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Beyond the Byline: ‘Red Jones’ memory to live on in his boys, family, friends

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Icebreaker sets mark for earliest Northwest Passage transit

<p>Clint Frazier, Ben Heller and J.P. Feyereisen never saw it coming.</p><p>The trio all came to the New York Yankees a day before the trade deadline last season, in the blockbuster Andrew Miller trade with the Cleveland Indians.</p><p>In a matter of minutes, their lives were altered. As Monday&#8217;s 4 p.m. trade deadline looms, more changes could be in store for the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders.</p><p>The organization has already made some moves this month, trading utility man Rob Refsndyer to the Toronto and shipping relievers Tyler Webb to Milwaukee and Matt Wotherspoon to Baltimore.</p><p>&#8220;I was in my hotel room with Bradley (Zimmer),&#8221; Frazier said earlier this season. &#8220;We had both just recently gotten promoted to Triple-A and both of us went to bed that night thinking we had made it through the trade deadline because the Jonathan Lucroy deal was supposed to be finalized, but it fell through, I guess, in the middle of the night. I found out 8:30 the next morning from a text from a friend that I got traded.&#8221;</p><p>Like Frazier, Heller said he was in &#8220;shock&#8221; initially when the trade went through. But at the same time the reliever was looking forward to the new opportunity. He now had a different path to the majors. One that was a quicker route.</p><p>Heller was called up by the Yankees on Aug. 11, just 10 days after he was assigned to the RailRiders.</p><p>&#8220;You&#8217;re usually caught off guard a little bit, but I think there&#8217;s also a little bit of excitement,&#8221; Heller said. &#8220;A team wants you badly enough to give up a player for you in exchange. There&#8217;s some mixed emotions for sure.</p><p>&#8220;When I first came to Scranton I tried to fit in and make friends with the guys and still continue to learn and develop in whatever I needed to and kind of let (the promotion) happen on its own.&#8221;</p><p>Feyereisen said the first week was the toughest when he was dealt. The 24-year-old reliever was pitching for Double-A Akron at the time, and was assigned to Trenton when he got with the Yankees.</p><p>However, minor leaguers are used to changing cities as they move up the ranks, so being traded is not completely foreign to a player. Feyereisen said it helped that he had been pitching against the Thunder in the Eastern League and had already knew some of his new teammates before he even arrived in Trenton.</p><p>&#8220;The first week&#8217;s kind of a learning process, just kind of getting to know everybody, getting to know the field, getting your routine, but it&#8217;s not too bad changing cities,&#8221; Feyereisen said. &#8220;Yeah, it&#8217;s just like when you get moved up. If you don&#8217;t know many of guys on the team it&#8217;s almost like being traded. But there&#8217;s not a whole lot you can prepare for. You just hope that you have some good guys on the other team.&#8221;</p><p>Like Frazier, Heller and Feyereisen, RailRiders outfielder Billy McKinney came to the Yankees at the trade deadline too. McKinney came from the Chicago Cubs as part of the trade for closer Aroldis Chapman.</p><p>However, this wasn&#8217;t McKinney&#8217;s first rodeo. The 22-year-old outfielder was traded to the Cubs from the Oakland Athletics as part of the package for right-handers Jason Hammel and Jeff Samardzija in 2014.</p><p>McKinney was getting his oil changed on an off day when he was traded to the Yankees. He found out when he checked social media.</p><p>&#8220;That&#8217;s how it goes nowadays with how social media&#8217;s going now. That&#8217;s where everybody pretty much finds out,&#8221; McKinney said. &#8220;The second time, absolutely, was a little bit easier. I knew what to expect. I knew it was going to happen. Once I got the call telling me where I was going, that was pretty much it. It was really easy.&#8221;</p><p>And at the same time, while all of these different pieces and parts of the team are moving, managers have to keep the ship pointed in the right direction.</p><p>RailRiders manager Al Pedrique is aware of how often his players are on social media and reading stories about possible trades. </p><p>&#8220;I always remind (the players), &#8216;Don&#8217;t try to figure it out because you won&#8217;t even come close,&#8217;&#8221; Pedrique said. &#8220;Definitely, it&#8217;s out there. It&#8217;s part of the business, but as manager, my job is to make sure that they stay focused with the daily preparation and the job that we have to get done on the field.&#8221;</p><p>Pedrique said that he&#8217;ll even receive calls from &#8220;the top&#8221; asking for insight for both his players and opposing players. It&#8217;s one of the more underrated parts of the job for managers.</p><p>&#8220;We&#8217;re not here only to win games and get these guys ready for the big leagues,&#8221; Pedrique said. &#8220;We&#8217;re here also to check on other players and if there&#8217;s somebody we really like, we turn that report in, let them know, &#8216;Hey, we saw such and such interesting players,&#8217; just in case when this day comes in July at least they have a little information. They have scouts all over the country following different teams, different players. It&#8217;s a total-package deal and personally I like it because ESPN, Baseball Tonight, Twitter, you read so many things I think it&#8217;s part of the job, part of the business.&#8221;</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Pitcher Ben Heller was part of a last-day trade that sent him to the New York Yankees organization last year. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/web1_TTL050617Railriders1.jpg</photo0><caption0>Pitcher Ben Heller was part of a last-day trade that sent him to the New York Yankees organization last year. </caption0><photoCredit0>Sean McKeag file photo | Times Leader </photoCredit0></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By DJ Eberle</p><p>djeberle@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach DJ Eberle at 570-991-6398 or on Twitter @ByDJEberle</p></shirttailMeta></div>

RailRiders Weekend Feature: SWB RailRiders relive the trade deadline