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Sin City's New Look for '06
Las Vegas Remodels Its Roster
By Conor Intabedd / The Weekly Reno Rag
Twenty players leave. Ten players take their place. The Las Vegas Doggs said they were going to change around their roster this off season, I'm just not sure anyone expected this drastic of a change. The team that went from 1st place in 2004 to 4th place in 05 felt like they needed to spice things up for the 2006 season if they were going to return to glory, and although they gave up 2 players for every one in return, their 20-man roster is shaping up to be much better than any 20-man roster they could have put together at the beginning of this off season.
The Doggs' offense hasn't really been upgraded as much as the holes have been laid over with new concrete. Adam Dunn and his .250 AVG have been replaced with Gary Sheffield. Hideki Matsui with Jason Bay. They're no longer "stuck" with 3 quality 1B. Instead, they were sent packing to other teams (HAV and GLD respectively) for players that would help other areas of the roster that needed it more. "There's no point in holding onto 3 players at the same position when you can only play 1 or 2 of them at the most. We moved Todd [Helton] and Jason [Giambi] because we knew [Albert] Pujols could handle the load at first base on his own and the quality of players the other two could bring our team was undeniable," commented GM Howe Dogg in a recent interview at the new Hooters Casino in Las Vegas.
Aramis Ramirez will be missed, but David Wright has already been embraced by the city. He's been seen spending a lot of time with newcomer Barry Zito, who grew up in the city as a life long Doggs' fan, walking up and down the strip getting acquainted with the city he'll be calling home for years to come. Jose Reyes and Gary Sheffield have been seen trying to pick up mother-daughter pairs in the city while Jason Bay and Ben Sheets have been seen spending most of their time at the Crazy Horse Too. Roy Halladay, who is a favorite of GM Howe Dogg, is being watched very carefully this spring after coming off his broken leg injury.
The biggest impact this off season has had on the Vegas squad is their pitching staff. They started off with some middle of the road to quality starters in Chris Young, Greg Maddux, Aaron Harang, Noah Lowry; the reigning Al Cy Young winner Bartolo Colon; and young guns Scott Olsen, Oliver Perez, and Fernando Cabrera. They have all been replaced with top f the line starters Jake Peavy, Roy Halladay, Barry Zito, and Ben Sheets; along with phenomenal closers Francisco Rodriguez, and Brad Lidge. "I love this city. It's good to be home. I'm close to my family and I'm in a place that has a good shot at winning a title. I've been a lot of places [Quebec City, Bizton] and this is the one place I'd like to stay. [gulp gulp] Hopefully I'll prove I belong on the roster. [gulp gulp] I've got some great teammates, but at the same time I'm in competition with them to keep my job at all times," Barry Zito was quoted to saying at the free margarita bar in the Stardust Hotel and Casino.
The Doggs have proven that no one on their staff is untouchable. "If we feel a player isn't providing our team with what we feel is necessary to compete for the 2006 title he'll be shopped around to teams who feel otherwise. As long as they produce to our expectations they have nothing to worry about. We're in the business of winning championships, and all the players know and understand that. They all want to win just as much as anyone," Dogg mentioned.
Some Doggs' players can attest to that. Mark Prior, Curt Schilling, Miguel Tejada, Carlos Beltran, Eric Gagne, and Mariano Rivera (the only players left from the 2004 championship teams) know what its like to win a championship and have made sure the new Doggs are on the same page. "We're here to do one thing and one thing only and that's win titles. Everything else from the blackjack tables to the slot machines are simply added bonuses," long time Doggs player Miguel Tejada told the Weekly Reno Rag.
There have been some critics that think the atmosphere the city has to offer will be too much of a distraction for the new young players. This will just not be so according to team captain Curt Schilling, the only remaining member of the Doggs inaugural roster in 2001. "We care too much about winning to allow anyone to get distracted during the season. They can have all the fun they want now, but once April hits it's all business, and those of us that have been here a few years [Schilling, Beltran, Tejada, Rivera, Gagne] will make sure of that," Schilling assured us.
And though the Doggs cleared out the Reno Mongrel's roster to acquire some of the new players they haven't given up on their minor league component. They still own two first round draft picks in the 2006 Minor League Draft, which, contrary to recent reports, the Doggs feel is as deep as any year's draft. "We've already got out eyes on some players in that draft. We may not be able to get the top pick over all but that's OK since there are so many quality players out there that we'd love to have," Dogg mentioned. The Doggs also received future draft picks in the 2007 and 2008 minor league draft from the Golden Gryphons through trades this off season. "We're always keeping our future in mind. We want to win now of course and we feel we that ability this year but we don't want to give up on our future to do so."
As of February 4, 2006, there have been 23 traded this off season alone. Compare that to the total of 31 trades that occurred during time span between January 1 - July 30 2005. The Doggs have involved in 14 of those 23. They've been keeping busy this off season and if you're a Doggs' fan, let's hope all the hard work pays off in September.
Conor Intabedd writes an opinion column for The Weekly Reno Rag. His days are spent sweeping floors for a North Shore Florida Denny's, but his nights... nobody can take those away from him.
