Edmonton Capitals: All-Time Team

Edmonton had moved on from Triple-A baseball by the mid-2000s.

Maybe it was the other way around, actually.

When the Pacific Coast League’s Trappers were sold to a group led by Hall-of-Fame pitcher Nolan Ryan and his son, Reid, in 2003 and departed for Round Rock, Texas the following year, they became the last of the affiliated pro teams to take the field in Alberta. The Trappers lasted a couple years longer than both the Medicine Hat Blue Jays and Calgary Cannons, teams that ceased operating in 2002. It was the end of an era.

Filling the void in Calgary and Edmonton was a different form of pro baseball known as independent or “indy” ball. It was professional in the sense that the players were paid, but it was also a form of baseball that was known for gimmicks and publicity stunts. Such antics received both criticism and praise from fans of the game. Many team owners didn’t care if you booed or cheered, as long as you bought a ticket and hit up the concession stand.

In Alberta’s capital city, the Cracker-Cats broke ground for the indy ball scene, playing out of Telus Field between 2005 and 2008, first in the Northern League and then in the Golden Baseball League (GBL).

Daryl Katz – the owner of the National Hockey League’s Edmonton Oilers – purchased the team in February of 2009.

A naming contest resulted in a new handle for the club, the Capitals, and the uniforms were familiar to Edmonton sports fans: navy blue, orange and white combinations that had been popularized by the Oilers. Several stars with the Oilers – including Ryan Smyth, Taylor Hall and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins – even made appearances at Telus Field to support the ball club.

The Capitals went 44-38 in their first season in the GBL, making a first round exit in the playoffs. A record of 51-38 followed in their sophomore campaign in 2010. Their third and final season, this time in the newly named North American League (NAML), was a beauty that delivered a championship to the city.

We will eventually take a longer look at the Cracker-Cats, but the focus of this article is the Capitals. With new ownership, a different name and fresh uniforms there was enough to distinguish the brand of the squad from their feline forerunners.

Here are the details on what this all-time team will include. The roster will consist of the following: manager, catcher, first baseman, second baseman, third baseman, shortstop, three outfielders, designated hitter, utility/bench players, middle relief pitchers, closer, and five starting pitchers for the rotation. We’ll craft our own lineup card and set up a rotation after we reveal our selections.

MANAGER

The Capitals had winning records in each of their three seasons in Edmonton, going a collective 151-108 during the team’s existence.

Brent Bowers – a second-round draft pick of the Toronto Blue Jays in 1989 – guided the club to the playoffs in their inaugural campaign, but he was forced to resign in disgrace in 2010 after he unleashed a homophobic tirade on an openly gay umpire during a game. Hitting coach Gord Gerlach took over the managerial duties in August of that year. It was familiar territory for the St. Albert native. Gerlach served as interim manager of the Cracker-Cats in 2007 following the firing of skipper Frank Reberger, who also had an altercation with an ump.

Orv Franchuk steadied the ship for the Capitals in 2011. The pride of Amesburg, Alberta brought extensive experience to the manager role, including a World Series ring from his time as the minor-league hitting coordinator for the Boston Red Sox, and service as the hitting coach in the San Diego Padres organization at both the Double-A and Triple-A levels. He was also the hitting coach for the Edmonton Trappers in 1998. With his independent league club, Franchuk led the Capitals to a 56-32 record and a North American League championship title. He is the clear choice as our manager.

CATCHER

There are a number of candidates to handle catching duties for this squad.

Ole Miss alum Matt Ceriani – who played for Italy at the 2006 World Baseball Classic – was a productive hitter in his 62 games in 2009. The Californian had a .312 batting average and a .379 on-base percentage, while scoring 33 runs and manufacturing 37 runs batted in (RBI).

The 2011 team had a number of great backstops available to slip on the gear and crouch behind home plate. Nick Valdez appeared in 33 games for the Capitals in 2010 and another 46 contests in 2011. The Bronx product lacked pop at the plate, but he did post a .290 batting average in his second stint in Edmonton.

Lou Santangelo was a fourth-round pick of the Houston Astros who became the organization’s first player to be suspended for steroid use in 2007. He played in 62 games for the Capitals and launched 10 homers while batting .346, driving in 45 runs and filling in at first base when needed. When Santangelo suffered an injury, Franchuk had JD Closser – a former Colorado Rockies catcher – available to mask up. Closser appeared in 30 games and registered a .333 batting average and a .472 on-base percentage.

JD Closser makes an acrobatic play at home plate in this *Edmonton Journal* photo from the Sept. 5, 2011 edition of the newspaper.

We like the major-league chops of Closser, who has most recently worked as the catching coordinator for the Atlanta Braves, but our selection is Santangelo, whose power numbers are too tantalizing to ignore.

FIRST BASE

Lefty slugger Brent Metheny was a familiar face to fans of Canadian independent league baseball. Prior to suiting up for the Capitals in his final pro season in 2011, the Virginia product spent three summers with the Winnipeg Goldeyes and one season with the Calgary Vipers. In his 83 games for Edmonton, Metheny belted a team-best 30 doubles, as well as 10 round trippers and 76 RBI. In addition, he batted .325 and stole 21 bases. Metheny was a two-way star at James Madison University and has been elected to the JMU Athletics Hall of Fame. He is our undisputed choice to take the field at first base.

SECOND BASE

Middle infielder Enrique Cruz was an outstanding hitter for the Capitals during back-to-back seasons. In 2010, the former Milwaukee Brewer slapped out 96 hits in 60 games, including 18 doubles and six home runs. He also scored 53 runs and had a batting average of .381 and an on-base percentage of .425. The Dominican improved on many of those stats the following year. Through 85 contests, he collected 72 runs, 121 hits, 28 doubles, 14 long balls, 66 RBI and 199 total bases. He’s another easy pick to patrol the infield.

THIRD BASE

Alex Prieto was another player with the Capitals who had logged innings on a Major League Baseball (MLB) roster. The Venezuelan, who played all over the infield, got into 24 games with the Minnesota Twins in 2003 and 2004. He was also familiar with Edmonton, having suited up for the Trappers in 80 games in 2002. Prieto appeared in 58 games with the Capitals in the 2010 season and hit .288 while playing sound defense.

We’re going to slot Carlos Duncan into our lineup card, however. The native of the Dominican Republic played four seasons for the Vipers before heading up the highway to Edmonton for two years. In 2009, Duncan hit 13 long balls and scored 52 runs in 60 games. When he came back in 2011, the former Northern League All-Star had a .396 on-base percentage, .324 batting average, 16 doubles, nine home runs and 56 RBI.

SHORTSTOP

British Columbia’s Matt Rogelstad played six years in the minor leagues in the Seattle Mariners and Washington Nationals sytems before taking his bat and glove to the indy circuit. He played 76 games for the Capitals in 2010 and smacked 87 hits, 25 of which were doubles. The next season in Edmonton, he got into 82 games, scored 75 runs and put up a .332 batting average. Rogelstad also represented Canada at the 2006 World Baseball Classic, the 2007 Baseball World Cup and the 2008 Olympics.

OUTFIELDERS

There was no shortage of quality options to roam the pastures of Telus Field during the tenure of the Edmonton Capitals.

Colombian Steve Brown dressed in 130 games over two years for the Caps. In that time, he belted 15 homers, scored 88 runs and swiped 32 bags. The righty batter continued to play in Canada after he left Edmonton, making stops in Quebec, Ottawa and Trois-Rivieres, where he was still playing for the Aigles in the Frontier League in 2023.

Chicago White Sox draft pick Thomas Collaro was a staple of the Edmonton outfield in 2010 and 2011. The Floridian put in 168 games and his counting stats were excellent, including 102 runs, 175 hits, 48 doubles, 29 home runs and 134 RBI.

Jorge Cortes, a lefty bat out of Colombia, appeared in 104 games with the Capitals in 2009-10 and proved to be a dependable contact hitter and base stealer. He scored 91 runs, stole 27 bases, contributed 53 RBI and drew 76 walks. Cortes went into coaching in the minors with the Arizona Diamondbacks after his playing days came to an end.

He spent parts of three seasons in Calgary – achieving the rarest of feats by batting .400 in 375 pro at bats in the Northern League in 2007 – but Darryl Brinkley traded in his Vipers jersey for a Capitals uniform in 2009. The results in Edmonton were solid – 81 games, .297 batting average, 23 doubles, 13 round trippers, 82 RBI, 26 stolen bases and 164 total bases. It was his final professional season of play, but Brinkley later joined the Cincinnati Reds as a minor-league hitting coach.

Cliff Brumbaugh and Larry Bigbie were a dynamic duo for the Caps in 2010. Brumbaugh led the Golden Baseball League in homers (23) and finished second in RBI (90) while Bigbie was tops on the circuit in on-base percentage (.500) and slugging (.732). In his 76 games with Edmonton, Brumbaugh – a Delaware native who got a taste of MLB action with the Texas Rangers and Colorado Rockies – led the Capitals in hits (114), total bases (206), and extra-base hits (45).

Bigbie was a first-round pick of the Baltimore Orioles out of Indiana who ended up suiting up in 392 MLB games for the Orioles, Rockies and St. Louis Cardinals. He finished first on the Caps in doubles (26), walks (49), and batting average (.403) in 286 plate appearances.

Some tough decisions for the three outfield spots, but we’re going with Collaro, Brumbaugh and Bigbie for our team.

DESIGNATED HITTER

Our pick for DH duties is a no brainer. Todd Linden – a first baseman and outfielder out of Washington state – was named the Most Valuable Player of the North American League after helping lead the Capitals to a championship in 2011. The former first-round pick of the San Francisco Giants posted a .355 batting average and .473 on-base percentage, while racking up 85 runs, 79 RBI, 64 walks, 23 stolen bases, 14 homers and 22 doubles in 86 games for Edmonton.

Todd Linden (right) high fives a teammate

“He was such a big part of our club in many ways other than his numbers demonstrated. “ said Franchuk of Linden in a press release.

“In the clubhouse, communicating with the staff, and just a real caring attitude about his teammates and his appreciation of the fans and the city of Edmonton.”

Linden went on to work as a hitting coach with Single-A teams in the Giants system.

BENCH/UTILITY PLAYERS

We’re not ready to make Alex Prieto our everyday third baseman, but he is our first option off the bench for infield duty. He brings MLB experience and 1,300 minor-league games to the dugout. As well, Prieto played pro at first base, second base, third base, shortstop and in the outfield.

Joining Prieto are a pair of our outfield cuts: Steve Brown and Jorge Cortes. Both are capable hitters and useful as pinch runners.

STARTING PITCHERS

Jose Lima made his last pro stop in Edmonton as a member of the Capitals in 2009. The Dominican known as “Lima Time” brought more than 1,500 innings of MLB experience with him to Alberta’s capital, much of which he accumulated as a member of the Detroit Tigers and Houston Astros. Although his best days were behind him, the righthander remained an effective pitcher and a popular draw for fans of the Golden League. Lima made 16 starts and took the mound for 116-plus innings with the Capitals. In that time, he went 6-7 with two complete games, 67 strikeouts and a 3.95 earned run average (ERA).

“I pitch for the fans,” Lima told the Edmonton Journal in September of 2009.

“I will be back in Edmonton next year. I already love this place.”

Sadly, Lima passed away on May 23, 2010 at the age of 37. The cause of death was believed to be a cardiac arrhythmia.

Jose Lima tries to pick off a runner at first base during play against the Calgary Vipers at Foothills Stadium.

Another Capital pitcher with MLB time under his belt was Lou Pote, a veteran righty who played 127 games for the Anaheim Angels and picked up a World Series ring for his efforts. The Illinois native became a familiar face in Edmonton before he suited up for the Caps. Pote toed the rubber for the Trappers in the Pacific Coast League in 1999-2000 and joined the Northern League’s Edmonton Cracker-Cats in 2007. He was a member of the Capitals from 2009 through 2011. During that stretch, Pote went 25-11 and collected 310 Ks in 324-plus innings of work, serving primarily as a starting pitcher. In his final campaign, he helped the Capitals win a championship and was named the NAML Postseason MVP.

“It was just a special way to go out. I look back at my career and I don’t really have any regrets because I laid it all on the line and played as long as I could and I kind of went out on my own terms,” said Pote, who is now a coach with the Okotoks Dawgs of the Western Canadian Baseball League (WCBL).

Alexander Francisco cracks the rotation for his two seasons on the bump with the Capitals. The righty from Puerto Plata in the Dominican Republic was dynamite for Edmonton in 2010, when he went 8-3 with 78 strikeouts and a 3.22 ERA over 18 starts and 106.1 innings. Francisco made half as many starts in 2011, but still managed to go 3-3 with 40 Ks in 45 innings.

Chris Little was a dependable presence on the mound for the Capitals during his two seasons of Golden League action. The St. Louis product went 13-8 in 2009 and 2010, notching 98 strikeouts in 181 innings.

Oregon’s Rory Shortell, a third-round draft pick of the Houston Astros, went 11-4 with a 5.29 ERA and 60 Ks in 95-plus innings on the North American League circuit in 2011. Shortell – who won Game 3 of the best-of-seven 2011 NAML championship series against the Rio Grande WhiteWings – rounds out our picks for the rotation.

Other starting pitchers who garnered consideration were Daryl Arreola (9-9, 26 starts, 114 Ks, 147.2 innings with Capitals in 2010-2011); former MLB hurler Albie Lopez (3-0, 6 starts, 26 innings, 4.15 ERA with Edmonton in 2011); and Dallas Buck (5-0, 6 starts, 34.2 innings, 2.08 ERA for Caps in 2011).

MIDDLE RELIEVERS

There are a number of bullpen options available to the Capitals when the game shifts to the later stages.

Local hurler Mike Johnson appeared in 81 games for the Baltimore Orioles and Montreal Expos before his minor-league travels brought him to the Trappers in 2004, followed by the indy league Cracker-Cats in 2007. The righty stuck around in Edmonton and played with the Capitals after that. He served as a starting pitcher in 2009, going 2-4 with an 8.34 ERA over nine starts and 45-plus frames. Johnson shifted to the bullpen in 2010 and the results were outstanding – he went 2-1 with a 0.45 ERA and 27 Ks over 20 innings in his final pro season with the Capitals.

Other relief options include Todd Privett and Jorge Vasquez.

Privett, a southpaw who was born in Salt Lake City, Utah, was great for the Capitals in 2009. That year, he logged 51.1 innings over 32 games and went 4-2 with one save, 52 strikeouts and a 3.33 ERA.

Vasquez, meanwhile, was a righthander who suited up for the rival Calgary Vipers in 2010 before he jumped ship for the Capitals in 2011. With the Caps, he was 5-1 with two saves in 31 games and 58.2 innings. Vasquez recorded 74 Ks and a 3.07 ERA that season for Edmonton.

As much as we like local content, we’re going to ask Privett and Vasquez to keep an ear on the bullpen phone during the middle innings. We have a feeling Johnson may resurface on another Alberta all-time team roster down the road.

CLOSER

When it comes to closing out games, the Capitals have a trio of pitchers who are up to the task.

Chad Blackwell served as the club’s closer in 2010. That year, the righty got into 44 games and went 4-6 with 19 saves. Over his 50-plus innings, Blackwell had 36 Ks and a 3.40 ERA. The draft pick of the Kansas City Royals returned for a second season in Edmonton in 2011 and did more middle relief work, going 3-0 with 57 strikeouts and a 4.07 ERA over 55.1 innings.

Freeport, Illinois product Jason Pearson picked up 14 saves for the Capitals in 2009. The lefty got into 34 games and registered 36 strikeouts and a 2.97 ERA over 39-plus frames.

Canadian Tom Boleska was also effective as the closer in Edmonton in 2011. During that NAML season, the righthander was 3-3 with 11 saves, 56 Ks and a 2.11 ERA in 33 games and 47 innings.

Ultimately, we’re going with Blackwell as our closer. He’s the single-season saves leader for the franchise and a durable pitcher.