It was a cold day in March, 2008 when Andy Tracy put on a Lehigh Valley Ironpigs uniform and played his first game in front of 10,188 fans who were there to see their new team face the Philadelphia Phillies in a preseason exhibition game. But it was Valentino Pascucci who started at first base with Tracy taking his spot as the designated hitter. Once the season began it didn’t take long for Andy Tracy to become the fan favorite and for 3 seasons he has been the face of the franchise. There were probably more #28 jerseys sold than all others combined. With 356 hits as a member of the Ironpigs, a batting average of .272, 80 doubles, 207 walks, 69 homeruns and 261 RBI’s, he clearly dominated every major offensive category in the short history of Ironpigs baseball. It’s sad to see it come to an end but such is the business of baseball.
The writing on the wall became abundantly clear in early August when Ryan Howard went on the disabled list and Andy Tracy was overlooked as a possible replacement on the Phillies roster. Then, Matt Rizzotti was promoted to the Ironpigs from Reading and Andy was relegated to part-time duty. The final blow came when he received no September promotion to the Phillies when rosters expanded from 25 to 40. Still, there was hope that time would heal those wounds and he would return to the Ironpigs for the 2011 season.
That hope ended on Wednesday when Andy Tracy signed a minor league contract with the Arizona Diamondbacks. The contract comes with an invitation to spring training where he will compete with former Scranton/Wilkes-Barre nemesis Juan Miranda and young prospect Brandon Allen for a chance at the Arizona first base job which became vacant when the D’backs declined the $7.5 million option on the contract of Adam LaRoche. Arizona had also recently signed Wily Mo Pena as a potential outfielder but with the signing of Xavier Nady today it is possible Pena could also compete for playing time at first base. The Diamondbacks have also been rumored to be one of the teams in the running for former allstar firstbaseman Derrek Lee.
As things stand now, the frontrunner for the job appears to be Juan Miranda. New Arizona GM Kevin Towers was a special assistant to Brian Cashman of the Yankees last year and knows the Yankees farm system well. The left handed Miranda is 27 years old and defected from Cuba to the Dominican Republic in 2004. He signed a 4 year contract with the Yankees in December, 2006 and played for SWB the last 3 seasons but also had some limited time with the big club. In parts of 3 seasons, he hit .253 with 4 homers in New York. He has been very consistent in AAA and has always been a thorn in the side of the Ironpigs. On opening day, 2009 he hit a 3-run homer off lefty reliever Jake Woods to break open a close game and kept the Ironpigs from going over .500 for the first time. Arizona acquired Miranda in a trade on November 18th and barring another trade or free agent signing it looks like the first base job in Arizona is his to lose.
Brandon Allen is a 24 year old slugger who also bats lefthanded. Allen has seen limited time in the major leagues but his biggest problem has been strikeouts. In 149 big league at bats he has struck out 60 times. Allen was acquired in July, 2009 in a trade with the White Sox and finished the year at AAA Reno where he hit .324 with 12 homers in 145 at bats. He also played for Reno in 2010 and hit .261 with 25 homers in just 371 at bats.
My guess is that Brandon Allen begins 2011 again with Reno where he will share time with Andy Tracy at first base and DH. The Pacific Coast League is a hitters paradise and given enough at bats I think Tracy will thrive out there. He played a full season for Colorado Springs in 2004 and hit .315 with 33 homeruns. It wouldn’t surprise me to see him come close to those numbers again. As much as it hurts to see him go, I’m sure we all wish him well with his new team. Looks like the new face of the Lehigh Valley Ironpigs will be their manager. Best of luck Andy and feel free to come back to Coca-Cola Park anytime.
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