Long After Surgery, Top Independent Find Sherrill ‘Hoping Track Record’ Will Lead to New Opportunity

It is very easy to have a soft spot toward George Sherrill because he has been one of Independent Baseball’s greatest finds, right up there with Kevin Millar, Rey Ordonez and Daniel Nava , but the truth is the 36-year-old lefty faces the same predicament as many other free agents on this November day.  He needs a new opportunity if he is to keep his major league career alive.

“I’m hoping my track record will get me in the door,” Sherrill told me from his Salt Lake City home.

It should.  After four seasons and part of a fifth toiling in the Independent ranks after a colleague from Austin Peay University helped him get his professional job, Sherrill needed only about a year to reach the majors where he logged 442 appearances in relief over nine seasons, saving 56 games and winning 19 more (19-17, 3.78).

But elbow surgery sidelined Sherrill early in 2012, and when he got back on the diamond with Kansas City’s top farm club in Omaha near the start of this past season “it didn’t look like they were preparing to call me up”.  He was right.  The axe fell in June after 21 appearances (0-1, 6.23) even though the Memphis native struck out 30 batters in 21.2 innings.

“I put some feelers out,” he said, and plans to do more of the same now that the World Series is in the rearview mirror.  “I thought I felt okay,” Sherrill said of the Omaha experience, “although I didn’t have a breaking ball.”  That may have been because he was just coming back from the Tommy John surgery, and “normally I’m awful in spring training.  I need a full spring training to get ready.”

Sherrill said “I don’t think I would go back” to Independent Baseball again, even though “it was a blast” when he broke in at Evansville, IN (Frontier League), followed by considerable time in two current American Association cities (Sioux Falls, SD and Winnipeg, Canada).

Sherrill’s accomplishments included 51 saves between ’08 and ’09 for Baltimore plus working two and a third scoreless innings in the 12th, 13th and 14th innings of the 2008 All-Star Game at Yankee Stadium, where the American League prevailed 4-3 in 15 frames, ending well after midnight.  (Incidentally, Scott Kazmir, who got his feet back under him at Sugar Land, TX in the Atlantic League in 2012, was the winning pitcher.)  Sherrill went to Los Angeles late in ’09 and pitched in six of the Dodgers’ eight NLDS and NLCS playoff games.

Can-Am Adopts Extra Inning Rule After Discussing More Radical Move

The Can-Am League has taken a bold step by adopting a tiebreaker whereby each half inning from the 11th inning on play will begin with a runner on second base, but that seems mild compared to a discussion a year ago in the two leagues Miles Wolff serves as commissioner (the other being the American Association ) whereby when a game would go into extra innings one defensive player would be removed each inning.

“I doubt we would go below (leaving) seven players on the field,” Wolff said, in explaining this type of rule first seen by Quebec President Michel Laplante in an amateur game.

Wolff’s thinking on initiating a rule such as placing the runner on second base is twofold in that fans often do not stay around past one extra inning and it eases the burden an extra long game places on bullpens when teams have only a 22-man roster.

“(The tiebreaker rule) has proven successful and popular in international competition”, he said.  The rule has been used in both the World Baseball Classic and the International Baseball Federation world championships.

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Jake Fox Helping Out in Mexico Until ’14 Options Clear Up

Power-hitting Jake Fox , who is among the new free agents, is in what he called “an area of uncertainty” when he telephoned from Mexico this week, but it seems far from a glum-and-doom situation for the 31-year-old who tore up the Atlantic League this season (.310-25-82 in 96 games at Somerset, NJ ) before Arizona bought his contract.

He has hopes of playing in Japan , where he would likely be a corner infielder, but the Diamondbacks have indicated they would like to re-sign him primarily to catch even though they did not give him extensive playing time at Triple-A Reno, NV (34 at-bats).

Before it all gets sorted out, Fox, who has 193 games of major league experience with the Chicago Cubs, Oakland and Baltimore at a multitude of positions, “was brought in (to Mexico) to help (Los Mochis Caneros) stay positive” after a couple of poor seasons.  He is playing a lot of first base, catching some and hitting .250 with two homers and 15 RBI in 21 games.

           (This is an excerpt from the column Bob Wirz writes year round on Independent Baseball.  Forty columns are planned during 2013.  Fans may subscribe at reduced rates at www.WirzandAssociates.com , enjoy added stories on the blog www.IndyBaseballChatter.com , or comment to RWirz@aol.com .  The author has 16 years of major league baseball public relations experience with Kansas City and as spokesman for two Commissioners and lives in Stratford, CT.)