The SeaWolves will be losing closer Casey Fien and shortstop Danny Worth indefinitely. Both players were promoted to the Triple-A Toledo Mud Hens on Sunday after Erie’s 10-1 loss to the Bowie Baysox at Jerry Uht Park.
The team also announced that utility player Caonabo Cosme has been activated from the disabled list. Erie also will receive right-handed reliever Rudy Darrow from low Single-A West Michigan.
Toledo third baseman/designated hitter Mike Hessman and right-handed closer Blaine Neal, who leads the International League with 25 saves, are leaving the Mud Hens to compete with the U.S. baseball team at the Beijing Olympics.
Fien (3-3, 2.96), who is seventh in the Eastern League in saves with 12, has been the club’s most consistent reliever this season, appearing in 40 games.
“Coming into this year, I just wanted to be able to do my job whenever it was asked,’’ Fien said. “I’m going to take this opportunity and run with it. For a closer, you have to throw strikes and I have been throwing strikes. I’ve been getting outs here, so I think they think I can get the job done in Toledo.’’
Fien began the season in a setup role, but inherited closing duties in early May after right-hander Freddy Dolsi was promoted to the Detroit Tigers and right-hander Brett Jensen underwent Tommy John elbow surgery.
“Fien has been outstanding for us,’’ SeaWolves manager Tom Brookens said. “Ever since June, he has been rock solid. I don’t know what role they’ll use him in up there, and it really doesn’t matter. He just needs to go up and continue doing what he’s doing. I don’t expect him to be back here and I don’t want him back. Let him go up there and do the job.’’
Fien and Worth will be leaving an Erie team that’s been in fifth or last place in the EL Southern Division since mid-May for a Toledo team that is competing for a pennant. The Mud Hens were in second place in the International League West Division on Sunday, four games behind first-place Louisville.
“I bet the environment is totally different there and everyone is focused,’’ Fien said. “I’m not saying that we aren’t focused here, but there it’s going to be a little more intense because you’re going to be playoff-bound and they have a great team up there.’’
Worth came off of the disabled list on Monday after missing three weeks because of pain and stiffness in his throwing shoulder. Worth has five homers, 33 RBIs and a .254 average in 79 games this season.
Cosme has been on Erie’s disabled list since June 27 due to a back strain. He’s hit .250 with one homer and seven RBIs in 23 games this season.
With West Michigan, Darrow was 4-2 with a 1.85 ERA and four saves in 33 games. In 48 2/3 innings, Darrow has allowed 39 hits and 13 runs (10 earned) with 43 strikeouts and 15 walks.
In another personnel move, the Detroit Tigers purchased the contract of right-handed starting pitcher Scot Drucker from the independent Grand Prairie AirHogs and assigned him to the SeaWolves, according to a report on Grand Prairie’s Web site.
Brookens, however, said after Sunday’s game he was unaware of that move and was awaiting word from the Tigers.
Grand Prairie, a member of the 10-team American Association of Independent Professional Baseball league, is managed by former SeaWolves hitting instructor Pete Incaviglia.
Drucker, 26, a native of Miami, was 8-3 with a 2.41 ERA in 15 starts for Grand Prairie this season. He had 57 strikeouts and 20 walks in 93 1/3 innings. He limited opponents to a .224 batting average, and his ERA ranked second in the league.
Drucker was selected by the Oakland Athletics in the 13th round of the 2004 draft and pitched in their organization for three years. He is Grand Prairie’s first-ever player to be signed by an affiliated team.