THIS TRIO OF FORMER ATLANTIC LEAGUERS REACHED MAJORS, BUT NOT FILES FOR FREE AGENCY

We can identify three former Atlantic League players who got some major league playing time this season before going back to the minors and now have opted for free agency where they hope for better opportunities:

C Robinson Cancel (Long Island, Somerset and Road Warriors) from Houston.
OF Jay Gibbons (Long Island and Newark) from the Los Angeles Dodgers. He hit .300 with nine homers and 48 RBI at Albuquerque after starting the season with the parent Dodgers.
LHP Mike O'Connor (Southern Maryland) from the New York Mets even though he struck out 66 Triple-A hitters in 60.1 innings when not in the National League.

YORK'S MIKE DE MARK GETS NEW CONTRACT

Realizing that it will not be long until we see that long list of former Independent players (as well as those in the affiliated minors) who are six-year free agents hoping to land a new contract with their old organization or a new one, it was nice to learn right-hander Mike DeMark of York already has a new contract from Arizona.

HOW THEY FARED IN TRIPLE-A

We were curious how other players who spent some time in the majors this season fared as Class AAA players:

UTIL Erick Almonte (Long Island), who surprised most everyone by starting the year with the parent Milwaukee Brewers, hit .303 with six homers and 42 RBI in 244 at-bats.
RHP Mark DiFelice (Somerset and Camden) had a 2.17 ERA along with a 2-1 record and fanned 29 in 31 innings for the Brewers.
RHP Nelson Figueroa (Long Island) was 7-8, 6.05 in finishing at Indianapolis (Pittsburgh) after starting the year with Houston.

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