In honor of the Famous Chicken being added to the entertainer schedule last week (August 31st)…

Scott Napolitano (front, center) is a former BlueClaws cameraman. He brought the crowd to the big video board for you here at FirstEnergy Park. Now, Scott is producing a webseries called “Issues.”

He started out with the BlueClaws in their first season, 2001, and ended up doing the camera at age 16. “I got started that day, and I never looked back. I got into film as a result of doing the camera work.”

I had a chance to talk to Scott last week. He talked in great detail about the process, including finding the cast, writing, editing, filming, and marketing. Click here for the interview over at ClawCasts.com.

Basically the series is about a group of comic book fans and the people who work at the store, along with their daily interaction. Every story is based on a real experience that either Scott or another crew member had.

It’s worth checking out. His website is www.IssuesTheSeries.com, and the next episode is released on January 21st. That will be the second one, with each episode coming out at the website every two weeks.

Where does money actually grow on trees? Why in baseball’s salary arbitration process, of course. We bring this up today because this week players and teams will exchange figures prior to heading to the arbitrators early next month.

Who’s eligible? Basically, players with at least three years of big league service are eligible. You do not gain free agent status until after six years are completed. Teams will offer arbitration to their own free agents, which gives them compensation should the player sign elsewhere. But if they accept arbitration, it’s binding.

What’s the problem with the process? A) It puts the teams in the position of arguing against the abilities of their own players, players that sooner or later they’ll have to work out a long term agreement with. Ryan Howard leads the league in home runs and RBIs, and carries the Phillies in a September comeback. Now the Phillies have to get in a room and argue that he strikes out too much? B) Teams are limited because their budgets are determined by outside sources. C) It’s skewed to the players because there is no limit on the amount of a pay raise, while players can only get a 20% pay cut. D) Salary decisions are in part based on bad contracts signed by other teams, meaning Team A is actually penalized because Team B screwed up last year.

“In the last 15 to 18 months, talking to every club, asking ‘What do you hate most about the system?’ The bottom line is if they had their choice, without a doubt, it’s salary arbitration. Free agency at least you can elect to do, but in salary arbitration you’re somewhat of a prisoner of what other people have done.”

Who said that? Bud Selig. In 1992. Four years ago, the Hardball Times took a great look at the process, and you can read the article here.

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The Phillies took care of Cole Hamels today but still have to deal with a group that includes Ryan Howard, Ryan Madson, and Shane Victorino.

Cole Hamels, a BlueClaws pitcher in 2003, picked up a three-year contract extention today, taking him through the 2011 season. The left-hander gets $4.35 million in 2009, $6.65 million in 2010, and $9.5 million in 2011, for a total of $20.5 million.

Analysis: Good deal for both sides. The Phillies avoid the unique and logic-defying process of salary arbitration (more on this tomorrow), and they don’t have to keep a few million free protecting against the whims of an arbitrator. Hamels’ salary escalations are now locked in and very reasonable.

For Hamels, he has protection in case he gets injured in the next few seasons, and he doesn’t lose any of his free agent years, in fact he keeps one arbitration year (2012). A few years ago the Twins bought out Johan Santana’s arbitration years with a 4-year $40 million deal, so this is certainly reasonable, especially as prices for starting pitchers have gone up.

What do you think about the World Baseball Classic? Personally I think it’s a unique concept that is largely harmless. Every three years is not overkill. It’s just not that easy to work into the calendar, which leads to problems, especially with pitchers. But once you get into the knockout round, it’s fun. Only thing I might do is go from 16 countries down to eight. Highlight the best teams and don’t waste time with 16-1 games early on.

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Chan-Ho Park will skip the World Baseball Classic in order to focus on winning a rotation spot with the Phillies. Many assumed he would be a bullpen arm but Park is driving towards being their 5th starter behind Cole Hamels (BlueClaws 2003), Brett Myers, Joe Blanton, and Jamie Moyer. Park will compete with Kyle Kendrick (04-06), JA Happ (2005), and Carlos Carrasco (2006).

The most interesting part about this is Park breaking down into tears when making the announcement in his native South Korea. I don’t think one US player has broken down into tears when he announced his intentions to play or skip the WBC.

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We briefly mentioned this in our Winter Tour live blog, that we’ll be doing another live blog during FanFest, which we also mentioned is Saturday, March 7th, beginning at noon. So much more to come on this, but keep that day clear on your calendars.

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Part of FanFest will be a viewing of that day’s USA/Canada World Baseball Classic game on our video board. Canada’s 2006 WBC roster included former BlueClaw Scott Mathieson (2004), as well as Justin Morneau, Jason Bay, and Erik Bedard.

Here’s part 2 of our interview with 2008 BlueClaws OF Michael Taylor, which focuses on his time in Hawaii during their annual winter league. Click here for part 1.  

Question: How was the Hawaiian Winter League?

Michael Taylor: It was good baseball. We had six outfielders on our team, so you’re only playing two or three games per week. One day on, two days off, so it’s hard to get into a rhythm. There is good competition. There are also some foreign big leaguers from Japan or Korea. It’s a different experience. You learn on the fly. They play a lot differently than we do. Spreading out 80 at-bats over two months with a lot of different factors, it’s not necessarily great on the baseball side for most guys because it’s different, but the experience is great and I wouldn’t trade it for anything.

Q: How are the foreign players?

MT: They throw more pitches and work harder to disrupt timing. Most domestic big leaguers, their emotions are pretty similar. It’s fastball-curve-change or fastball-slider-change. They have more deceiving motions, and change their motions a lot more. Some quick pitching, long holds, varying speeds, and they throw a lot more pitches. We had a guy who threw a four-seamer and a two-seamer, change, screwball, split-finger, all at different speeds. You’re looking at seven or eight types of pitches. Here, the best guys have maybe four. In the minors it’s usually two or three. But these guys never threw the same pitch twice and were adept at mixing up speeds and throwing anything and everything in any count. It was a challenge, especially early on. They were polished.

Q: Were you able to absorb the culture in Hawaii? (more…)