The Rippers reaction, from the other dugout
Greetings, Wild Things fans. Jason Mackey here, the new guy hired
Monday to replace Mike Kovak on the O-R's sports staff. My second assignment -- got to thinking that
maybe my boss, Chris Dugan, figured it'd be enough to get me to quit -- was to
cover the Wild Things and the Florence Freedom less than 24 hours after the
London Rippers disbanded, with five players (four for the Wild Things) from that
organization here tonight. Here's a snapshot from my pregame talk with Florence manager Fran
Riordan (pictured), one of the more trustworthy voices in the Frontier League.Riordan has seen quite a bit during his 14-year career in the Frontier League, four of those as a player and nine as a manager when he won three league championships and was named the Manager of the Year while with the Kalamazoo Kings.
But what transpired this week when the Rippers
announced they would cease operations as a franchise Tuesday night at Consol
Energy Park, leaving players either to become free agents or play for a travel
team called the "Road Warriors?" That's a new one on Riordan.
"This is the first time I’ve ever seen anything like
it," said Riordan, who, with a career record of 506-429 after Wednesday's
9-8 Freedom win, is the league's all-time wins leader among managers.
While Washington traded for four former Rippers -- designated
hitter Mark Samuelson, second baseman Brad Augustin, catcher Jim Vahalik and
center fielder Chris Lloyd -- and inserted all four into the starting lineup,
Riordan elected to sit the London player his team acquired, Stephen Cardullo,
whose named was comically squeezed into the roster handed out to media members.
Riordan met with Cardullo -- who was still in street
clothes, having just arrived from London -- for a few minutes shortly after 6
p.m. Wednesday. The message? Take tonight, relax, start fresh
tomorrow.
"He drove for 16 hours," Riordan said. "He
didn’t get a chance to swing the bat. So I just figured I'd give him a day to get
his legs underneath him and get him in there [Thursday]."
Gotta be tough, right?
"Logistically, for him, it was probably a
nightmare," Riordan said. "But for us, it was just looking to see who
we had interest in and getting that player in here."
Closed the interviewing by asking whether this was a black
eye for the league. Sure is wacky enough.
"It doesn’t look good from the league perspective, but
it’s completely out of the league’s control," Riordan said. "It’s a
matter of one organization that wasn’t minding the ship. When that happens and
things get away from you, it makes it important for the league to have the
strength and authority to step in. Make sure that the league stays viable. They
really didn’t have a choice in the matter. But it doesn’t look good."
Labels: Florence Freedom, Fran Riordan, London Rippers
posted by Chris Dugan at
10:02 AM
27 Comments:
I think the Wild Things had an unfair advantage over the rest of the teams in the Frontier League when it came to getting players from the Rippers roster. I don’t know exactly what happened regarding the trade but I heard it mentioned that the trade was agreed to BEFORE the end of the game. If so, that just has to be unethical at the very least.
Chris, what do you know about all this? I know for sure the Wild Things lied to you about Ferguson, and I doubt they will be any more truthful about this. Something about this situation appears fishy.
I know Stu Williams with all his money has a lot of influence with the League.
This whole thing has a strange oder.
Jason:
Anyone is strong enough to sit through one Wild Cubs game.
However, it you can make it throught the whole homestand, you are a heck of a man.
One trade -- they were 4 player-for-player deals-- was agreed to before the game, though the paperwork was not turned in until after the game because it was already after the 5 p.m. transaction deadline for that day's games. The other 3 deals were finalized after the game.
I'm not trying to put words in your mouth Chris, but something doesn't seem right with this. Also, the Wild Things almost surrounded the Rippers locker room immediately after the game. They were probably making offers to players before the other teams in the League had an opportunity to do so. With the situation being as it was, some of the ex-Ripper players would have grabbed at any offer.
I think that no trades or offers should have been made until at least 24 hours after dissolving the franchise.
The trades that were made on that evening were made with the Wild Things first hand knowledge of the demise at 12.01AM. My two cents worth only but one doesn’t become wealthy being ethical.
Jason - I'm looking forward to your articles and blog to be as interesting and informative as Chris' have been. Welcome Aboard!
Honestly...has this entire 11th season of WWT baseball been about the biggest joke ever? Not just the local team but even the FL? Chris I know you have to be PC here but come on! You have to interject some objective opinions here. I am not sure who to point fingers at and I am not sure there is a single culprit but rather an entire collection of unqualified, inexperienced, delusional individuals without the spine to buck the guy writing the checks and even at the FL level. 11 years Ima Fraid has been a season ticket holder and, Ron, while you do complain, this summer most of your complaints are incredibly valid. Chris you do a wonderful job keeping those of us that care informed, and I am sure this week has been crazy for you. Objectivity regarding the state of the franchise and the state of the FL is tantamount at this time though.
To those that are implying the ownership is looking to move the team out of Wash,PA...that is pure rubbish. Ownership wants nothing more than to make the venue a destination during tough economic times and beyond. That is not to say that that same ownership and management have not made mistakes heading into this season, there have been a TON. Raising concession and parking prices while in the midst of a stagnant economy were bad decisions. Not soliciting group business early enough seems to have been a bad choice as well and not streamlining the menu to cater to the core audience has looked to create a MAJOR issue.
Here is the root of the multitude of problems that exist with this 11th season.
1. the organization has tried too hard to be all things to all people without focusing on being the EXPERT in one thing to start and then moving on and expanding. Circuses, midways, concerts, wrestling? Just too much for a full time staff that is either green or underqualified to perform the needed tasks.
2. The idea that an outside organization could re-energize the in-stadium experience when they are remotely based and have no idea about the people of SW PA, WV, and Ohio. The core fan base is working class with very little discretionary income so you need to have a compelling reason for them to want to come to CEP. Brown Chicken and Brown Cow because one person within that organization that is remotely based believes it is cute is NOT a compelling reason to attend a game at CEP.
3. Not retaining the previous Managing Director. No more to say.
4. Buying the stadium and feeling the need to try and quickly make up that purchase price in profits. At the core, this becomes the center of the issue.
5. Deciding to upgrade the videoboard. The board is wonderful, however I would challenge someone to quantify how many incremental fans have attended an event at CEP because the videoboard there is the biggest in the Frontier League. The expense alone could never be justified and thus, hot dogs are now $10 and parking is $5.
6. Focusing on the fact that the Wild Thing mascot is the main reason for attending a game. Please tell me how much revenue the tryouts and subsequent NEW Wild Thing have generated.
7. Dishing out a long term contract to a field leader that exhibits nepotism in a way that is unprecedented. I realize that there were issues with Mr. Smiley (tip of the hat to RW) however, that being said, please look inside yourself and tell me that the current situation is better.
8. ARROGANCE. You can decide where that arrogance exists but those of you that are close to the organization will understand. With arrogance comes a plethora of scared employees and ultimatley a host of Yes men/women. Controlling would would be the best way to describe it and it has wreaked havoc. When a team that has the longest tenure in the FL can only outdraw a team that was doomed from the start at the gate, there is a experience and philosophical management problem.
9. Did I say ARROGANCE yet.
10. The delusional belief that as an organization, you are doing the paying customer a favor. the customer does not really care about anything but whether their night at the park was enjoyable and being gouged for parking, a hot dog, beer, and being treated like a second class citizen as a season ticket holder do not make you feel special. No $25 sundae or wonderful trade show is going to do that.
Ok, most of you that frequent this blog and message board will know who I am and Chris I am sorry this is such a long post. From a sound professional sports prospective, what I laid out above is 100% accurate. Trust me. It is what it is at this point in year 11 though and I could not be silent any longer.
Chris, If you want to not post this due to the ability to still have management access I will understand.
Sorry for the long rant.
Prediction: 2015 - RIP Washington Wild Things.
That is unless Stu Williams stops wasting his money on worthless managers and coaches, consultants that make suggestions that the Wild Things could have gotten for free by watching Milb on the Internet, and making a guy that could not even get the concessions right an Assistant General Manager. If it wasn’t so serious, it would be funny.
Mr. Williams should have noticed by now that all this isn’t working. Almost all families that come to CEP have fun but most come back. The question is; Why? Probably because they never really intended to in the first place. The Wild Things, to my way of thinking, are forgetting that their core business is baseball. After
all those families forget about the Wild Things all that remains are the same old loyal baseball fans that come night, after night. They get overcharged for everything from parking to beer. They keep coming because they are baseball fans not one time visitors!
So, why don’t Stu and Steve admit they know little to nothing about evaluating baseball talent? Then, hire baseball professionals to make decisions about players. Obviously, what these two are doing is not working. Since one cannot serve two masters, why not try catering to people that love baseball instead to trying to please everybody. All it takes is a winning team – simple as that. Everything else will fall into place
T.P. turf once again fails.
Bring back the natural grass.
Besides the rain would help the natural grass.
Go Wild Cubs
Re: The Long Rant.
Before ANYBODY accuses me of making that post, I did not. Having said that, I agree with it completely.
When I do post something you will always know it was me because I’ll sign it! Most of you already that.
Ima Fraid
“Ron, while you do complain”
I know it sounds like I am complaining but I prefer the word criticism.
Nobody learns anything from people that tell him or her what they want to hear. I don’t pretend to
know the answers, but I’m not going to tell somebody that I like something just to put a smile on their face.
The Wild Things keep making the same mistakes over and over and expect different results. You probably already know what that defines. Case in point; How many times can you try to shoot hot dogs out of an air gun only to blow up the wrapper and shower the fans it bread crumbs AND, have the hot dog land on the ground about three feet from the shooter. What a waste of food – why not just donate the damn things to the City Mission? At least they would not go to waste. TSE has ripped the Wild Things off without doubt – probably some sort of tax write-off.
If Mr. Williams needs some help spending his money he can feel free to call me.
I want to hear no excuses – just results! Like a competitive baseball team instead of a brain dead towel waver.
Ima Fraid - Back to the Cubby Hole
BTW: Don’t worry about the Wild Things being upset with you about what you post. They have told me they “never read the Blog”
A black eye for the league doesn't quite say it. This is blunder of major proportions. Consider the following:
a) the London ownership group wasn't investigated thoroughly enough to be sure of their financial stability and liklihood of being able to finish the season, fulfilling their obligations to league, city, players.
b) the lease between London and the Rippers was likely never reviewed by the league's attorneys to be sure the lease was protected in the best interest of the league. In other words, to have seen that the Rippers couldn't sell beer.
Why were these things missed? Likely because of the rush to approve a team so the league could expand. The league was so desperate to get Schaumburg into the league instead of allowing them to go to the American Association that they "rushed to judgement", and approved the team. Never considering the major ramifications if that franchise were to fail. Why wasn't something learned from the failings of Slippery Rock and Oakland County?
3) In reading all the things that are in arrears, the league had to have been aware of the liklihood of the London demise. Yet, for the last week they are running around like chickens with their heads cut off trying to "fix the problem as best they could". When they were finally aware of the lease that prevented beer sales, and saw what attendance numbers were, any smart business person would have begun putting a plan in action that would have worked for all concerned instead of this band-aid that was pieced together at the last minute.
The end result: The integrity of the 2012 season.
a) With the Road Warriors now in place, as Chris indicated, Traverse City and Lake Erie come out the big winners in the playoff race with 6 games each against them. (London had a .417 winning perc) My prediction is that the RW will win no more than 25% of their games over the balance of the season. The number of games between the RW with TC and LE, in addition to games with Sch, FL, RC and GW will affect the playoff race in a big way.
b) the RW made up of players left on the London roster and any players the league could scrounge up to play on this shipwreck will be of a generally lower quality than the rest of the league. As a result, will the pitching numbers of the individual players facing them be improved over the rest of the schedule, will hitters numbers be improved facing lower than normally skilled pitchers? As a result the league leaders will be affected by this.
c) the allowed trade by the league "at the deadline" is a travesty. Bill Lee has told people that it was "in the best interest of the kids". If that was the priority, the best interest of the kids would have been to freeze the roster to prevent this nonsense from happening and allowing the "kids" to choose where they wanted to go instead of forcing them to play for the Wild Cubs. If the best interest of the kids was ever a consideration, maybe the league should also finally consider a raise in the minimum salary of $600 which has not seen an increase in many years, or a raise in their meal money which also has not seen a raise. Or maybe consider the physical wear and tear from the horrible travel schedule the players were forced to endure this season (all because of this of this expansion. How did this work out for them?)
If the Wild Things streamlined the menu to cater to their core fans, this is what it would look like:
Geritol
Metamucil
Prunes
Liver and Onions
The menu could be adjusted to be beer. whiskey, weed, and coke for the young people that don't know a baseball from a roach clip.
A few thoughts on the Rippers fiasco:
1. Yes, it's a black eye for the league. Maybe two black eyes. But before I throw the league office under the bus and say Rippers ownership "wasn't investigated thoroughly enough to be sure of their financial stability," we need to know WHY the Rippers ran out of cash. Just from what I've observed and learned from talking to some people, in the end we're likely to see this was more a case of extravagant spending combined with little revenue being generated. The question that needs to be asked is, who was the Rippers' beancounter and why didn't he/she raise the red flag weeks, if not months, ago?
2. Did the Wild Things have an unfair advantage over the other FL teams when it came to acquiring Rippers players? Sure they did. Did they take full advantage of that situation? Sure they did. Should they be blamed for this? Not at all. The Wild Things did what every other team -- especially one mired in last place -- would do if put in the same situation. If the Rippers' last game was played against Rockford or Evansville or Joliet, those teams would have used it to their advantage, too. You can't blame somebody for playing by the rules.
3. Should the roster for London have been frozen at some point, prohibiting trades between the Rippers and other teams? Probably. I don't know if the FL bylaws give the commissioner the power to make such a ruling, but my guess is they do. And would the commissioner have the power to restrict trades between the Rippers and teams in other leagues?
4. Did other teams know the Rippers were going to fold or become a travel team? If they didn't, then they're blind.
When Bill Lee and Steve Tahsler were in London last week going over the Rippers' finances, when the team's vice president ups and leaves and nobody can contact or find her for a week, when the team gets locked out of its team store for failure to pay rent, when the manager/co-owner doesn't go on a road trip, then you had to know the Rippers wouldn't be playing in London. That's why I went to the Rippers' clubhouse Sunday before the series started and asked acting manager Matt Dillard if the team was going to be playing Lake Erie Wednesday night in London. He said they were definitely playing Wednesday in London. The next night, he referred all questions to David Martin, the manager/co-owner whose whereabouts were unknown, according to the Rippers. If there was any doubt remaining about Frontier League baseball being played again in London, it was then removed.
Everybody in the league knew something was going to happen Tuesday or Wednesday. And if they weren't on the phone to the remaining London coaches inquiring about the situation and players like Joash Brodin and Jamie Richmond, then they should have been.
5. Does the poaching of the Rippers by the Wild Things, the rumored signing of three London players by Wichita of the American Association (nothing announced as of this writing) and the forming of the Road Warriors impact the playoff race? Yes. As I mentioned in an earlier post, Traverse City comes out ahead in the situation because it gets six home games against the Road Warriors. Southern Illinois is the loser because it won't play the Road Warriors.
As the author of the black eye post above, I absolutely agree that the Wild Things did what any other team would have done if in the same spot and I don't criticize them for making that move.
What I am critical of is the fact that the league knew this was going to go down and "in the best interest of the league", the commissioner should have frozen the roster to prevent the poaching that did go on.
I understand that the other teams in the league were informed about the impending dissolution of the Rippers at 8:30 EST, a point when all teams were in the midst of a game. This specifically gave Washington an advantage. If the league was not going to freeze the London rosters at midnight, that notice should have been provided earlier in the day to give all teams that same opportunity.
As far as extravagant spending? on what? Again, I go to my point that one of the major issues was the lease/beer sales. Why did the league not have their attorney's review the lease? Why was a performance bond not required from a new owner to assure completion of the season. These all fall to the head of the FL. The rush to get an expansion team overshadowed complete thought and investigation. In the end, the league got Schaumburg and also got bloodied with the integrity of the season thrown into the toilet.
Anonymous said...
"Bill Lee did all he could"...
fl is bl's personal playground. he is a big part of the problem in the league.
July 25, 2012 3:36 PM
I'm just glad they didn't trade Bando's kid to the Road Warriors. That way, they can hold on to him a little while longer and wait until a team looking to add an impact bat overpays for him at the trading deadline. (yes, that's sarcasm) They could make a trade for the '27 Yankees and it wouldn't make a difference this far into the season.
I do have to agree with the person who made the long post earlier....Ron Wilson, who I don't know and have never met, is looking like an absolute PROPHET with all that he has complained about these past couple years. Give credit where it's due.
I continue to be one of those countless empty seats each homestand....only been to 4 games with no plans for a 5th. Go Buccos!
Of course we knew that wasn't you, Fraid, the post laid out a well-thought case. As for Natural Grass, give that a rest! It's gone! It's not coming back. Pregame yesterday I 'joked' we would hear about it on the blog from you. Bunch of clowns, you are.
London folding was a shame. You could kind of see this coming from the very beginning when they announced the team name and mascot to outrage and disgust. The rest was just proverbial icing.
Yes you can give natural grass a break because in a couply of years when Stu sells the stadium to commerical development, they tear out everything and replant natural grass around the buildings. History will repeat itself. Since the Rippers don't count any more, who has the lowest attendence in the Frontier League. Give you a clue: ask Stu! (Getting near the break-even point?)
Can some one please explain to me how Buttons Bando is allowed to remain on the Wild Cubs roster? Another ‘0’for night and three K's to boot.. How can they justify his spot on the roster?
Is there any integrity left in the Wild Cubs organization? Sure doesn’t seem like it. What a disgrace that Dad’s boy plays with a BA of .185.
Despite whatever you hear, if Mr. Williams really wanted to win he would not tolerate this crap.
Mike was part of the package.
How do you know that? What is your source of information? We can all clearly see the nepotism but how do you know for sure Buttons was "part of the package"?
"buttons" sat during the last home stand and was returned to the line-up on the current road trip. It's an odd managing decision when you bench the league's best catcher in order to play the big .185 slugger. Does anyone here know how to play this game?
League's best catcher?
Lol. This board is a riot. A laugh a minute.
Bartender, I'll have what Jeff is having.
BAN THE BANDO'S in 2013!
Mike part of the package.
If you want to know ask Stu.
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