CHANGES BEGIN

Personnel changes are a fact of life in minor league baseball that fans often find hard to digest.

In the case of the Double-A New Britain Rock Cats, injuries sustained by the parent Minnesota Twins or the Triple-A Rochester Red Wings generally set the domino theory in motion.

The Rock Cats received word of their first transaction of 2007 Tuesday when Tristan Crawford was shipped from the Red Wings to New Britain. The Australian-born Crawford, 24, was 0-1 with a 10.12 ERA in three games for Rochester. He was 6-5 with a 3.66 ERA in 46 games for New Britain last season, when he threw all but two games out of the bullpen.

Crawford, who will start for the Rock Cats, fills the roster spot of right-hander Anthony Swarzak, who was suspended 50 games for violating baseball’s drug policy. He will start against Portland in the Thursday morning game.

How much will personnel changes shape this year’s team? Only time will tell, but history offers a pretty good perspective of what’s in store. Last year, there were 48 transactions affecting the status of 28 different players. Former New Britain catcher Steve Lomasney, who played big-league ball with the Red Sox in 1999, was affected four times.

There were 62 transactions in both 2004 and 2005.