Dodgers Can’t Even Keep ‘Em Down on Farm

A reorganization of the Dodger minor league affiliations has left a trail of bad taste and disturbing--if not angry--breakups of some long-term relationships. There is also an industry perception that communication lapses and the intensified approach of the minor league field staff factored into the breakups.

Said a National League general manager: “From what I understand, talking to minor league officials, it’s now harder to get answers from the Dodgers because they don’t know who the responsible guy is--[General Manager] Kevin Malone, [Assistant General Manager] Bill Geivett or [personnel director] Jerry Weinstein.”

The double-A San Antonio Missions of the Texas League recently ended a 24-year relationship with the Dodgers after the Dodgers ended a long relationship with the San Bernardino Stampede of the high-A California League. The Elmore Sports Group owns both the Stampede and Missions, and Mission President Burl Yarbrough said working with the new administration wasn’t like working with that of former owner Peter O’Malley.

“There’s been a lot of changes in L.A.,” Yarbrough said. “Most of the people we dealt with are no longer there, and we don’t have the same bond with the new people. Our club hasn’t done well on the field the last couple years, our contract was up, and we felt this was the right time to make a change.”

Of course, the lack of prospects in a barren system has contributed to the way the farm teams have played.

However, “there’s more than one way to field a competitive team,” Yarbrough said, implying minor league free agents might have filled the gaps.

“We know our main goal is to develop players for the big club,” he said. “At the same time, in a city like San Antonio, we have to put a competitive team on the field and that hasn’t been happening.”

In addition, he said, the new administration definitely brought in its own instructional program, and “I think it had a negative effect on our club. It’s one thing to work guys hard, but you have to recognize that it’s hot down here. I mean, the way they were going about it, you had to hope they had something left at game time.”

The new approach was a factor in Mike Scioscia’s departure, the Dodgers’ loss being the Angels’ gain. Then again, the Dodgers are vying with San Diego for the major league lead in errors, suggesting a reemphasis on basics isn’t a bad idea.

In addition, some of the reorganization was simply designed to make their Vero Beach, Fla., training base the hub of their minor league system.

Their Florida State and Gulf Coast league teams will continue to be based in Vero. Their double-A affiliate will now be in Jacksonville, Fla., of the Southern League while their low-A team, formerly in Yakima, Wash., is moving to Wilmington, N.C., of the South Atlantic League. They are moving their triple-A affiliation from Albuquerque to Las Vegas, but that was because the Albuquerque team is moving to Portland, Ore., with new owners.

Las Vegas and Los Angeles have long been business and entertainment brethren. Amid some questions, the current Dodger administration still has to prove how highly it values its brethren.

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That was Ken Griffey Jr. delivering boxes of food from a noted Cincinnati rib restaurant to the Cinergy Field press box Tuesday night, including a hand-delivered plate to broadcaster Marty Brennaman, with whom he recently had a clubhouse shouting match. Griffey, sidelined by a hamstring strain and experiencing touchy relations with the Cincinnati media in his first year with the Reds, told the stunned scribes that maybe “barbecue sauce will get stuck between your keys and you won’t be able to write.” He was kidding, or so it was thought.