Ottawa Can-Ams: Clean break from last season's Hall hole

Let's be on the up-and-up, even if Rob Hall is pulling a Horn Chen.

Like Can-Am League commish Miles Wolff said in his press release announcing a name-the-team contest for the Ottawa Can-Ams this morning, a "fresh start" might be best for the local nine. The idea of a clean break, in light of last season's shenanigans under Hall and fellow ex-owner Rick Anderson, has a lot of appeal.

The old nickname had a favourable response (at least until the spelling was changed). The entire Can-Am League foray into Ottawa has been an exercise in risk management from Day One. A name change should not cause consternation and cynicism.

Speaking as someone who wants to see minor-league baseball keep going in Ottawa and in Canada, it's best to keep a positive outlook. Please try to see this as a cost of keeping baseball alive in this town. It's too easy to be a cynic and say, "They're changing the name again?"

The name is being changed because we still have a team that's going to playing this summer, even if Hall wants to hoard the name, like Chen has with the Rough Riders moniker (at least until recently). That's the upshot, and it's far better than not having a ball club.

Serious suggestions for the Name The Team contest may be sent to ottawacanam@hotmail.com, while the sarcastic ones can go in our comment section.

One-paragraph posts on small things to cling to

The Ottawa Rapids website (ottawarapidsbaseball.com) is up. More to come. You can resume shovelling show, everyone.

Opening Day a mere 19 weeks away for Rapids

The Unofficial Ottawa Rapids Blog will soon be a hive of activity.

For now, Carl Kiiffner has a poll up about ticketing at Ottawa Stadium. This is important.

The gut feeling? It's going to work out. The difference between last season and this summer will be night and day. The former owners had cash but lacked common sense. It ought to be a complete 180 under new GM Barry Robinson, who having worked in politics for thirty years, knows about the art of the possible.

Zen Dayley: The evilest empire to infinity plus one; and the Jays are screwed nine ways to Sabathia

Bah, humbug: Put two and two together, as in Mark Teixeira's signing giving the Yankees the four biggest contracts in baseball, and you realize the Blue Jays.

Granted, ESPN.com's Keith Law worked for the Jays, but the speculation is snowballing.

The Blue Jays are in an unenviable position now, staring up at three clearly superior teams despite having a roster that would contend in just about every other division. It may now make sense to explore trading core players like Vernon Wells and even Roy Halladay, although the latter's no-trade clause may limit the return.

This does not give anyone in the GTA licence to whine (and since Toronto can be depressingly cold and corporate, that means the Yankees are your kind of team, Charlie). Very few people could have realistically expected the Yankees to avoid delivering a huge eff-you to people who are struggling financially, so it's amusing that even Cubs, Red Sox, Mets and Dodgers fans are joining in the chorus demanding a salary cap ("any sport with a system that allows one team to sign three players for more than $400 million in a two-week span needs fixing," Stan McNeal, The Sporting News). The Yankees apparently now have nine players making at least $14 million US next season, which is more than any team's payroll for its entire 25-player roster.

Meantime, on the same day, the Jays have been very proactive about their plans to do nothing. To be completely honest, it's all water off a duck's back, or further cause to contemplate joining the other members of the alt.nerd.obsessive admirers of the Tampa Bay Rays.

Why is that? Baseball geeks tend to be desensitized to the inequities in teams' payroll. Screaming for salary caps is kind of a ketchup answer — it's really more for people who, in Kinger's words, would prefer the leagues "increase the amount of money that goes to greedy owners instead of greedy players." On that pretentious poet level, salary caps are better left to the sports where your team needs to have a chance to win something in order for it to be interesting. Revenue sharing, that's the cheese.

Baseball is an unfair game. It's the only team sport where the team on defence has the ball. You can break your bat and get a hit the first time up, then hit the ball on the screws the next time up and see it become an inning-ending double play.

It's never been a fair game, except for in the 1980s and early '90s, which is coincidentally when the Jays were a premier team. The deck has been stacked since long before the Yankees purchased Babe Ruth from the Red Sox in 1920,

Point being, what are you going to do as a Jays fan? You're right to be pissed off. Until such time as Bud Selig really starts to hear it from the big-market teams who have money but not the Yankees' eff-you money, it's unlikely to change. What else do you follow? No disrespect, but there's not a hell of a lot else that fills in the summer evenings and weekend afternoons quite so well. Anyway, just to piggyback on a Drunk Jays Fans post from earlier today, you can't let the Yankees spending like drunken sailors take away from booing the hell out of them on some Saturday afternoon later this summer at Rogers Centre.

The real burn is that the Yankees spent all this money on another corner infielder who has not got it done in the playoffs.

First baseman Mark Teixeira got his first taste of the postseason this year and he obviously didn't like it -- because he signed a deal with the annual alsorans, the New York Yankees. And to be honest, paying $170 million for a guy who couldn't manage an extra base hit in the postseason seems like a lot of money. Unless, of course, you are the Yankees who don't figure to be in the postseason mix for an awfully long time. — The Hater Nation

Anyway, It Is About The Money, Stupid should take a huge victory lap for having called this weeks ago. Scott Boras, at least from this vantage point, played the Yankees like a fiddle.

Meantime, the baseball writers in Boston should probably start hammering out their sign-Manny-Ramírez columns tout suite, just to cause trouble. No one in Toronto need bother writing one. The handwriting is on the wall — it's J.P. Ricciardi's first draft of the revisionist history he'll write in 2010 or '11, after he's no longer GM.

This, that and the other

• The Mets would like to hold Johan Santana out of the 2009 World Baseball Classic, which could mean another big name who would not appear during the first-round games in Toronto.
• There was a lot more to Dock Ellis than the time he threw a no-hitter while on a LSD trip.
  
• ShysterBall simply took apart Cincinnati Reds broadcaster Marty Brennaman for not letting go of his Adam Dunn rage.

  "Brennaman is way past the point of telling tough truths about players, and now he's simply bitter. Day in and day out, he sounds like a man who truly hates his job, and truly hates the Reds. He hates that after having been able to watch the Big Red Machine in the 70s and some pretty darn respectable Reds' teams in the 80s and into the mid 90s, he's had to watch a mostly bad team play for the past decade. What's worse, he's not professional enough to put that disappointment aside and simply do his job like Skip Caray and Herb Score any number of other announcers of bad teams have done over the years."

  (Ottawa broadcasters would do well to apply that to Ray Emery.)
• Carl Kiiffner has a post up about the Ottawa Rapids — work is underway for the Can-Am League team's second season. There was a semi-big move. The American Defenders of New Hampshire (né Nashua Pride) have acquired right-hander Luis Valdez, who was a big part (2.49 ERA, .240 opponents' batting average) of the Québec Capitales having the best record in the league last season.
  

Ex-Lynx: Wathan climbs the ladder (and the Rapids have a GM!)

It's nice to drop in on the Ottawa baseball diaspora: Dusty Wathan, who was popular with fans with the 2007 Lynx, is moving up in the minor-league managerial ranks. He'll be managing the Lakewood BlueClaws, the Philadelphia Phillies' Single-A team, next season.

Another '07 Lynx, second baseman Joe Thurston, got picked up by the St. Louis Cardinals organization.

Speaking of the new team, Barry Robinson has been announced as the Rapids new general manager. There will be more news to come about that in the days ahead.

For the time being, let's just say it's good to have someone coming in as GM who's worked for the city of Ottawa for 30 years. The job seems to be more about the day-to-day business stuff at the Can-Am level.

Anyhow, Wathan was a rookie skipper last season with Williamsport in the short-season New York-Penn League, so this is a step up for the honorary Canadian (he married one). His colleagues in the Phillies' chain, of course, now include another catcher who was pretty popular when he played for an Ontario team, a gentleman by the name of Ernie Whitt.

"Ernie, Ernie" is going to be managing the Clearwater Threshers in the Florida State League, High-A Ball. Not to say anything extemporaneous, but one wishes them all the best.

Hopefully, it won't be too long before news starts filtering out about the lineup for Ottawa's second season in the Can-Am League.

Rapids: Like a bad penny...

Carl at the The Unofficial Ottawa Rapids blog has come out swinging at the latest fertilizer spewing forth from the Can-Am League baseball team's ex-owner, who doesn't get the dignity of being identified.

Mr. Kiiffner's entire rebuttal should be read, but a few handy bullet points:

• The knob in question is still trotting out that "million dollars a year in rent" malarkey that has long since been discredited. The lease on the ballpark is $108,000 for 2009. Everyone knew this all along. Move on, sir.
• Any proposed rent increase once the sub-lease expires after the 2009 season would have gone to city council. This council on balance is not the greatest one that Ottawa's ever seen, but they have been onside with the Can-Am League.
• The ex-owner is claiming he had no plans of developing the site into a year-round entertainment centre. This raises the question of why he wanted a 60-year lease.
• One hates to look at this as someone trying to wiggle out from under his financial obligations:

  "They had X million dollars to buy the Stadium, but not pay the roughly $700K owing to their creditors (stripping out for the moment, the debt owed to Momentous)? While I fully concede my naivete with respect to business, how exactly does that happen? And aren’t the optics of the situation truly deplorable? Worse still, if I’m a Rapidz creditor reading the Sun last Wednesday, I’d be asking the Rapidz owner this question: If you have the money to buy the stadium, why don’t you have the money to pay me what you owe me?
  
  Here's a thought: If he’s really glad baseball is remaining in Ottawa and truly believes that 'it belongs here,' instead of being 'first in line' to buy RapidS tickets for himself in 2009, perhaps Mr. (blank) should settle the RapidZ debts to others first."

• The dingus also said the lease prohibited loud, stand-alone rock concerts. Nickelback played there in July 2007. No one plays louder than Nickelback, unfortunately.

The sooner this gentleman goes away, the better off the baseball diehards in Ottawa will be.

Related:
Latin 101 (Carl Kiiffner, The Unofficial Ottawa Rapids blog)
Previous:
Hall of Shame (Sept. 30, 2008)

Rapids: A true underdog story

Here's a short message to some, not all mind you, of the 82 per cent of respondents to a newspaper poll who say professional baseball can't work in Ottawa: Enjoy watching your Sens miss the playoffs.

Guarded optimism is as close as it comes to drinking the Kool-Aid with the Rapids, or whatever they might be called (even if legal wrangling leads to using another name, Rapids is the preference). Can-Am League commissioner Miles Wolff, along with the local sweat-equity types such as Ottawa's own Mike Kusiewicz are nothing if not willing to consider everything within reason to get the region's baseball community all pulling on the same rope next summer. As Mr. Wolff said:

"... the league believes in the market. It's a great city. A great stadium. Long-term, we think it's in the best interest of the league to try and make it work. It all teases you.

No one is denying that it has not been and will be a hard road, starting in January when the process to sell tickets and put together a competitive team begins in earnest. It is doable, and with Wolff's energy and vision, all things are possible.

Footage of yesterday's press conference is up over at The Unofficial Ottawa Rapids Blog.

Related:
Can-Am league still up for Ottawa challenge; No new owner in sight, but planning continues for '09 baseball season (Ottawa Citizen)
Bases loaded for return; League confident pro ball can survive in city (Sun Media)

Rapids: Now available for rent, Million-dollar Crybaby

Please let this be the be the last time this site ever references the Zipperheads. In the wake of the Rapid(e)s' return, the former owners are getting what they have coming to them:

"This million dollar a year lease argument is entirely irrelevant — a red herring. It's pretty tough to blame the City for this — no more than I would blame an undertaker for not saving his unfortunate client. ... the City has bent over backwards for Independent baseball in Ottawa, they're not the problem.
— Carl Kiiffner, The unofficial Ottawa Rapids blog, Sept. 29

"Former Rapidz owner (name redacted) used the city as a scapegoat when he exited Sept. 29, saying the city was trying for a 10-fold increase in rent to about $1 million a season when the existing lease with the former owner of the International League’s Lynx runs out following the 2009 season.
— Ottawa Citizen, today

"The city offered to extend the $108,000 a year to (name redacted), (city councillor Bob) Monette said, so he’s not sure why the failure to secure a long-term deal with the city was cited as one of the reasons for the team folding."
— Sun Media, today

It's a long road to justice sometimes.

It's a good day.

Rapids: Play ball! We'll have a local nine in '09

Never count out Miles Wolff.

Long story short, there will be baseball at Rapids Stadium next spring. Very shortly, it will hit the news in Ottawa that the Can-Am League commissioner has gone to bat for this city, getting the Can-Am League owners, getting them to see the value of being in Ottawa.

The team is likely to run under league control in '09 while Wolff seeks new owners. Thank you and merci beaucoup to Mr. Wolff for making this happen, for those of us who were hoping against hope that what people saw on the diamond (and off it) last summer wasn't the final curtain for pro ball in this city.

This was no fait accompli. The other owners easily could have voted their self-interest and gone with a road team, which means about six extra home dates. But Wolff got them to do the right thing. The understanding is that there will be a press conference out at Rapids Stadium next week. It will be be announced the team will play next season -- it still has a year left on its sublease from the owners of the old Ottawa Lynx -- most likely run by the league while Wolff continues to search for partners who are interest-rich and cash-rich to run the team.

This would not be happening if it was not for Mr. Wolff's belief that baseball can still work as a summertime sport in Canada, as it does with his Quebec Capitales, as well as in Winnipeg and Vancouver. The city of Ottawa has, by almost all accounts, been onside with this from the beginning, and last but least, there have been some very committed local people on the ground.

As greater minds have already said, pro baseball is the best use for the facility out on Coventry Rd. ... only six months until opening day, people. The other good news is this is getting sorted out in November, not February, which means much more time to put together a roster of players for next season.

It is a good day. Please spend some time over at Carl Kiiffner's Unofficial Ottawa Rapids Blog.)

Related:
Once more with conviction (The Unofficial Ottawa Rapids Blog)

Rapids: Still, hope remains

"Don't throw in the towel" is the message over at the Unofficial Ottawa Rapids Blog:

"Given that (Miles) Wolff is the Commissioner of the Can-Am League, as long as he’s continuing to try to land an ownership group, it’s difficult to say what the absolute “drop dead” date will be. In fairness to the other seven teams though, there will come a date where, Commissioner or not, a schedule will have to be set -- with or without an Ottawa franchise.

As Carl Kiiffner notes, last season the major challenge was getting a lease on Lynx Stadium. That is in place.

Bottom of the ninth for pro ball in Ottawa ...

"My cautious optimism has been gradually replaced with a calm sense of fatalism; if this is the end, we'll carry on. A couple of hours at the Sensplex yesterday reminded me that we’ll always have baseball in Ottawa -- perhaps not at a professional level, but the game will never be further away than the local baseball diamond.

"This may come as cold comfort to those who had hoped to see the Rapids return in 2009, and certainly no one wanted that more than I. But, while the fat lady hasn't sung yet, it just seems less likely today.

"I hope I'm wrong."

-- Carl Kiiffner

Nothing is over until Miles Wolff, says so and decides to field a travel team as the eighth entry in the 2009 Can-Am League. However, follow the money that people seem to less of since about three weeks ago. The credit crunch makes it hard for someone who is interest-rich and cash-poor to take a chance. It also works against any rich investors with a passing interest in the baseball side ponying up the capital. The connection is fairly obvious. It's just not obvious enough for either Ottawa daily to devote space to it amid the hue and cry over a suddenly 28th-place NHL team.

No doubt to some people, this has been a dead issue four weeks ago. It is not, since Wolff and some fans in town were still pushing, but a global economic meltdown (sick of that phrase yet?), is a tough foe. The other six owners probably won't mind an extra half-dozen home dates in 2009,

Please, spare some thought for Ottawa's 2,000 baseball fans today. It shapes up as a cruel summer in 2009. Does anyone know if the Quebec Capitales or Vancouver Canadians will need a scorekeeper next summer? He will work for beer.

Saving Ottawa Sports: Covering all the bases ...

It is 1,000 times more fun to write about games, but here in Ottawa, there's a lot more drama with the people in suits, not the ones on skates. A couple bullet points:

• From late last week, the Portland Mercury had some pretty choice words about Sennies owner Eugene Melnyk's bid for a MLS expansion franchise:

  "Let's face it, Ottawa doesn't have a chance. There's no way the MLS will force every team to fly all the way to tiny Ottawa to play. No freaking way. That said, Eugene Melnyk is the money man. He has stadium plans and apparently the backing of the Provincial government. I'm not opposed to Canadian teams, but this guy has no chance." (emphasis mine)

  Indulge your American exceptionalism, much? Portland is a metropolitan area of 2.1 million people; the national capital region is approaching 1.5 mil. It even has an international airport, on account of being the capital city of a G8 country.
  
  One also has to note the commenter claiming Ottawa would have no natural rival in MLS. Uhhhhhh ... anywho, that part about the backing of the Ontario government is an eyebrow-raiser. You'll remember that when the Sennies won the Eastern Conference title in 2007, Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty did appear to glad-hand in the victors' dressing room.
• Please do a Google News search for Biovail, the company Melnyk founded (and lost control of). See what media outlets do not come up. Better yet, do a GN search for BVF-033.
  
  There is no evidence of a local follow-up to a Report on Business story from Sept. 26 that took a tough but fair look at Melnyk's loss of control of Biovail. It is quite possible that those three class actions filed this month will have have no impact on the Senators' bottom line. It is reasonable to say that hey, everyone gets sued once (hey, if you can't laugh at yourself). It is the cost of accumulating a certain level of personal worth -- it's like taking a penalty, just to let the other team know you're playing with some jam. In the business world, it's almost like a badge of honour.
  
  It's also hardly unusual (ahem) for a NHL owner to be up to his ass in alligators from a legal wrangling standpoint. One can't say what MLS commissioner Don Garber would think, though.
  
  Speaking as someone who does not have the head for business nor the body for sin, there is no intention to turn this into the Bob Loblaw Law Blog. However, if all that can be gathered during 10 minutes of Googling, it is reasonable to wonder why it's not a story in Hockey Country.
• Don't believe for a second that the clock is ticking on Ottawa CFL Team 3.0. It is a pressure tactic. If you have the means to tuck a a $7-million cheque in CFL commissioner Mark Cohon's pocket for the franchise fee, you are travelling on an open-ended ticket.
• A friend who is a reasonable man and who has lived here a lot longer believes the CFL team is just a carrot. The condos, the residential development, a hockey arena for the Soixante-Septs are the meats and cheeses for Roger Greenberg, John Ruddy and Bill Shenkman. They could easily forget about the CFL.
• Our friend Carl Kiiffner has a reminder that there is a more realistic chance of having professional baseball in town in 2009 than the CFL or MLS in the next few summers. Can-Am League commissioner Miles Wolff fought tooth and nail just to get the Ottawa franchise off the ground. The situation might have changed, but Wolff was willing to fund the franchise before he found the former owners who don't deserve to be mentioned in this forum.

That's all for now. Send your thoughts to neatesager@yahoo.ca.

Can-Am League: Not over until the final out

Hope remains for minor-league baseball in Ottawa, that cannot be stressed enough.

It is false on its face that baseball does not work in Ottawa. Teams with bad ownership do not work in Ottawa -- fact.

Long story short, Can-Am League commissioner Miles Wolff wants to be here. The City of Ottawa wants a baseball team here. Please read Carl Kiiffner's post on the subject:

"We're back to where we were at this time last October ... there’s a lot of work to do. Despite everything that has gone on here in 2007-08, Miles Wolff remains committed to keeping a team here if he can. The pressure on him is considerable, so any support you can send his way will be appreciated (mwolff@baseballoffice.com)."

The Rapidz owners declaring bankruptcy did not warrant going into the classic Ottawa "worst sports town" self-flagellation. Wolff said 2,500 fans per game was the break-even point. The Rapidz averaged 2,197, decent attendance for an expaasion team run by clueless novices. The owners walked away. They gave up because they couldn't get a lease. That's not on the city or its citizens.

The bottom line is it's not over yet, no matter how much any of the know-it-alls try to make a connection that simply isn't there. This has nothing to do with any team that has come and gone before. The Can-Am League is a good product and seriously, what other sport could work at the Coventry Rd. ballpark?

See you at Opening Day 2009.

Blog blast past: Ottawa fans' hearts were full of hope once, and will be yet

The latest lame excuse from the Ottawa Rapidz is the city would "only" offer them a five-year lease. Never mind the league's best-run franchise has never had more than a three-year deal. (Sense of entitlement, much?) Hope does remain, and just to affirm that, from Carl Kiiffner of the Ottawa Lynx Blog on Dec. 1, 2007, here's a reminder of how full our hearts were before Rob Hall and Rick Anderson came out of the woodwork.

Way back on Media Day, after we’d finished up for the day, Lynx Director of Media Relations, Mr. Riley Denver smiled and said: "So, now you know how the hot dog is made." My first thought was that while I’d seen a lot of the Stadium I’d not seen previously, I was pretty sure that none of us had been taken on a tour of the concessions. Sometimes I’m a little slow.

I first met the man Neate has dubbed "Deep Fly" back in mid-July, during the Tribute to the Expos weekend. Deep Fly (DF) was also a friend of assistant blogger, Patrick Shanks, and our paths would cross again, late in the season. DF, Patrick and I, first discussed the Can-Am League issue during the Lynx final home stand while watching an evening game from the Rogers Television suite. DF suggested that working together, we might be able to find a way to get the Can-Am League here after all; the news that the deal that both the Lynx and Miles Wolff thought they’d secured had been scuttled was filtering out during that time. Shortly after the final game of the season, and spurred on by the anger of witnessing my son’s confusion and tears over losing any hope of baseball in 08, I picked up the phone and called Miles.

That was September 5, 2007. It turned out that DF was one of the others who’d called -- but while I was blogging, he was organizing, arranging to have Miles in front of as many City councillors as he could on September 13. What would become a lengthy series of meetings, emails, phone calls, faxes and a friendship had begun. Our goal was simply to get that original plan back on the table, and then get Council to vote on it. It seemed so simple.

A preliminary meeting scheduled for September 11 was cancelled when DF’s wife went into labour -- poor planning on his part, and with Miles coming into town on September 13, we were now officially scrambling. We had no choice but to postpone to the 12th. September 12th rolled in and we got together, some of us having had more sleep than others, and began to map out a strategy. DF thought that having reps from the Booster Club, Baseball Canada and the "petition people" in attendance would be important -- necessary actually. Media was invited -- and I guess that was where I fit in; I sent the first of many "media releases" and contacted the larger news outlets in town by phone, giving them a "heads up."

We first met Miles on September 13, just a couple of hours before the meetings at City Hall. DF picked him up at the airport and together with Jim Baba and Andre Lachance from Baseball Canada, Wayne Sollows (one half of "the petition people"), and Patti representing Cat’s Pride, we sat down to discuss strategy before heading over to Laurier Avenue. "The plan" was that this was to be an informal "meet and greet," a chance for Miles to discuss his vision for a team and why it would be good for the City -- taxpayers and baseball fans alike.

Keep in mind, City council had not had the pleasure of meeting with Miles beforehand; the earlier meetings (Editor's note: Where the Lynx were present) had been held quietly and few if any councillors were aware of the original plan.

The first meeting was, in my opinion, one of the worst. Miles, a tall man, leaned forward in his chair, his arms resting on the table, loosely clasping his hands. He spoke confidently, with a deep voice that resonated clearly in the small room. He laid out his plan for the two councillors in the room, touching briefly on his own past and his experience with Independent League baseball. The councillors, while respectful, seemed unimpressed. What about parking? What about the legal issues currently facing the City and the current occupant of Lynx Stadium? The discussion, while candid, seemed more about the past and why this proposal couldn’t work. It was deteriorating, becoming less about the art of "the possible" than just pure negativity and defeatism. The councillors then listened to Jim Baba and Andre Lachance as the two presented their hopes for Baseball Canada. Jim struck me as a quiet person, but he was confident and spoke well -- he clearly knew his material and his passion for baseball was undeniable. Andre made his contribution in French, engaging the councillors on a different level as they listened and asked more questions of him directly.

The attention returned to Miles. What about the debt? The commissioner outlined how he understood the debt and lease agreement and why he thought he could get it to work. One councillor disagreed with the interpretation and proceeded to lecture explain to Mr. Wolff that he didn’t have the "whole picture." The facility, explained the councillor, was not yet paid for. I clutched my copy of the operating agreement tighter, but held my tongue.

Then, something truly impressive occurred. Perhaps irritated by the councillor’s tone, Jim Baba stepped in and spoke again. While pointing a finger at Miles, he addressed the two elected officials with a direct voice, laying out the commissioner’s credentials and achievements -- a strong decisive statement which said, in essence: Do you know who this guy is? All eyes turned back to Miles, who, appearing embarrassed by the accolades, lowered his gaze to his still clasped hands. Jim was unrelenting. This man is considered the guru of Independent Baseball.

My money’s on him.

After meeting briefly with a reporter from CBC, we carried on to the second and third round of meetings, and they got progressively more positive. During a break between the two last meetings of the day, I turned into a motivational coach, gently suggesting to Miles that the intensity in his voice had drained a bit -- not surprising given the fact that he’d likely been up since very early that morning and he’d effectively delivered the same speech for several hours. While Darren Desaulniers of the Ottawa Citizen took notes, DF chatted with the councillors. The Sollows broke the day up between them with Carol covering the morning sessions and Wayne handling the afternoon. I had completely underestimated the importance of that petition; politicians, I discovered, are moved by numbers and opinion. Several of them examined it closely, paying particular attention to the postal codes beside each signature. Patti and Tricia (who showed a little later in the day), spoke convincingly about the history of the team and its importance in their lives and of the value of the park. Neate attended the afternoon sessions and quietly added his voice, during the session and afterward.

I pulled Jim Baba aside and made a quiet suggestion. "Jim, Miles isn’t going to blow his own horn here, somebody’s going to have to do it for him. What you said this morning, the 'guru of Indy ball,' that was beautiful!" Jim smiled, probably amused by my enthusiasm and lack of sophistication.

"Seriously, every meeting we’re in from now on -- you’ve gotta keep saying what you said."

God love him, he did - with the same passion, fervor and conviction in his voice as the first time he spoke.

All hope is not lost. It's brutal to have had one's worst fears about the Rapidz ownership confirmed, i.e., "Who's going to hammer out a longer lease that the team can live with if Anderson, 'a mover and shaker in political and business circles most all his adult life' (The Citizen, April 29) is no longer around?"

Not to get too flowery, but there's always hope. Shame on anyone who cries over red ink. It's onward and upward, but with feet firmly on the ground.

Rapidz: Well said, Mayor Lare

"I think the particular businessman in question was just thinking ahead and decided he didn't want to be here anymore with the Rapidz." -- Ottawa Mayor Larry O'Brien.

For once, we agree.

Ottawa baseball fans: Alone again, naturally

Question for everyone: If a team is broke, then any hypothetical figure the city throws out for annual stadium rent is irrelevant:

"If the Rapidz are already bankrupt, this million dollar a year lease argument is entirely irrelevant — a red herring. It’s pretty tough to blame the City for this — no more than I would blame an undertaker for not saving his unfortunate client. For his part, the commissioner of the Can-Am League, Miles Wolff concurs — the City has bent over backwards for Independent baseball in Ottawa, they’re not the problem.

"Watch closely as the facts continue to spill out over the next few days."
— Carl Kiiffner, The unofficial Ottawa Rapids blog

Please go read Mr. Kiiffner's post in its entirety. There are many salient points, along with some rather damning words from Rob Hall and Rick Anderson that have been retrieved from the memory-hole. He also makes it pretty clear why many were justified to withdraw in disgust after seeing the direction the club went in under the Zipperheads

"The Rapids were the team envisioned by most of us, people like Miles Wolff, Don and Lorraine Charrette and my son. A team that was snatched from the jaws of defeat more than once, and that had its zenith at the February 14th press conference with the introduction of its first manager, its front office staff, and its distinctive logo. The people involved all held one unifying trait: They loved the game of baseball.

"The contrast with the Rapidz was as stark as it was disquieting. First the name and logo change — a pointless decision that needlessly upset many of the fledgling franchise's fans. Next, the firing of GM Don Charrette and the very clumsily handled dismissal of Ed Nottle, the latter a complete PR disaster. Good things that had been done around the park were completely undermined and then forgotten. In the two years that I’ve written the Unofficial Ottawa Lynx Blog I have yet to receive one email from a former or then current staff member criticizing the organization. Not a single one. The Rapidz? Don’t even ask."

Every effort was made here to give this franchise a chance. However, it took just more than three months before one could be sure in saying there was "uneasiness over whether we'll have pro baseball in Ottawa beyond 2009."

It turned out that was being way too generous. There's still a flicker of hope, but it's not much of one.

Update: It appears the Nashua Telegraph swallowed the unsubstantianted allegation too:

"Reportedly, there have been lucrative offers to the city for the land that the Rapidz' stadium rests on, so much so the city has allegedly said it would charge the Rapidz as much as $1 million in rent after the current lease expires in 2009, an obvious attempt to force them out.

"City officials have denied that is the case.

"The Rapidz may be gone as soon as this year. Team owner Rob Hall informed Can-Am owners yesterday he was ceasing operations and declaring bankruptcy.

"' Right now, nothing official has happened," Wolff said. 'But we'll have to see.' "

Please bear in mind, the lease calls for a professional baseball team to play at the stadium through 2009. That would lead one to believe the City can't sell the stadium even if it was offered a billion dollars for the land.

Allard: A new beginning for Ottawa baseball

Jean-Pierre Allard attended the franchise opener for the Ottawa Rapidz last night at The Zip and came away upbeat.

Pro ball was back in Ottawa last night, albeit at a lower level than the customary Triple-A.

Save for a few defensive errors and numerous hit balls by the home team that appeared to lack a little zip, most fans would have been hard-pressed to tell the difference between International League and independent league play. The newest members of the Can-Am League, the Ottawa Rapidz, losing their first game, 6-0 to the New Jersey Jackals didn't matter much to the 4,246 enthusiastic fans who braved a cold and damp night to come out and support their new team, a great bunch of them remarkably still in their seats at game's end.

Nor did this lopsided loss concern manager Ed Nottle much as he was quick to point out in his post-game interview that stellar pitching performances such as the one delivered by the Jackals’ starting and winning pitcher Aaron Tressler, and the Jersey bullpen would be rarer in indie ball than in Triple-A.

Tressler, who spent time with Syracuse of the IL last season, shut out Ottawa on one hit and five strikeouts in six innings of work. Nottle was pleased with his own starter, left-hander Mike Kusiewicz, who only gave up one earned run in six innings, a 6th inning long ball by SS Ramon Nivar, a former Lynx, over the left-field fence that landed on Coventry Rd. Kusiewicz, the former draft pick of the Colorado Rockies, was victimized by two defensive errors on the same play in the second inning which lead to New Jersey scoring its first run.

While the Rapidz, looking resplendent in their white pristine home jerseys, didn’t get their first runner in scoring position until the 7th inning when after 18 consecutive batters had been retired, DH Sambu Ndungidi walked and advanced to second after a passed ball, it was still a 2-0 game at that stage when the next batter, Jereme Milons, fouled out several pitches in swinging for the fences, before finally striking out on a full count.

When the Jackals erupted for four runs in their very next turn at bat, thanks in large part to three errors and a hit batsman coupled with three hits, it was basically game over. Especially when all the Rapidz could muster was two meagre hits on this opening night.

For the record, Mike Kusiewicz pitched the first strikeout against Francisco Leandro, and later struck out the side in the 6th inning. In the bottom of the 1st inning, Jared Lemieux got the Rapidz' first hit on a 2-2 count, but was quickly erased when the next batter Jose de los Santos hit into the first Rapidz double play. Sambu Ndungidi was the first designated hitter and he also picked up the Rapidz first walk in the second inning . Fans had to wait until the eighth to witness the club’s first extra-base hit, a double by Juan Infante.

Obviously, the difference was Ottawa committing five errors on a chilly night. I’m sure that Ed Nottle would also agree that similar performances by his defense will be very few and far in between this season.

Now if most of the baseball fans in attendance last night can make an outing to Rapidz Stadium the norm rather than the exception, while the team’s directors continue their excellent work in attracting new fans, this franchise should be all right. Alas, it is only one game, though nevertheless very encouraging. Tonight's attendance should tell us a lot about where we stand with this latest venture.

Can-Am League preview: Atlantic City Surf

Out of Left Field is looking at all seven of the Rapidz' Can-Am League foes so you can look all smart when you head out to The Zip this summer.

The lineup: Toronto-born third baseman Anthony Granato set a league record for on-base percentage in 2007, getting on at a .458 clip. The Surf seem to have a thing for patient hitters -- they were the only team to draw 400 bases on balls last season, which made up for a lack of home-run power (just 46 big flies). The other four returning regulars, including shortstop David Keesee, who began the season in Sioux City with Rapidz manager Ed Nottle, had OBPs between .359 and .419 last season.

As you might expect with a team managed by Cecil Fielder, the Surf have a massive first baseman -- 6-foot-4, 260-lb. Eddie Kim, the club's only lefty power bat (although his home-run totals as a pro have probably been lower than his managers would have liked). Outfielder Josh Burrus, a former Atlanta Braves first-round pick, comes across in the stats as the classic high school prospect who never learned to control the strike zone (197-to-574 walk-to-strikeout ratio in seven seasons). He's still not even 25 and he was thought highly enough of once to be a first-rounder, so keep that in mind. The Surf could score a lot of runs, although they would appear to have a logjam at the corner spots and designated hitter. Granato started out as a middle infielder, so moving him could help get another bat in there.

The pitching: Remember how, back in the day, there were always that skinny kid in the neighbourhood who threw so hard it made you wonder where he was finding the strength? That's left-hander Adam Cox, who's 6-foot-4, 175 lbs., but was top pitcher in the United League last season. He was a fourth-round pick in 2000, but the obvious gaps on his Baseball Cube page suggest he's had some arm troubles. The Red Sox gave Cox a late-season look in the California League last season; he can touch 94 mph on the radar gun.

Cox joins a trio of Surf starters who were credited with more than half of its 51 wins last season -- lefty Brian Rodaway (15-3, 3.23), J.C. Huguet (9-5, 4.15) and Ben Thurmond (10-5, 5.33, with two teams). Atlantic City had the worst staff ERA of any playoff team, 4.76, so most of its pitchers are new. Six-foot-10 reliever Aaron Easton, given his size, might seem like a guy who would get a shot at being the closer.

Redemption story: Outfielder-third baseman Billy Hogan resumed playing last season after sitting out 2006 in the wake of having ligament replacement surgery on his elbow and being suspended by MLB for failing a drug test. He hit .379/.399/.455 in the South Coast League after a trade last season. Hogan's right in line with the league's theme of helping players with intriguing if idiosyncratic career arcs keep chasing a dream (plus he's from Scottsdale, Ariz., which is Kingston's sister city).

Outfielder Lucas Taylor, who led the league with 39 stolen bases last season, apparently has started a church in West Virginia. Redemption might be a theme for him on many future Sundays.

The manager: The Surf, as you know, is managed by Fielder, the former American League home-run champ. By all accounts, he's pretty earnest about managing and he's brought in several players who were with him in the South Coast League last season, including Easton, Hogan, catcher William Plaza, infielder Brad Thoma and outfielder Billy Kovatch. Atlantic City looks like it would be one of the contenders again.

Last season: 51-43, lost 3-1 in best-of-five league semi-final

Come to Ottawa: July 9-12, July 21-23

Host the Rapidz: May 26-28, July 28-31

Media coverage: Newspaper -- Press of Atlantic City; Radio -- home games are on a local college station and road games are webcast at acsurf.com

Rapidz roster set

The Rapids have finalized their roster ahead of Thursday's opener vs. the New Jersey Jackals (7 p.m., at The Zip). Duty calls for providing the Opening Day roster, with a link to each player's Baseball Cube page. 

It seems like a very young club. Ed Nottle and Mike Kusiewicz had to work double-time to get a roster formed. The bottom line is as long as the players put forth a winning effort and it's a welcoming environment at the ballpark, the win-loss record should be of secondary concern.

Catchers — Kyle Geiger (LS-4), Maxime Bouchard (rookie).

Half-witted analysis: As a former pitcher, Nottle might have been thinking of his hurlers first when he picked up Geiger. He's 6-foot-3, 215 lbs. and got as high as Double-A, presumably mostly on his receiving and his throwing. Bouchard had a RBI double in the exhibition game vs. Québec; Nottle was pretty impressed by him, but he's also young.

Infielders — Jabe Bergeron (LS-3), Jose de los Santos (LS-4), Juan Infante (LS-1), Scotty McKnight (LS-1), Nick Trainor (rookie).

Half-witted analysis: Bergeron gets on base at a pretty good clip but hasn't had great power numbers in the Can-Am League. It is unfortunate that Mark Charrette didn't stick, but with nine rookies (five more than the league-mandated minimum), they probably felt a need to opt for more experience in the form of McKnight and Trainor.

Outfielders — Jared Lemieux (rookie), Jereme Milons (LS-4), Sambu Ndungidi (rookie), Pete Pirman (LS-4), Jeremy Ware (veteran, inactive list).

Half-witted analysis: Pirman tore up the Frontier League three summers ago (.973 OPS, league-record 100 RBI in 96 games, 35-of-42 stealing bases). Nottle told the Ottawa Sun that he's going to go with Lemieux as his starting centrefielder, so that likely leaves Milons, Ndungidi and Pirman for the middle of the order and the corner outfield/DH slots.

It might have been by design that the Rapidz are carrying more rookies and are two veterans under the minimum. In the long run, it gives them more flexibility beyond this season.

Left-handed pitchers — Mike Kusiewicz (veteran), Fraser Robinson (rookie), Jason Pilkington (rookie).

Half-witted analysis: Fun story about Jason Pilkington, who's done the tour of indie ball in Canada (Québec, Winnipeg, even the Canadian League, which folded in a trice). He's not a natural left-hander; Dad forced him to go left. He also forsook baseball for a while to focus on high jump; he cleared seven feet in high school.

Right-handed pitchers — Noel Baca III (rookie), Cibney Bello (LS-4), Greg Bunn (LS-3), Angelo Burrows (LS-2), Adam Hawes (LS-2), Karl Mejlholm (rookie), Orlando Trias (LS-4), Dallas Strankman (rookie).

Half-witted analysis: Bello, Bunn and Trias have the most established track records among the candidates for the starting rotation. For the bullpen, Angelo Burrows has had a good strikeout rate in affiliated ball since he converted from the outfield a few years ago; how does "Bello and Jello" sound to everyone?

RAPIDZ: HERE WE GO, A-WAFFLING...

Silence is sometimes the best editorial comment -- that's the lazy man's excuse for the lack of posting on our Ottawa Rapidz.

There's always a risk of inferring too much when you're on the outside looking in. As you know, it was a kind of telling timeline last week. Good friend Carl Kiiffner, who gave up a lot of precious family time last fall and winter helping get the sub-lease on The Zip, withdrew from updating the Unofficial Ottawa Rapids Blog. Boom, about a day later, it gets out that GM Don Charette, who gave up a great job for the once-in-a-lifetime chance to work in baseball, had been fired by owners Rick Anderson and Rob Hall barely two weeks before the start of the season. His spouse, long-time Lynx employee Lorraine Charette, the quintessential administrator who knows who everything in the place should run, is out the door.

It is Anderson and Hall's business,of course. As one of Carl's commenters put it, "My problem was that it seemed to me that the new owners weren't listening to what little fans they do have, and that this would be reflective of how much they would listen to potential fans."

It goes back to what was said two weeks ago: "... hopefully Anderson and Hall have time and open minds for the people who have baseball in their hearts."

Their baseball club is light two people who fit that bill. Take it for what you will.

By the same token, it is a dull sports spring in Ottawa with the Senators done early and the Lynx gone. Here's Rapidz outfielder Jereme Milons taking batting practice last summer in Visalia.



Summer in Ottawa for those who don't do cottage life is stultifying enough sometimes without hearing the crack of the bat. Thing is, it would be nice to be confident that will be the case here for a good many years.