Spencer back; Williams may be on way

The Las Vegas Stars will welcome back one familiar face tonight and another could be on the way later in the week.

Pitcher Stan Spencer (3-0, 3.07 ERA), arguably the team's most effective starting pitcher this season, comes off the disabled list tonight and will start against the Salt Lake Buzz at Cashman Field.

To make room for Spencer, who has not pitched since May 5 because of foot problems, the Stars sent right-hander Brian Tollberg (1-1) back to double-A Mobile.

But an even bigger name could be on the way in a few days.

As expected, the San Diego Padres on Sunday optioned Eddie Williams for reassignment. If the 33-year-old Williams, who was just batting .143 in 27-at-bats with the Padres, clears waivers, he is expected to accept another triple-A assignment with the Stars.

"(The Padres) are anticipating him reporting (to Las Vegas)," Stars manager Jerry Royster said. "I'm not sure how he's taking (the demotion). It's hard to say. I haven't talked to him yet."

The outspoken Williams has made it known that he believes he should be playing in the major leagues. He briefly talked about retirement after the Padres sent him to Las Vegas at the end of spring training.

If Williams does report to the Stars, he would be a huge addition to a club that has struggled to score runs since his departure in early May.

Simply put, Williams was the most dominating offensive player in the PCL at the time of his call-up to the Padres. In 24 games, he was batting .404 with eight home runs, nine doubles and 31 RBIs in just 89 at-bats. He shattered several team records on April 22 at Calgary when he went 5-for-5 with four home runs and 10 RBIs in a 20-15 win over the Cannons.

Latham returns home

The bad news for Chris Latham is that he was being sent back down to triple-A by the Minnesota Twins. The good news is it meant the former Basic High star could return home and play in front of family and friends with the Salt Lake Buzz.

"It's always good to come back home and play," said Latham, who had a two-run double to help the Buzz defeat Las Vegas 7-5 on Sunday afternoon at Cashman Field. "I wasn't too disappointed because I wasn't playing that much up there."

The 25-year-old Latham was batting just .138 with the Twins with four runs scored and two RBIs.

"My numbers were not that good," said Latham. "I wanted to get some more at-bats and play every day, so I decided it would be best for me to come down here. I love being in the big leagues, but I wanted to play every day. Up there (with the Twins) Otis Nixon is ahead of me and he's making $2 million a year. I just got to be patient and keep improving."

Latham certainly has had two pretty good tutors with the Twins. Besides the veteran Nixon, ex-Twins star Kirby Puckett has passed along a few pointers.

"I talked to Kirby a lot," Latham said. "He's a good guy. He's always giving me a few pointers on how to improve my game. Same with Otis. Otis told me I was too young to be sitting on the bench up there and he was right."

Latham's wife, Sarah, and son, Christopher got to watch him play the last two games here.

"Having my friends and family out here supporting me has been great," Latham said. "And it's nice to be able to sleep in my own bed at night. I bought a new house here last year and have only been able to spend maybe two months in it."

Golden Archi

Another player sent back to triple-A over the weekend was Archi Cianfrocco, who is on a 20-day injury rehab assignment with the Stars.

Cianfrocco has been plagued by a strained oblique muscle with the Padres and his average has slid all the way to .143. He had one span were he had just one hit in 25 at-bats.

"It was bad," Cianfracco said. "The slump happened to occur at the start of the season. I had been doing a lot of sitting up there and I needed to get some at-bats."

"Today felt a lot like the first day of spring training," Cianfracco added following an 0-for-4 debut. "It was see the ball and hit the ball. The first couple of at-bats (both strikeouts) my timing just wasn't there. But I felt better and could see the ball better the last couple of times I was up."

Cianfracco, who enjoyed banner seasons with the Stars in 1994 and 1995, said he'd like to get about 40 at-bats during his Las Vegas stay before rejoining the Padres.

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