Well, it appears that Mr. Mike Ashmore has landed upon the treasure trove of news. First, Paul Bush has gone on the Disabled List and has had an MRI performed on his right elbow. Speaking to Bush in the clubhouse, Mike reports that Bush "doesn't seem real optimistic." How astonishing would that be if the Thunder, within the a span of less than two months, lost two pitchers to their second Tommy John surgery?

Secondly, it appears that Wilkin De La Rosa is headed back to the rotation. The experiment of sending De La Rosa and Lance Pendleton into the rotation appears has ended rather quickly. Pendleton didn't last two weeks, and De La Rosa didn't make it two months. Can't be really happy if you're a Yankees fan, losing Bleich, Garcia and Bush to arm troubles in less than 60 days.

Also, Jorge Vazquez, the slugging first baseman from Mexico, is back with the Thunder. After being slated to start the season in Scranton, Vazquez had an appendectomy before the season started. Now, back in Trenton, he joins Austin Romine and Brandon Laird in forming one of the most fearsome 3-4-5s in the minor leagues. When David Adams comes back, assuming Vazquez is still in Trenton, that is going to be a NASTY lineup. Kevin Smith was placed on the Disabled List to make room for Vazquez.

Here are the five bits of audio I gathered before and after the Thunder's 6-4 win over the Erie SeaWolves this evening: From the top down is: Paul Bush, Tony Franklin pre-game, Kevin Mahoney, David Adams, Tony Franklin postgame. Also below are (again, from top down) Reggie Jackson helping with PFP, Kevin Mahoney taking some BP, Hector Noesi throwing in the bullpen and Cory Arbiso talking about his start

Yesterday, while I was watching the Pirates beat Roy Halladay, Grant Duff got promoted to Scranton. To take his place on the Thunder roster, Josh Schmidt was transferred back to Trenton.

This means the Thunder have lost their closer, and have gained a long reliever to go with Ryan Pope. Based on the way Tony Franklin used his pen last night, it seems like Wilkins Arias might be the guy to step into Duff's role.

Of course, Tony really never likes to designate anyone for a specific role, so it might be closer by committee for a while.

Today, after a spate of poor starts, Jeremy Bleich was placed on the disabled list and sent back to Florida yesterday. There is no word on Bleich's injury.

To take Bleich's spot, Paul Bush, a member of the Thunder staff last year, was activated off the DL. He is in New Hampshire with the team, and will be available tonight.

Interesting note: Both Bush and Pope will work out of the bullpen. There's no word on a fifth starter, says Thunder broadcaster Justin Shackil. Also from Shackil, Wilkin De La Rosa and Cory Arbiso will start in games 1 and 2

As mentioned earlier on the blog, Yankees pitching coordinator Nardi Contreras was in Trenton yesterday. Mike Ashmore and I sat down with him for about 10 minutes in the Thunder dugout before the game. What follows is the first half of that conversation. Enjoy.

MA: So, which teams have you seen so far this season?
NC: I've seen Tampa, I've seen Charleston and I've seen Scranton. This is the last stop.

MA: In those stops, who have you seen that you're excited about that we might be seeing here sometime soon?
NC: (Hector) Noesi has pitched well. (Adam) Warren has pitched well. ... Noesi and Warren would be the only two that have a chance right now, that are pitching well.

MA: What about those two makes them stand out?
NC: Being able to command the fastball and throw the offspeed pitches for strikes.

JN: How close a call was it to start Noesi in Trenton rather than Tampa?
NC: None at all. He just needed more time at Tampa to pitch.

JN: What about (Pat) Venditte? Is there a chance we seem here this year?
NC: There's always a chance to see anybody. Right now, no, unless someone gets hurt. Then I'd have to look in the bullpen to see who's pitching well and who's not.

Right now, anybody can come. Ortiz has pitched well closing. (Craig) Heyer has pitched well. (Brandon) Braboy is back, but he'll have to pitch a little bit more. (Dan) Kapala, we've stuck him in as a starter, and he's pitched well as a starter, but he's a reliever. Trenton Lare has pitched well at times, too.

JN: What is the situation right now with Banuelos? Was it an appendectomy?
NC: Yeah, he's still back in Mexico. We haven't seen him. It'll be a while.

JN: What is the typical recovery time for an appendectomy?
NC: I have no idea. My granddaughter, which happened just last year. The difference is: She was 5 years old. They don't take out the appendix when hers burst, because of all the infection. Adults, they go ahead and take it out.

So, I wouldn't know (about how long Banuelos might still be out of action). She (the granddaughter) was in the hospital for 32 days, in the hospital, with all the infection that was there. ... It was ugly. Hopefully that doesn't happen to us.

The first baseman/third baseman who was here last year (Jorge Vazquez). He's now back in the states, he's now hitting and working out. (He also had an appendectomy). His happened a week or two weeks before Banuelos. The time frame, I don't know, but he's back now.

I'm guessing, hoping -- hoping --that Banuelos will be coming back soon, because he's going to be a star.

MA: You've got some guys rehabbing now down in Tampa as well. Is (George) Kontos making any progress?
NC: They're all making progress. (Dellin) Betances has a chance to start at Tampa within a week or 10 days. Paul Bush will pitch tomorrow (in extended spring training) for the second time. So, I would say, one more week for him.

Kontos and (Brett) Marshall and (Andy) Shive are further away. They are doing bullpens now. They haven't started batting practices. Betances and Bush are close.

JN: What is (Andrew) Brackman working on down in Tampa?
NC: Brackman's working on, well, he's throwing strikes. That's the positive he's doing. ... His last game, numbers-wise, it looks ugly. He got two hard-hit balls against him. They day I saw him pitch was they day that -- and we weren't aware of it -- his finger was hurting him. He cut his finger during spring training. ... He had some infection and tried pitching. He gave up six, seven, eight runs the day I saw him, but everything but one ball was all groundballs in the infield or through the infield.

What he is doing is throwing strikes. He's learning now, because last year he didn't throw many strikes. He's throwing strikes now, and he's learning how to command. He needs to know how to command. He's throwing his curveball. He's learning the slider and the change-up, too. He's learning some other pitches to go along with his curveball and his fastball.

Spoke with Yankees pitching coordinator Nardi Contreras before today's game, and he gave us more than a few exciting bits of news about some of the guys around the system. Here they are in bullet form, with a full transcript to follow.

- Dellin Betances, once one of the system's top prospects, is about a week to 10 days away from coming off the DL. He's been on the shelf since last season after having ligament reinforcement surgery.

- Manny Banuelos, whom Contreras called "the Mexican Whitey Ford," is still in Mexico after having an appendectomy before getting into a game. The timetable for his return is unknown.

- Paul Bush, a former Thunder pitcher, is about to start working in extended spring training

- Jorge Vazquez, a former Thunder first baseman, also had an appendectomy and has been on the disabled list since the season started.

- Pitchers Contreras thinks could wind up at Trenton at some point this season: Hector Noesi and Adam Warren. Pat Venditte was not mentioned. Said "there's always a chance to see anybody," but, as for Venditte, "not unless somebody gets hurt."

That's it for now. Much more to come later.

As all who follow the team know, No. 1 starter Christian Garcia got hurt last night. It's not the first time it is happened. It's not the second, third or fourth time, either. He's already had two surgeries on his right elbow and another one to reconstruct his knee. He's also spent time on the disabled list with an elbow strain (2005), a strained oblique (2006) and elbow tendinitis (2009).

He'll have an MRI today, and should know the results before the day is out. Mike Ashmore will be handling the duties for The Trentonian for the next two nights, so he'll deliver whatever news comes of the situation.

Also, the Thunder made a flurry of moves before last night's game. They placed pitcher Cory Arbiso, infielder Neall French and outfielder Edwar Gonzalez on the disabled list, and added pitchers Alan Horne and Paul Bush to the roster. Those two were already on the DL. Those moves left the Thunder's roster shy a man until outfielder Reid Gorecki was sent down from Scranton.

Here's what Gorecki had to say about his demotion:

“I am going to handle it the way anyone who wants to keep playing this game will handle it; just another bump in the road. Over the course of my career I have had some bumps and this is just another one. I am here to play and that’s the bottom line. My job is dependent upon me putting up numbers, so if I wasn’t going to get a chance in Scranton, I am glad to have the chance to do something here.’’

Tonight's contest starts at 7:05 and pits Ryan Pope against Erie's L.J. Gagnier. Once again, Mike Ashmore will have The Trentonian's coverage.

The Thunder released their official Opening Day roster mere minutes ago, and there are more changes than even I expected. Because there were 26 men on the preliminary roster, we knew two had to be removed in some way. That happened, and then some. Here's the overall changes.

On preliminary roster, now on DL
P - Cory Arbiso
IF - Neall French
OF - Edwar Gonzalez

Added to roster, placed on DL:
P - Alan Horne
P - Paul Bush

Added to roster, active:
OF - Reid Gorecki