It's still early, but this season has not gone the way the Lancaster Barnstormers expected when they left spring training.

The team left Florida with great promise. They looked like a contender. Now 16 games into the year, the 'Stormers are 5-11 and have had an especially tough time on the road. They are just 1-9 away from the Clip.

"We thought we had the right pieces in the puzzle and it turned out some of them did not work," said Keith Lupton, Lancaster's Director of Baseball Operations.

One of the pieces that did work, starting pitcher Zack Parker, left the Barnstormers Monday after signing with the Texas Rangers. "He deserved to get picked up," Lupton said of the lefty, who went 2-0 with a 1.32 ERA in four starts for Lancaster this season.

"You hate to lose a guy of Zack's character, but you have to keep in mind what this league is about," Lupton said. "And if a guy's going to come in here and do well, like he did, chances are he's going to get picked up."

Parker pitched a two-hit shutout a week ago that was part of a 25.2-inning scoreless streak. Last season, Parker was 6-1 with a 2.49 ERA in eight starts and one relief appearance for the 'Stormers.

Parker will report to the Rangers' Class AA team, the Frisco RoughRiders, in Frisco, Texas.

Lupton said Parker getting signed was "good news for us, too," because if players see that affiliated teams are taking players from Lancaster, they are more likely to want to play for the Barnstormers.

"Today I've been telling everybody that I've talked to, we've had two guys signed already," Lupton said, referring to Parker and outfielder Jason Perry, who was signed by the Atlanta organization in spring training.

Help, however, is on the way. Sendy Rleal and Jose Cabrera apparently have resolved their visa issues and are set to join the team. Rleal is expected to get to Lancaster late this evening and Cabrera sometime Wednesday. Both are ex-major leaguers who were penciled in for the back end of the bullpen.

Lupton said not having those two from the outset was a factor in the 'Stormers slow start. "When the Dominican players (Rleal and Cabrera) did not get here, we were forced to use guys out of the roles we intended and that obviously didn't work," Lupton said.

Lancaster also signed Nick Renault, a right-handed starter who had been in spring training with the Joliet Jackhammers of the Northern League. Renault is 16-19 with a 4.30 ERA in three pro seasons, all in independent ball ('05 and '06 in the Frontier League, and last season with Joliet).

"I think the recent moves and the moves we made last week, they showed that we're improving," Lupton said. Last week the team added reliever Jeff Muessig and Cuban-born pitcher Yamel Guevarra, who is expected to eventually move into the rotation. Also, Ricardo Gomez moved from the pen to the rotation and will make another start this week.

Offensively, Matt LeCroy will have his ailing shoulder examined today and the club will decide whether to keep him on the disabled list or activate him. LeCroy has missed eight games with the injury.

Despite the 'Stormers woes, it's still early in the season. "We're continually trying to make the team better," Lupton said. "We had the problems with the pitching staff, LeCroy hurt his shoulder the second game of the season, things just got progressively worse.

"The first thing you know, we're 5-11. We've been massaging the roster, when you're 5-11 you better get serious about massaging it. But it's early and we're only 3½ games out."

The results of the latest roster massage can be viewed tonight against the Somerset Patriots at Clipper Magazine Stadium.

E-mail: bwilson@lnpnews.com