Friday, May 23, 2003 | 10 a.m.
The revolving-door nature of Triple-A baseball demands fast and flawless transactions between the Dodgers and 51s, or between Double-A Jacksonville, Fla., and Las Vegas.
Injuries, demotions, promotions and trades regularly affect those rosters, and Las Vegas 51s president and general manager Don Logan and his administrative staff must be able to react on a moment's notice.
Even in the smoothest of moves, however, Logan can be thrown a curveball.
For the past few years, his main pet peeve has been, well, pets.
Logan declined to name the player, but we'll call him Doe. The San Diego Padres sent him to Las Vegas in the late 1990s, and temporary living arrangements were made for Doe at Boulder Station.
He arrived in the morning, left for Cashman Field at 2 p.m. and, in a panic, hotel personnel rang Logan's front office at 5.
"This (jerk) took his dog for a walk, comes back, leaves the dog there in the room and splits for the park," Logan said. "He wasn't going back there until midnight, at least, and the dog was barking, just flipping out, and he wasn't supposed to be there.
"It was disturbing others. They opened the door to try to calm it down, but the dog was (mad). (Doe) was the only one who was going to calm the dog down. There have been different pet incidents, but that's usually the one kind of bogey that crops up regularly."
Typically, a glove, bats and assorted street clothes are all a player lugs with him. And the easiest transaction, Logan said, is one like reliever Steve Colyer's recent call-up when Paul Shuey was injured.
"They want the best bullpen guy we have. It's Colyer and, bam, done deal," Logan said. "The same can be said for any starting pitcher. That type of a move, that's real simple."
It involves communication between general manager Dan Evans, manager Jim Tracy and director of player development Bill Bavasi, all of the Dodgers, and 51s manager John Shoemaker.
Shoemaker likely gets that first call, because he's the Dodgers employee and because the 51s are his team, so a solution about filling that imminent void can be reached quickly and efficiently.
If the player of interest is a pitcher, then Evans and/or Tracy might also contact 51s pitching coach Shawn Barton. If he's a fielder, hitting coach George Hendrick, who played 18 major-league seasons, will be called.
"They'll find out how he's swinging, how he's looking at the plate, if he has a hole or a weakness and if he's addressing it," Logan said. "George was so good for so long, so they'll ask him if this certain player will be able to get it done up there."
Sometimes, Dodgers minor league field coordinator Terry Collins will be involved in background and updates about a Triple-A player's progress.
"But it boils down to Tracy and Evans," Logan said. "They discuss who they want and discuss it with the Vegas staff. That puts it in motion."
Toward the end of the Las Vegas franchise's relationship with the Padres, which ended after the 2000 season, San Diego general manager Kevin Towers sought input directly from Logan.
"I had no real authority, but Kevin wanted another outside opinion sometimes," Logan said. "You see a guy every day, you have an opinion whether he can get it done or not, and they'll want to know."
Logan was an account executive for the Stars in 1984, scaled the corporate ladder and was named general manager in '91, then became the team's president, too, in 2000. He earned PCL executive-of-the-year honors in 1992 and '98.
Evans was appointed executive vice president and general manager of the Dodgers in October 2001, in the wake of a disastrous and arrogant run by Kevin Malone in that capacity. Direct input from Logan hasn't been sought by Evans, yet.
"With him being new to this and really being an integral guy in that part of the operation, there really isn't much of a role, as far as that goes, with me," Logan said. "That's fine. It takes time to establish that."
Back to the airline ticket. Logan coordinates the particulars with 51s business administration director Denise Korach, and the player heading to the Dodgers also receives about $200, for tips and other incidentals along the way.
If the 51s are on the road when such a move is instigated, trainer Jason Mahnke acts as the team's traveling secretary to make the necessary arrangements, mostly via the Internet and his personal computer.
Then comes the counter move, someone being sent from the major-league team or getting called up from Double-A. Unlike the Padres, the Dodgers do not jet players from either of their Single-A squads, in South Georgia or Vero Beach, to Triple-A for a quick fix.
"That's what's good about the Dodgers. As an insurance policy, they haven't done that," Logan said. "You hate to put guys at this level when they're not ready for it. You can wreck them. The breaking ball is better, the consistency of pitching is better and defense is better.
Arrangements for the counter move are executed, all of which happens in less than an hour, mostly via the Internet and telephone. Most often, Logan said those moves are made, with the proper authorities being notified, in less than 30 minutes.
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