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Wish List: Tijuana Hispanics
Management has low expectations for 2006
By Conor Intabedd / The Weekly Reno Rag
After a disappointing 2005 campaign, the Hispanics are a team looking to rebound, but still don't have much faith in their organization going into the 2006 season. Watch for them to make their team better, but not better ENOUGH to make the playoffs. I had the pleasure of sitting down with GM Peter Kantor about his plans for the future and his disappointments of the past.
The Hispanics made a lot of moves in 2005. The felt their best move came from drafting Octavio Dotel, who ended up being hogtied and gagged in the basement of the Plymouth training facility in New Hampshire. Due to this controversy the league granted Tijuana the rights to the Bells' 1st round 2006 draft pick, which, after a horrendous season, will end up being the 2nd overall pick in the 2006 EHCC Draft. The Hispanics felt losing Dotel was fine, since they were able to hold onto and carry 4 decent closers throughout the year, plus the fact that Dotel was pronounced dead soon after the controversy passed. It is reported that that call was a little premature but he still doesn't look well.
"The burn marks from the ropes are still there and hurt like a bitch.
It's going to take a while for me to get over them and get back to my
previous pitching form," said Dotel in a recent interview with a
local Plymouth newspaper. Kantor reported that he was most disappointed with the trade he had made with the Gryphons in midseason last year. "At the time, Davies was hyped up, and I thought I was getting a superstar-in-the-making, but really I was just giving up 4 great players for 3 decent ones. Roberts ended up coming back to us later, but at an inflated price," Kantor told me. He also said he was not disappointed in trading away David Ortiz, which was a trade criticized by other GM's in the league, including Quebec City GM Pat Renaud. "I don't know what the hell he's doing over there," he said. Kantor's response was basically, "We needed depth. Ortiz couldn't carry the entire load by himself."
As for changing the Hispanics' roster around this off-season, Kantor states that no one is untouchable and everyone is available, for the right price. Some guys will be more expensive to teams looking, including Billy Wagner, Justin Morneau and new team captain Brian Roberts, who was traded away and then traded back to Tijuana during the 2005 season.
The Tijuana outfield is cluttered with players and look for them to unload a few of them, especially to make room for John Rodriguez in 2006 or 2007. Jay Payton or Jim Edmonds may go cheaper than other players on their roster.
As with most teams in the EHCC, the Hispanics want to upgrade their starting pitching. They are also looking to get a long term contract with a decent catcher since the fate of Mike Piazza is unknown.
Five players in the Hispanics' wish list are: Hideki Matsui, Erik Bedard, Ben Sheets, Livan Hernandez, and Kevin Millwood.
Kantor expects the team to compete for the 7th seed in the regular season, just missing the playoffs. Don't expect much more from them, especially if they don't.
Conor Intabedd writes an opinion column for The Weekly Reno Rag. While at the MLB Winter Meetings in Dallas, he was the guy on the left.
