[Questdog]

Saturday, January 27, 2001

I took over as the General Manager of the the Jacksonville Jays today. In the latest Baseball America issue, the editors ranked all the teams in the Millennial League and the Jays were ranked #20 out of 16 teams! They were ridiculed for not acquiring as much talent as any of the other teams. The list of prospects was particularly damning, with no Jay in the top 100. Our top rated prospect was RP Bob Craig (23-R), ranked #106. That means the other 15 teams in the league have an average of 7 prospects each better than anything we have! Owner Jerry Orman (80), who has been running the team single-handedly, was castigated for not hiring a baseball man to steer the franchise. So he has belated hired one: me. He told me flat out that he expects me to undo his mess and take the team to the Millennial Cup this season and I told him (after I had signed my contract) that that was impossible and it would take years to undo his mess.

Orman managed to sign 4 players that have some skill, but all 4 have a history of injury problems. 2 are starting pitchers: Victor Espinoza (35-R) and Manny Martinez (28-R). Both will have a birthday before the season starts. Espinoza, in particular, is one of the best pitchers in the League, when healthy. But at 36, he will not be around when the Jays finally become a winner, so we will try to trade him to a contender, hopefully, for a prospect rated in the top 100! The other 2 players with some skills are SS Bill Crystal (26-S), who has a good glove and can hit for power, but strikes out a lot and does not hit for much average, and CF Cal Doty (24-L), who is a pretty good all round player, though he does not have quite the range I like in center field. Baseball America ranked both of those guys in the middle of the pack of projected starters in the league at their positions. Every other player the Jays have was ranked last at his spot....

We have 79 players under contract, though they are players only by technical definition. 27 of them are known slackers who must be eradicated from the roster at any cost. They will either be traded or cut. As most everyone knows, I cannot stand for a player who cannot run at all. Players need not be fast, but they must be able to at least outrun my pet 3 legged box turtle. Surprisingly, Orman only signed 1 player who is not a slacker, but cannot run a lick and that is a catcher who will also be traded, if possible. We only have 5 catchers under contract, so we cannot afford to cut him, unless we get another catcher in a trade. We only have 9 weeks until the season starts, so I better get to work.