TRAVERSE CITY -- As the 2007 baseball season unfolded, there were changes aplenty for the Traverse City Beach Bums.
A new manager (Jon Cahill), a rash of injuries, a parade of players trying to fill pitching needs... but the biggest change of all turned out to be management's new philosophy about how to build the roster.
"We went into the season with a lot of returning players, including our entire (five-man) starting rotation," said Beach Bums co-owner and CFO Leslye Wuerfel. "On paper it looked like we were going to kick butt.
"But the thing about independent league baseball is your returning players don't always come back in the best of shape. A lot of them have never had that long of a layoff, and the level of conditioning of some of them didn't work for us. So we had to make some incredibly tough decisions."
One of those tough decisions was releasing popular pitcher Steve Shippey less than a year after he had represented Traverse City in the Frontier League All-Star Game.
"Nobody wanted to release Steve because we all like him so much," Wuerfel said. "I thought (pitching coach) John Sexton did a heck of a job. But nothing clicked. Steve went on to pitch well for Kalamazoo, but only after he decided to do it.
"We learned a lot of important lessons in 2007 that will help us going into our third season."
The Bums, whose once-stellar defensive play fell off considerably in 2007, finished 46-50 and missed the playoffs for the second year in a row.
Team officials plan to bring more players to training camp, and fewer of them will be guaranteed spots.
"We'll have a good nucleus back," Wuerfel said. "If you look at the roster on our Web site, you can get an idea of who we're expecting to play (including catcher Curtis Ledbetter, pitcher Ryan Gehring and second baseman Steve Young, who is still mulling his options).
"But we want to raise the competition level."
In addition to the Bums' changed philosophy, more new things are in store for 2008. The team won the right to host the league All-Star Game and skills competition (July 15-16), will host a record 54 home games, switched the Wuerfel Park playing field from natural grass to artificial surface and added general manager Jason Wuerfel to its coaching staff as a hitting instructor.
"The All-Star Game is going to be awesome," Leslye Wuerfel said. "We're pulling out all the stops."
Winners in the skills competition will receive cash prizes, plus competitors in the home run derby will be paired with randomly-selected fans, who will win a prize if their player wins the contest.
The new artificial turf will allow the Bums to hold more events. For instance, three high school tournaments have been scheduled plus the Bums will play a training camp exhibition for the first time -- a contest against the United States Military All-Stars on May 17. The team may also host concerts at the park.
Adding son Jason Wuerfel to the coaching staff, Leslye Wuerfel said, isn't a case of nepotism.
"Having Jason on the field will help us," she said. "He knows baseball. We think he may end up down in the bullpen, and he knows how to keep the players' heads in the game. We think he'll be a big plus."
If all of the changes make 2008 a success, then the troubles of 2007 will have been worth it, Leslye Wuerfel said.
"We can't wait to get going again," she said.
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