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Hello, My Name Is ...
by sportswriter Brian Pertner
Laporte Herald-Tribune
Larimer Knights owner John Dybala showed up at the team's workout this afternoon and only half-jokingly passed around "Hello, my name is ..." stickers to the team. In the last 48 hours, six new faces have joined the team: pitcher Jack Broskie, outfielder Brian Giles (who will take over at 1B from Rafael Palmiero), 1B Todd Benzinger, 2B Harold Reynolds, OF Lenny Dykstra, and newly-signed free agent shortstop Miguel Friantague.
It was an especially busy day for 3B Todd Walker. He was demoted to AAA following the trade of Rafael Palmiero, but no sooner than he arrived in Fort Morgan to join the AAA team was he was told to retrace his 100 mile journey back to Laporte. An injury to Orlando Merced during Monday's doubleheader sent the power-hitting right-fielder to the disabled list, forcing management to recall someone from AAA. At manager Don Baylor's request, Walker was returned to the majors.
Dybala also sat down with his roster on Monday evening and discovered, to his surprise, that he only had 24 active-roster players. Somehow -- the team is assuming the patchless FPSB program was to blame -- Mike Holtz was released from the team and is currently on Manhattan's pitching staff. Dybala would like to talk to Manhattan about getting Holtz back. In the meantime, however, the Knights further shored up their middle-infield defense by signing free-agent shortstop Miguel Friantague. Friantague will get an immediate tryout while the team waits until Pokey Reese is eligible to come off the disabled list.
Trade talk: Friantague is reasonably solid defensively and certainly has better offensive ratings than Reese does. Could Reese's days playing in full view of the majestic Rocky Mountains be numbered as well? If Friantague performs up to his ratings, it would not be a surprise to this reporter.
This weekend's trade for Lenny Dykstra brought offensive standout Jim Edmonds to third base until the injury to Merced moved him back to the outfield. The sometimes errant-fielding Bill Mueller wasn't even in the original starting lineup for this week. With Jeff Branson slated to return shortly, does Mueller fit into the Knights long-range plans, or will he be trade bait?
Give this reporter back the soap opera of Dybala's relationship with Assistant GM Allison Cashwell. It's a little more predictable and certainly doesn't require so many updates. We here in the sports department know The Question is coming and even have the story written. The department pool asks when The Question will be asked. My money is on Christmas Day. No one has it any later than Colorado State University's graduation date. Both he and she, however, insist on being mum.
Written by John Dybala