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(AP) - As I walked down the hallway towards the GM's office I could hear the sweet tune of the mid 60's slowly drifting ahead of me. As the Byrds sang "Turn, Turn, Turn," I couldn't help myself from smiling and wondering if he did that on purpose, if it was just another one of those cosmic coincidences, or maybe just the fates having a little fun this day.
When I knocked twice on his open door to get his attention and he looked at me I knew he did it on purpose. The boyish grin hid the slight graying of his hair and the the wrinkles around his eyes. Despite the smile, for a man who just turned 40 a few weeks ago, he looked tired.
"Fitting, don't you think?" he said to me as he swiveled the chair to turn the music down. "When I looked at my planner and saw our interview was in a few I decided to play a little music to relax, and it was the first song I found."
Fitting in more ways than one. This was GM Ginnow's fourth off-season in charge of the Muckdog organization and by far his most turbulent. In Batavia alone they had a new bench coach, hitting coach, scout, and trainer. Combine that with the fact that all three minor league teams moved this off-season and completely overhauled their staffs too...well I guess the man had a reason to look tired.
We small talked for several minutes and asked the obligatory questions. How was the family? Did the holiday season go well? How's your health? But with his schedule and my deadline we both knew it was time to get down to business. This was our first meeting since the end of last season and my last chance to to talk to him before my annual season preview.
When he said, "well lets do this," I nodded and looked down at my notebook. Of all the questions I pondered the last few days as my opening one I stuck with probably the most simplest...why the changes?
He looked at me for a second and I could see a small fire light in his eyes. "Simple...things just weren't working. My first year ('85) we had a heck of a run. I signed Sizer and Bing in the off-season and they played exceptionally well. SP's Noke and Athey were ace's in their own right...and we finished 80-82, a 15 game improvement from '84. There were high hopes in Batavia. From that point on though we haven't improved. Bing got hurt, Sizer became inept, our pitching staff faltered, and low and behold we're 71-91 last season with nothing to look forward too. We had to change. We had to at least try and get better. We owe it to the fans. And this time we are going to do it from the bottom up."
As I scribbled a note here and there I quickly followed up with the money question...and in this case it was just that...about money. I explained how the fans wanted to know how going from a -$5 million expected budget to a -$20 million expected budget in one off-season was beneficial.
"I've stayed awake at night thinking just that, and I want the fans to know we do have a plan. Unfortunately the pieces of the puzzle that I inherited needed to be changed, and sometimes change costs money. In this case we had to buy out some old contracts to make way for the new ones. In the end though I know we will be okay. After this season we are declining C Uchiyama's contract, so that's $16 million off the books for '89. Then after '89 we will gain another $6 million when MR Ketcham is gone. Finally after '90 Alsina's huge contract will be gone, which will free up another $23 million. As of now we're looking at a total team salary of $16.4 million in 1991. That gives us a lot of wiggle room from now until then to help build this team right."
As I nodded along I saw why people bought into his plans. He was actually excited about the future. He radiated an energy when talking that made me believe that maybe down the road this team wouldn't always just be an afterthought when people talked about the Porter division. With that though I wanted to know what he thought about his chances this season. Was there even a glimmer of hope, or were all the experts correct predicting another 4th place finish?
He shuffled some papers until he came to the one he wanted. From my angle I could see only "Blake" and so I assumed it was from the now lead scout of the organization, Cy Blake. He shuffled the papers a bit more and then looked back at me.
"I think we have a shot to make the playoffs...but I always think we have a shot. How can you go into a season thinking you don't have a shot? If the players stick together, nobody lets their ego flair up, and we play smart...we can win. This year though we are focusing on three things. Young players, pitching, and defense. If the first one causes us to not win as many as we might, then so be it. But we need to see who can play and who can't.
For the pitching staff we still have Athey as our ace. Over the past three years he has won more than he has lost and his ERA has gone down each year. At 28 we hope he's a fixture in our rotation for years to come. Next we have Corondo, who at 25 went 7-19 last season but did have a 3.60 ERA. He didn't get a lot of run support and his record does not equal his performance. Then we have Sasaki. Our #1 pick from '84 went 11-9 last season with a 3.05 ERA. We are hoping for a breakout season and that he establishes himself as another BLB young ace. Finally to wrap it up we have Chet Stephens and Cam Mills. Stephens, as many know, was a hot young prospect that tanked suddenly after '86 and hasn't regained his groove. Mills was a pickup from California which we had great hopes for but they haven't panned out either. If both of those guys improve we are going to have a heck of a young staff. For the relievers we have CL Ken Bayer. Last season the 24 year old was an All-Star and was the IL Last Call Relief winner and we look forward to many more successful years.
On the hitting side of it we have one starter in their 30's, 3B Ferris Slocombe. Unfortunately we also only had one player hit over .300 last season, RF Virgil LaVergne, so it's not like we have a lot of good young talent. If C Hidrogo can play up to his '85 level and the young outfield can produce hopefully we can give the pitching staff some support."
As I looked at the clock I knew he was a busy man and my time was running short. I wanted to know though if I could give the fans a glimmer of hope for the future. The final question I asked was how good can Batavia be in a few years?
Without hesitation he said, "Playoffs, plain and simple. From this day on we have a 5 year plan for making the playoffs. The first four years, as I mentioned before, we didn't have a solid game plan. This year needs to be a turning point for this organization. If you look at our minor leagues we have some very good players coming up. In spring training we had our first look at SP's Tad Crossman and Zander Walters and saw good things. It was hard to send those guys back down but we learned out lesson with Stephens. We also have SS Jermaine Edmonds down in AA ball which we got from the trade with Davenport, 1B Raul De Jesus in AAA which was a draft pick in '84, and LF Raul Cortez in A ball, a 3rd round pick in '87. All three of those players we have great hopes for.
Another plus, one in which we are very excited about, is that we have eight picks in the first three rounds of the upcoming draft. If we can get three to four solid players, combined with the fact that we are going to have a lot of money in a few years, we might just surprise some people. Our last scout had some issues with understanding amateur talent, and we believe that Cy (Blake) has a better grasp on the draft. Combine that with the new coaches that we have in the minors and we hope to have one of the better minor league systems down the road."
With that I closed my notebook, stood up, and shook hands. I let him know that I appreciated his time and I wished him the best of luck this season, and down the road. As I exited his office and walked back down the hall I started to laugh. For as I turned the corner towards the exit I could hear Freddie Mercury belting out "We Are the Champions." No, no you aren't. But with an organization that is willing to learn from their mistakes, and with someone at the top working that hard...I like your chances someday.
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