Midwest League 1996

Wisconsin Timber Rattlers

Joel's Lugnut Summer

This page profiles the 1996 Wisconsin Timber Rattlers, a Single-A affiliate of the Seattle Mariners and a member of the Midwest League.

This essay previewed the last 1996 series between the Rattlers and the Lansing Lugnuts. It was intended to highlight the team's strengths, and was written from the perspective of a Lugnuts fan.

The Lugnuts start the second half of the season by hosting the best team in the league for a four-game set. Thursday's game will have a giveaway (sports bottle) and a Dash for Cash; Friday's will have fireworks. Thursday's game will be televised on WLNS (Lansing Channel 6).

The Timber Rattlers are affiliated with the Seattle Mariners and are owned by many local shareholders.

FanLink's Rattlers Page is [was] a typically excellent Jeff Williams production. The Mariners Farm System pages have [make that had] some information. The Timber Rattler Index is less useful [which may explain why it's gone]. There's a National Association page, and it's like all their pages.

The Rattler's manager is Mike Goff. Coaches are Joaquin Contreras and pitching coach Pat Rice. Goff also managed this team last season.

Worth noting: Lugnuts Manager Brian Poldberg managed this team in 1988 and 1989, when it was affiliated with the Royals and known as the Appleton Foxes. He coached in Appleton in 1987.

The Ballpark

Fox Cities Stadium was new last summer. It seats 4,000 (plus lawn seating) and its outfield dimensions are 330-400-330. STATS says it favors neither offense nor defense, though it does favor home runs somewhat. I haven't seen it, so I won't attempt a description.

There's a review of this ballpark in Dustin Schubert's Single-A Ballparks page. [Now gone.]

Directions: The park's actually in Grand Chute. Leave US 41 at Wisconsin Avenue; go west. Turn right at Casaloma. Parking is inexpensive.

The Team

All-Stars: Jose Amado (3b), Joel Ramirez (ss), Karl Thompson (c), Luis Tinoco (of), Brent Iddon (p), Greg Wooten (p).

The Timber Rattlers are the best team in the league, judging by their first-half record. Their 46-20 (.697) record won the Central Division by nine games. This team has excellent hitting and spotty pitching; the hitting has so far overcome the shortcomings of the pitching staff.

The Mariners' farm teams were not particularly successful last season. Only Everett, Washington's team in the short-season Class A Northwest League, finished in the first division. Many of this year's Timber Rattlers played for that team.

Every starting position player hits well. Outfielder Scott Smith has power and speed, while first baseman David Arias is near the league's lead in extra-base hits. Outfielder Luis Tinoco is having an excellent offensive year. Second baseman Chris Dean is the most potent base thief, but many of the players are dangerous on the bases. Other players with generally excellent numbers include third baseman Jose Amado, outfielder Joe Mathis, and catcher Karl Thompson. In general, an excellent offense; everyone can and does score runs and knock them in.

The Rattlers use their pitching staff differently than many teams; while the workload's not evenly spread, everyone gets a lot of work. The best pitcher is Brent Iddon (a truly strange stat line, though); Greg Wooten is also excellent. These two are among the best in the league. Denis Bonilla and Aaron Scheffer seem to be closers, but used differently and differently successful. Beyond these pitchers, there's chaos; lots of wins, but obviously more due to good offense than the pitchers' skills.

On paper, this looks like a stronger version of our team. Probably their defense is better, but I haven't got those numbers, and their offense is a notch more productive. But this team can be beaten; that pitching staff....