Opening Day Partners (ODP), which already has Atlantic League teams in Lancaster, York and Southern Maryland, is officially opening its news showpiece in Sugar Land, TX tonight (Thursday), but that is only one point in showing how this organization is being steered far into the future by Peter Kirk and his large group of experienced staffers.
Kirk talked extensively about Atlantic League expansion thoughts that extend well into the future in our subscriber publication, the Independent Baseball Insider column, which also comes out today. Kirk and the league are thinking very big.
ODP also announced the hiring of 50-year plus baseball executive Tal Smith for a key role, as will be discussed in the Insider, as well as Lisa Riggs as the new president of the Lancaster Barnstormers. I do not know Ms. Riggs, who lives in East Hempfield Township with her husband and two children, but she has been running something called James Street Improvement District, which is Lancaster's community and economic development organization. That normally signifies the person in that role (President) is among a community's most important movers and shakers. Her involvement with the Barnstormers goes back nearly a decade when JSID played a key role in the development of Clipper Magazine Stadium.
UPSHAW LIKES BRIDGEPORT'S PITCHING
It is always difficult getting a good reading on the teams in the Atlantic League because of the short spring training, but I can tell you veteran Bridgeport Manager Willie Upshaw is high on the pitching staff he and General Manager Bob Goughan have assembled for the Bluefish.
"I love our pitching staff", Upshaw exuded during a media conference Wednesday. "I believe our bullpen will be really really good".
The Bluefish do not expect to have as much power as in the past, but "we've got some speed", the manager continued. He also said "not a lot of balls will drop out there" in an outfield anchored by veteran major leaguer Joey Gathright.
BRAVES DROP OZZIE CHAVEZ
While major league teams have spirited away at least four Atlantic League players before the first pitch of the regular season (two each from Bridgeport and Long Island) infielder Ozzie Chavez is the latest player from last season to lose his affiliated job. Atlanta released Chavez, who had 114 at-bats at Lancaster last year. He hit only .175 for the Barnstormers.
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