New Orleans, LA (AP)- Off the heels of two fairly significant trades with Ann-Arbor and Springfield, the new-look New Orleans Vampires have re-tooled for their stretch playoff run. Although some around Mardi Gras Land have questioned the Vampires' dumping of 5 draft picks in the last week, no one seems to be second-guessing the moves that GM Peter Gammons has made to accelerate the club's development into a true playoff contender.
"There are always going to be skeptics," says Owner Jeremy Chrabascz, "but Peter's track record is extraordinary. He has an incredible knack for filling every need the club every has without sacrificing its competetiveness or future."
True enough. Despite dealing away 3 first round picks and 2 second round picks in the last week or so, Gammons has managed to maintain the club's youthful promise. The average age of the players on New Orleans' active roster, for example, is 26. And at the break for the Ammy Draft, New Orleans remains in first-place in the McCoy Division of the Enterprise League with a record of 39-26. The Vampires have a 3.5 game lead on Edmonton and are one of only 2 teams in the EL with a winning percentage at or above .600 (Galena being the other, of course).
With the recent acquistions of pitchers Justin Thompson and Frank Callahan, the Vampires' staff could only be considered stronger and only Thompson has had an appearance for New Orleans so far, picking up his first win as a Vampire. The biggest weakness New Orleans appeared to have was the inconsistent production of its outfielders, especially Matt Lawton, Tony Gumbert and Chris Singleton, who had each been rotating in and out of the lineup sporatically. Therefore, Gammons went out and made sure that veteran Orlando Merced was included in the Ann-Arbor deal. He is hoping he makes up for the one weak link in the batting order.
"Orlando has struggled thus far this season but he's a career .285 hitter and we're hoping a change of scenery and the atmosphere here will spur him on. If nothing else, he'll win a gold glove out there for us."
Alongside Socks Byrne and Doug Glanville, Merced will help form a much stronger outfield than the franchise has ever had before. And with a future infield of Jason Kendall, Michael Barrett, Alex Gonzalez, Ron Belliard (currently Tilson Brito) and Sean Casey (currently Bill Mueller) to look forward to, the Vampires' future is clearly bright whether they sucks the life out of the rest of the EL this season or not.
