class AAA Toledo to start this season. Hill, 31, went 2-0 with a 2.43 ERA in seven games (five starts) for the Revs last season before being picked up by the Toronto Blue Jays and assigned to Class AAA Las Vegas, where he went 9-2 with a 4.52 ERA in 15 starts. The performance earned him a call-up to the Blue Jays’ big league roster at the end of the season, marking his first return to the majors since 2010.

Thomas, 25, earned a promotion to Class AA Mississippi (Braves), where he’ll begin the 2013 season. The 6-foot-4 lefty came to York just three years removed from playing college ball at Virginia Commonwealth. He spent his first three seasons of pro ball playing for independent club Winnipeg (formerly North American League, now American Association). He started the 2012 season in York, compiling a 1-0 record and 0.96 ERA in seven relief appearances before getting picked up by the Atlanta Braves and assigned to Class A Rome, where he went 5-0 with a 3.15 ERA in 26 games.

Javier, 25, hasn’t pitched above rookie ball in his affiliated career. He is listed on the roster of the Class AA Richmond Flying Squirrels (Giants), which begins its season Thursday. The right-hander went 1-6 with a 5.67 ERA in 22 games (nine starts) for the Revs in 2012. After being released by the Revs in late July, Javier went on to pitch for Newark. He started six games for the Bears, posting a 2-2 record and a 3.74 ERA over 33.2 innings pitched. This past winter, he posted a 1-0 record and 2.27 ERA in 11 games (six starts) playing for Estrellas de Oriente in the Dominican Republic (where he was teammates with former Revs’ pitcher Scott Rice along with pitchers Julio DePaula and Pedro Liriano, both of whom are on York’s current pre-season roster, along with a number of former Atlantic Leaguers).

Hernandez, 29, will begin the 2013 season where he first began his pro career in 2006, at Class A West Michigan (Tigers), according to this blog post. The post states that Hernandez helped “the team win the Midwest League Championship” in 2006, hitting “for the cycle twice that season, and set a record at the time with seven RBI’s in one game.” The move of playing for a single-a club might raise some eyebrows, but when you figure Hernandez has had good seasons in the Atlantic League each of the last four years but didn’t get picked up by a big league club, I don’t blame him for trying this route. Hernandez batted .303 with with 13 homers and 55 RBIs in 104 games for the Revs in 2012.

Hampson will start the 2013 season at Class AAA Las Vegas 51s, the triple-a affiliate of the New York Mets. He got a call up to the Mets’ big league spring training club last week but got roughed up in the appearance, allowing a run on two doubles and a single in two innings of work against the St. Louis Cardinals. Hampson pitched for the Revs and the Long Island Ducks in 2010 and spent the majority of the last two years at the Mets’ Class AAA Buffalo affiliate. He earned a promotion to the major league club near the end of last season, returning to the big leagues for the first time since 2009. He posted a 1.30 ERA in 13 appearances.

Feierabend, 27, is still on a quest to make it back to the big leagues for the first time since 2008. He’ll continue that journey by starting out at Class AA Frisco (Rangers) this year, according to this press release. The 6-foot-4 lefty went 8-5 with a 2.91 ERA in 17 starts for York last season. He got picked up mid-season by the Cincinnati Reds and assigned to Class AAA Louisville, where he went 1-4 with a 6.75 ERA in seven starts before being released and returning to the Revs.

DeMark, 29, signed with Oakland Athletics’ organization shortly after being released by the Arizona Diamondbacks in mid-March. The 6-foot right-hander began the 2011 season with York, posting a 2.61 ERA in 13 appearances before being picked up by the D’Backs that year. He spent all of the 2012 season pitching for D’Backs’ Class AAA Reno club, going 5-5 with a 4.19 ERA in 53 games.

Wells, 24, is a free agent after being released by the Mets last week. Wells made just three appearances for York last season, allowing a total of 10 runs (eight earned) on eight hits and nine walks in 4.1 innings of work (16.62 ERA), before being released in June. He has been pitching indy ball his entire three-year pro career.

Garate, 24, is a still a free agent since being released by the Los Angeles Dodgers in mid-March. The former big leaguer made one appearance with York in 2012, allowing two runs (one earned) on four hits in 1.2 innings. A Venezuela native, Garate pitched in four games with the Washington Nationals in 2009, posting a 22.50 ERA.

Benacka, 30, is still a free agent since being released by the Toronto Blue Jays in mid-March. The 6-foot-2 right-hander collected a 3.60 ERA in five appearances for York last season. York traded him back to American Association club Laredo in the off-season. As a result, Laredo owns his rights should Benacka opt to return to the indy scene.

Other Revs on the move: The Long Island Ducks announced Monday the return of infielder Bryant Nelson, who played for the Revs in 2011. Juan Martinez, younger brother of former Revs’ catcher Octavio, will make his return to the Atlantic League in 2013 with the Camden Riversharks. Martinez, 26, played in 12 games for York in 2011. He split last season between Camden and Newark (Can-Am League). According to the Can-Am League’s transactions page, Newark traded Martinez to Camden late last week.

Former Atlantic Leaguers are spring training releases: Slugger Ryan Garko and outfielder/pitcher Jason Lane, both former big leaguers and former Atlantic Leaguers, became free agents last week. Garko clubbed four homers, collected 16 RBIs and batted .450 in just 16 games for the Long Island Ducks to start last season before being picked up by the Tampa Bay Rays and assigned to Class AA Montgomery, where he hit .297 with eight homers and 40 RBIs in 61 games. He was released by the Colorado Rockies last week.

Lane, 36, began the 2012 season at Class AAA Reno, where he went 2-0 with a 7.59 ERA in 15 relief appearances on the mound and batted .167 in 10 games at the plate while also playing the outfield. He later joined the Sugar Land and posted a 9-5 record and 3.17 ERA in 18 games (17 starts) while batting .270 in 75 games. Called up to the Minnesota Twins big league spring training club last week, Lane got tagged with a blown save by allowing three runs on five hits in one inning of work in a 4-3 loss to the St. Louis Cardinals. The Twins released him last week.

Former Bridgeport Bluefish outfielder Collin DeLome also became a free agent after the Atlanta Braves released him last week. Last season, DeLome batted .368 with five homers and 22 RBIs in just 23 games before being picked up by the Braves.

The Boston Red Sox released starting pitcher J.D. Durbin last week. Durbin, 31, is still trying to get back to the big leagues since last pitching there in 2007. The 6-foot right-hander had a combined 22-13 record and 4.68 ERA in 45 starts for the Lancaster Barnstormers the last two seasons.

Former Lancaster Barnstormers’ reliever Jeff Bennett was released by the Colorado Rockies last week. Bennett, 32, last pitched in the majors in 2009. He went 4-8 with a 3.56 ERA in 52 appearances for Lancaster last year.

The Washington Nationals released outfielder Delwyn Young last week. Young, 30, has 344 games of big league experience under his belt. He spent part of the 2012 season with the Camden Riversharks, batting .191 in 32 games.

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Somehow I missed this last month, but former Revs’ pitcher Andy Wells was signed by the New York Mets in February to a minor league contract. So, too, was former Revs pitcher Justin Hampson, who pitched for the Mets last season.

Only diehard Revs’ fans might remember Wells. York brought him on board in the final week of May last season. The Revs were in need of some pitching depth at that point after reliever Ian Thomas got picked up by the Atlanta Braves and relievers Ricardo Gomez and Shaun Garceau were still recovering from injuries. At the time, York was preparing to play a stretch of 15 games over the next two weeks.

Wells, 24, came over to York after splitting time between four independent ball clubs in his first two pro seasons, accumulating an 8.68 ERA. In five collegiate seasons split between Siena College and Wagner College, Wells had a 6.88 ERA.

Wells, a New York native, made just three relief appearances for the Revs, allowing a total of 10 runs (eight earned) on eight hits and nine walks in 4.1 innings of work (16.62 ERA), before being released in June.

The 6-foot, 2-inch right-hander joins a list of six other ball players who played for York in 2012 and is in spring training camp with a big league or affiliated minor league club. That list includes slugger Chris Nowak (Diamondbacks) outfielder Mike Hernandez (Tigers) and pitchers Victor Garate (Dodgers), Mike Benacka (Blue Jays), Ryan Feierabend (Rangers) and Shawn Hill (Tigers).

As for the Mets, they now have three former Revs under contract (Including lefty reliever Scott Rice, who is at big league camp).  It’s just all kind of surprising considering New York didn’t pick up one player out of the Atlantic League during the 2012 season.

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Here it is, the fourth and final recap of the 2012 York Revolution squad, this time on the bullpen and catchers (sorry catchers, no separate post for perhaps the toughest position in baseball). My apologies on getting around to this late, been a little busy covering high school sports as we get into the time of the year for league titles, playoffs, districts and beyond, as well as catching up on reading all the Sports Illustrateds that have been laying around the house for weeks (seriously, who can read those things front to back each week?) and breaking my ankles jumping on and off the Baltimore Orioles’ bandwagon (don’t act like you weren’t doing the same). Anyway, before we get to that, wanted to point out a couple newsworthy items worth checking out:

- Atlantic League expansion…to the Caribbean?: YDR Revs’ beat writer Jim Seip did a good job reporting on Peter Kirk’s intentions of possibly expanding the Atlantic League to the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico or Cuba (yes, really, Cuba). This would make sense, considering at least a fifth of most Atlantic League rosters are made up of players from the Caribbean. A roster could easily be filled should the league want to travel far down south. And if it can be any kind of draw like Sugar Land, why not give it a shot? The only question mark would be travel costs. It makes no sense to do it if the league loses money.

- Camden front office: The Riversharks sent out a press release Monday announcing longtime general manager Adam Lorber is being promoted to general manager AND team president. Lorber has served as the team’s GM since 2003. In addition, Lindsay Rosenberg, who has spent the last four seasons in group sales has been promoted to the position of assistant general manager. Rosenberg earned a bachelor’s degree in Sports, Entertainment and Event Management from Johnson and Wales (Rhode Island) University in 2009. While attending school, she had opportunities to work at both Gillette Stadium in Foxboro, MA and at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia.

Now on to the recap….

 

As far as publicity goes, the guys in the bullpen have it tough. Position players and starting pitchers normally get most of the attention. On the rare occasion a reliever gets anything said about him, it’s normally because he’s been lights-out as a closer or a set-up man or he made an impressive spot start. So, if a reliever doesn’t fit that category, he’s probably left out on the street with the rest of the guys who don’t get much attention, even if they might have an interesting back-story. So, lets just say this blog post is my attempt at making up for all of that….

At the start: At the start of the year, York’s bullpen consisted of right-handers Dumas Garcia, Ricardo Gomez, Omar Javier, Santo Luis, Stephen Penney, R.J. Rodriguez, Shaun Garceau and Adam Thomas and left-handers James Houser, Yunior Novoa and Ian Thomas. By the end Gomez, Novoa, Penney, Rodriguez and Thomas were all that were left of the original bunch. Newcomers on York’s year-end roster included right-handers Mike Benacka and Kris Regas and left-hander Wade Korpi.

Come and go: Garcia (1-0, 6.00 ERA, 27 games), Garceau (0-0, 7-71 ERA, 3 games), Houser (2-1, 5.50 ERA, 33 games), Javier (1-6, 5.66 ERA, 22 games) and Luis (0-0, 4-50 ERA, 3 games) were all released at some point in the season, while right-hander Andy Wells (0-0, 16.61 ERA, 3 games) and left-handers Matt Chico (1-3, 7.50 ERA, six starts) and Victor Garate (0-0, 5.40 ERA, 1 game) were on the short list of pitchers who joined York mid-season but would be released before the end of the year.

Picked up: Thomas the only York reliever and one of three Revs’ players to earn a big league contract this season (all three were pitchers)  in 2012. The 25-year-old earned his first affiliated contract after putting together a 0.96 ERA in 9.1 innings of relief for York. He had spent his first three pro seasons with independent club Winnipeg (Northern League/American Association) before coming to York. In 26 relief appearances for Rome, the lefty went 5-0 with a 3.15 ERA, striking out 58 and walking 15 over 45.2 innings pitched.

8th/9th inning guys: Right-hander R.J. Rodriguez started off the year as the Revs’ closer but lost the job to Ricardo Gomez when he left for the Mexican League mid-season. Adam Thomas served as the Revs’ set-up man the majority of the first-half and then split the duties with Rodriguez when he returned. Rodriguez did fill in as the ninth-inning guy occasionally in the final couple months. Rodriguez went 2-3 with a 2.02 ERA and 13 saves over 55 appearances. Thomas had a 8-2 record and 3.65 ERA in 67 appearances (64 innings), striking out 42 and walking 15. Gomez collected 17 saves, 2.66 ERA and 4-1 record in 46 games (47.1 innings).

Middle relief: Left-handers Yunior Novoa (2-6, 4.71 ERA, five starts, 38 games), Kris Regas (3-2, 2.78 ERA, 44 games) and Wade Korpi (4-0, 2.26 ERA, 3 starts, 18 games) and right-hander Stephen Penney (2-1, 3.13 ERA, 62 games) had good seasons in the ‘pen.

Novoa went back-and-forth between the bullpen and starting rotation at the start of the year before serving mainly as a reliever in the final few months. Korpi ended up being a good mid-season pick-up for the Revs. The lefty was lights-out in his three spot starts, putting up a stellar 1.93 ERA in 9.1 innings.

One other middle reliever, Mike Benacka, joined York in the final month of the season and had a 1-0 record, 3.00 ERA and one save in six relief appearances. But he took the loss after giving up four runs on one hit and two walks in 2/3 of an inning in Game Two of the Freedom Division Championship Series against Lancaster. The Revs didn’t like what they saw, either, sending him back to the Laredo Lemurs (American Association) after the season.

Catchers: Instead of dedicating a whole blog post to the catchers, it’ll be included here as more an honorable mention (sorry Travis Scott and Salomon Manriquez). York started off the year with Scott and Salvador Paniagua behind the dish. Etch’ used the left-handed hitting Scott and right-handed hitting Paniagua as a platoon. York released Paniagua on July 19 and signed Manriquez the next day. It’s tough in the Atlantic League to find a solid defensive catcher who can also hit well. And when that rare guy comes along, he’s normally picked up right away by a big league club since that’s so rare. That’s why it’s tough to be hard on Atlantic League clubs about not finding a solid-hitting catcher. Plus, it has to be hard on catchers to have a good batting average considering they’re not playing every game for obvious reasons.

With all that being said, Scott had a .228 average with seven homers and 28 RBIs in 81 games while Manriquez finished with a .287 average, two homers and 16 RBIs in 32 games. Manriquez upped his batting average in his final 18 games, during which he went he hit .387. Paniagua departed mid-season with a .227 average over 40 games.

(Note*The following stats are through Game 2 of the FDCS) As far as how they performed behind the plate, Paniagua caught in 40 games (38 starts) and caught a total of 328.2 innings. York pitchers had a 4.11 ERA with Paniagua catching. Revs’ pitchers were about the same in the 601.1 innings with Scott behind the dish with a 4.12 ERA. Manriquez, meanwhile, made 32 starts to help Revs’ pitchers get a 3.63 ERA in his 275.1 innings catching. However, all three had trouble throwing out runners at second and third. Paniagua caught 5 of the 40 guys who stole on him, while Scott gunned 12 of 48 and Manriquez nailed down just three of 25 base-stealers. That’s a combined percentage of 17.7 (20 caught of 113 base-stealers).

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Mid-way through Ryan Feierabend’s last start with the York Revolution, I remember saying to myself, ‘Well, at least he’ll be with York for at least another month.’ (And apparently Revs manager Andy Etchebarren had said the same thing himself on the bus ride back).

Feierabend, you see, had entered his last start on May 30 against Bridgeport coming off a complete-game, one-run performance. In his previous five starts before May 30, Feierabend went 3-0 with a 1.30 ERA. It was likely just a matter of time before the former big leaguer would be picked up.

Then, May 30 came. Feierabend surrendered 11 runs (five earned) on 11 hits in 2.1 innings in a 15-9 to the Bluefish.

If any big league clubs were interested in picking up the left-hander, maybe that performance would cause them to back away a bit.

But if any clubs were thinking that, it wasn’t the Cincinnati Reds. The Reds picked up Feierabend on Tuesday to become the second Revs’ player this year to be signed by a big league club, joining lefty reliever Ian Thomas who signed with Atlanta on May 17.

The Reds assigned Feierabend to Class AAA Louisville, where Feierabend will take the spot of starter Jeff Francis,who had a June opt-out clause in his contract with the Reds and exercised it after throwing a shutout on Sunday for Louisville.

Feierabend went 3-2 with a 3.24 ERA in seven starts for the Revolution, ranking eighth in the Atlantic League in ERA.

Feierabend will continue his journey on trying to get back to the big leagues. Feierabend had made eight starts for the Seattle Mariners in the second half of the 2008 season. He would have started the team’s final game of the year against the Oakland Athletics, except a nagging arm injury that bugged him during the first half of the year popped back up again. Rehab over the ensuing off-season hadn’t cured the injury, which he found out when throwing a bullpen session in March 2009 during spring training with the Mariners. Tommy John surgery caused him to miss the entire 2009 season.

In his comeback from surgery in 2010, Feierabend went 4-7 with a 5.30 ERA in 17 starts for the Mariners’ Class AAA Tacoma team. In 2011, Feierabend went 10-8 with a 5.39 ERA for the Phillies’ Class AAA Lehigh Valley team.

For what it’s worth, Feierabend also seems like a stand-up guy. Back in spring training, he talked openly about taking care of his ill mother when he was a teenager in high school. And he’s good at remembering names, which gains some of my respect.

Garceau, Regas: While Feierabend has departed York, the Revs welcomed back left-handed reliever Kris Regas and right-handed reliever Shaun Garceau. Regas returns to York after spending the last month with Mexican League club Saltillo. He had been in spring training camp with York but Saltillo picked him up before the season started. Garceau comes back after spending the last month on the inactive list dealing with tendinitis in his throwing arm.

Regas, 32, came to York late last season from Lancaster in a trade for future considerations. The left-hander is a former New York Mets’ and Detroit Tigers’ prospect. He held opponents scoreless in nine appearances for York last year, including five postseason appearances. A reliever most of his career, Regas went to the Mexican League to try out being a starter, something he hadn’t done since 2003. In three starts and two relief appearances for Saltillo, Regas posted an 0-2 record and 6.75 ERA. He gave up 11 earned runs in 14.2 innings of work, striking out 11 and walking 10. He went at least five innings in just one of his starts.

Garceau had made a few appearances in spring training before being put on the inactive list before the season began to deal with tendonitis in his right throwing elbow. He was activated on May 4 and pitched that night against Bridgeport, tossing one perfect inning in his only appearance this season. But Garceau complained of soreness the next day and has been on the inactive list ever since.

To make room for Regas, the Revs released right-handed reliever Andy Wells on Tuesday. Wells was brought on board a couple weeks ago to basically give York some depth in the bullpen after Thomas was signed by the Braves the week before. At the time of Wells’s signing, York was looking at 15 games in a span of 14 days. Wells posted a 16.62 ERA in three relief appearances for York.

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His team had just come off a 5-1 loss to the Sugar Land Skeeters. Andy Etchebarren had just watched his team collect five hits, a night after the York Revolution used nine hits to beat the first-place Lancaster Barnstormers, 6-3. Yet, the Revs returned to their inconsistent play again Monday. The last two days sort of sum up what York has been like the last couple weeks. A sweep of the Somerset Patriots, getting swept by the Southern Maryland Blue Crabs, then taking two of three from Lancaster. York (8-15) now sits 5 1/2 games back of first-place Lancaster (14-10) in the Atlantic League Freedom Division.

Despite York’s hitting woes on Monday night, Etchebarren appeared confident in his ball club. And a lot of that may have to do with the flurry of moves York made on Monday (and the possible moves that could be looming in the near future). Maybe the Revs skipper feels that help is on the way.

York made three moves on Monday, signing ex-major league outfielder Bobby Kielty and relief pitcher Andy Wells while trading away utility infielder Joe Spiers to the Lincoln Saltdogs, of the independent American Association, for a player to be named later.

Though Kielty is 35 and has yet to play this season, he could be an upgrade to the current crop of York Revolution outfielders. (Etchebarren said Monday night that Kielty will be in uniform for Tuesday’s home game against Sugar Land but will not play).

Kielty has played in 599 career major league games for Minnesota, Toronto, Oakland and Boston between 2001 and 2007. In the majors, Kielty has accumulated 53 home runs and 253 RBIs, with a .254 average. His last at-bat in the majors was a homer in Game 4 of the 2007 World Series that gave Boston a 4-1 lead. The Red Sox ended up winning the deciding Game 4 by a final score of 4-3.

Primarily a corner outfielder during his career, Kielty does have major and minor league starts in center field and at first base as well. What that means for the current crop of Revolution outfielders remains to be seen. But it’s clear York has made the move to upgrade its offense, which sits last in the Atlantic League in several categories.

Kielty gives York five outfielders, joining centerfielder and lead-off man Scott Grimes, corner outfielders Michael Hernandez and James Shanks and outfielder Stephen Douglas.

Douglas and Grimes have given York little to no production at the top of the lineup thus far. Grimes returned to action over the weekend after missing nine games because of bone chips in his right wrist that were caused when he was hit by a pitch in a game against Long Island on May 8. Grimes is batting .222 (4-for-18 through Monday) since his return. And he was seen during Monday’s game shaking his wrist. So, who knows how healthy he is? For the year, Grimes is batting just .161.During Grimes’s absence, Douglas served as York’s lead-off man, but hit just .129 (4-for-31). For the season, he’s batting .207.

Michael Hernandez has been one of York’s best hitters. Despite his .261 average, Hernandez’s seven home runs is tied for first in the Atlantic League and his 19 RBIs is third among all players.

With all the moves made Monday, York now has 25 players on the active roster (12 position players and 13 pitchers). Atlantic League clubs can carry as many as 27 players until the end of the month, at which point rosters have to be paired down to 25. So, York could very well keep its current group of active players. Still, it’s likely we’ll see an outfielder be moved (either off the active roster or away from the team) at some point in the near future considering York doesn’t need five outfielders.

WELLS: Wells, 24, is mainly being brought on board to give York some pitching depth over the next couple weeks. York will play seven games this week and eight next week (there’s a double-header scheduled at Long Island on June 2) And with reliever Ricardo Gomez and Shaun Garceau still recovering from injuries and reliever Ian Thomas recently being picked up by the Atlanta Braves, the Revs are in need of some bodies in the ‘pen. Wells had a 6.88 ERA in five collegiate seasons split between Siena College and Wagner College. He’s split time between four independent ball clubs in his first two pro seasons, accumulating an 8.68 ERA.

Hill scratched from start: There’s only been a handful of times where York Revolution starting pitchers have gone past the fifth inning in a game so far this season. And the best pitcher, by far, has been left-hander Ryan Feierabend (2-1, 2.67 ERA). It’s likely just a matter of time before a big league club comes calling for Feierabend’s services, which won’t help York one bit.

Then on Monday, Etchebarren said right-hander Shawn Hill is being scratched from his Tuesday start because of soreness in the left part of his back. The right-hander went four scoreless innings against Southern Maryland on May 17 in his first start for York. But there should be reason to be concerned about Hill, who has undergone a number of surgeries and missed plenty of playing time since 2004. Etchebarren hopes Hill will miss just one start.

Left-hander Yunior Novoa will start in place of Hill on Tuesday against Sugar Land. That doesn’t help York’s bullpen, which combined to toss 5.2 innings on Monday night. Novoa has started three times for York this year, but only made it past the fifth inning once. The ‘pen will likely be called upon again to do some heavy lifting on Tuesday unless Novoa has several short-inning outings.

So, while the Revs are busy figuring out how to improve the offense, they might soon be turning their attention to the pitching given the number of innings the relievers have thrown to this point and the possibility of Feierabend being picked up in the near future. The good news is that, if a move needs to be made, Etchebarren and his counterparts have already proven they’re not fine with just sitting still.

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