Bears Look To Repeat

By Mark Krulish on April 25, 2008

NEWARK, NJ – It was a dream season for the Newark Bears in 2007, taking home the Atlantic League title on the strength of three home runs by outfielder Jose Herrera, who was also named MVP for the championship series. Fast forward to April 2008 and the team looks a lot different, but the goal remains the same.

“We look pretty good this year,” said outfielder Keith Reed, one of the few holdovers from last season. “We lost a couple of real big bats in the middle of our lineup, but we got some new guys coming in that look like they can really hit. We can definitely give it another run.”

“We’re aggressive,” said pitcher Will Cunnane. “This is a very aggressive team, we swing and we swing hard, and that’s the name of the game, its time to play ball and let it rip.”

Indeed, a few new offensive pieces have been added to the puzzle this season. The biggest new name would have to be former major league first basemen Randall Simon.

Simon brings a lot of major league experience to the table as he is a veteran of 16 years to professional baseball. His best season came in 2002 while with the Detroit Tigers. He posted a .301 batting average with 19 home runs and 82 RBIs.

“He’s going to bring a lot of power to our lineup and leadership to our club,” said manager Wayne Krenchicki. “We look forward to getting him here.”

Another new offensive weapon will be infielder Mike Just, a Woodcliff Lake, N.J. native, who will be the table-setter this season. He is a dangerous hitter capable of getting on base at any time, as evidenced by his 5-for-5 performance against the Somerset Patriots in an exhibition game. Just was in camp with the Houston Astros camp, but was cut despite a fantastic spring performance.

“He’s a real scrappy-type kid,” said Krenchicki. “He gets on base and makes things happen and he’s local so it’s a good fit for us. He’s going to create some havoc from the lead-off spot.”

With Simon, Just, Herrera and former Pittsburgh Pirate Bobby Hill, the offense appears to be in excellent shape, but has a daunting task in trying to repeat the offensive production of a year ago.

“If we hit even close to the way we did last year, it will be a miracle” said Krenchicki. “When you hit .302 as a team it says a lot about the talent you have. It was a lot of fun watching that team, if we can get near that level, I’ll be happy.”

On the mound, there is plenty of experience with Will Cunnane and Al Levine. Cunnane is a veteran of 16 years in professional baseball, and he is looking to prove that he still has the talent left to get back to the majors.

“I had two years off because of surgery.” said Cunnane. “I didn’t like it one bit, I really needed to get back on the field and do this again. I want to get back to the big-leagues.”

Levine is another pitcher that brings plenty of experience and leadership and even has a World Series ring on his finger. He won it all as a reliever with the Anaheim Angels in 2002.

The pitching staff also boasts plenty of young arms with pitchers like David Pellegrine, Patrick Stanley, Rich Scalamandre, Josh Fields, and Matt Sweeney. The rotation and bullpen has a good mix of young pitchers and veterans and should be in fine shape for the 2008 Atlantic League season.

The spirits are high in Newark and the atmosphere is a mixture of excitement, anxiousness and confidence for the up-coming year. The Bears are ready to defend their title, and just may be successful in doing so.

“We’ve made some changes,” said Krenchicki. “But it is because we had so many players that made professional clubs out of spring training. When you have as good a ball club as we had, you’re going to lose a lot of players, because the players that play so well here usually won’t be back.”

The Bears open their season on Friday, April 25th in Long Island against the Ducks. Their home-opener is Tuesday, April 29th when they welcome the Bridgeport Bluefish.

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