The Erie SeaWolves complete a season-long 10-day road trip today, during which time the club has seen its revolving-door roster revamped through 12 personnel transactions.
Since the SeaWolves last played in Erie on June 15, the SeaWolves lost catcher Max St. Pierre to a Triple-A promotion, released relievers Matt Righter and Anthony Tomey and had left fielder Wilkin Ramirez rejoin the team after struggling during a two-week stay at Triple-A Toledo, among other moves.
After Tomey was released on Tuesday following a 6-2 loss at Trenton, the SeaWolves received reliever Matt Rusch from Triple-A Toledo to fill Tomey’s roster spot. Reliever Anastacio Martinez was transferred to Erie from Toledo on June 19.
It’s not been often that the SeaWolves have seen their roster fortified by anybody from Triple-A. In the past month, most of the time an Erie player has been promoted, the replacement has come from low Single-A West Michigan.
The SeaWolves haven’t received much help at all from the Tigers this season, and that likely won’t change.
The Tigers’ decision to trade away a significant core of their prospects in the last two years has left the organization’s minor league system in a re-stocking and rebuilding mode, and nowhere is that dearth of prospects being felt more than in Erie.
The SeaWolves are trying to compete the best they can, but they’re going nowhere, and the talent level isn’t likely to be substantially elevated in the final two and a half months of the season.