The Taos Blizzard, a first-year independent baseball team scheduled to play in the Pecos League next season, announced that Matt Leahy will be the team’s manager. He has served as a bullpen catcher for affiliated MiLB teams and played in the New York State League. That league is a developmental league owned by Jay Acton, and the NYSL will operate the Taos team in the Pecos League. The NYSL operated the Carlsbad Bats in 2011, the first year of the Pecos League.
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Terrible choice! A boy leading other boys on a never ending road trip for two and a half months. Granted, a married man doesn’t fit here, but this isn’t summer camp either. So you KNOW this isn’t going to work. He may quit by the second week. He should quit NOW just looking at the ridiculous schedule presently in place. Four or five ten hour trips from West Texas or Las Cruces back to Taos?? …night games followed by midday games after an all night trip?? Absurd!!
This is ludicrous and needs a major overhaul. And Taos is going to need a major road lover to handle this mess. Always on the road while other teams will be sitting in their living rooms until batting practice time. Some teams do not even hit the road for more than three hours tops!! Obviously this will be an unfair, imbalanced league.
Supposedly this schedule is designed to save money on gas and motel rooms. In many places as it now stands, it does anything but! Some of it is functional, and some of it looks like it was done in a drunken stupor. If it isn’t salvaged soon, expect a very rough season. And whoever heard of a league with NO days off? Even the winter leagues take a day off regularly. When will the commissioner sleep?
By the way Mr. Fair Reporter…why not post that article from the Trinidad paper that clearly describes how pompous the Pecos commissioner can be at most times, addressing the city council like it’s his classroom of 7th graders! Mature and professional he’s not, and this league is nothing more than him acting out HIS fantasies. It’s either his way or the highway for these towns that WANT a team.
The Pecos League is going to be quite a circus next summer.
I think I’ll just be concentrating on the four indy leagues with depth.
Thank you for your comments. I found the article you referenced: http://trinidad-times.com/council-triggers-reach-agreement-on-field-p4420-1.htm After having spoken to him, the article took the situation out of context as what was reported/portrayed evidently didn’t happen quite that way; but since I don’t have all of the facts and/or video/audio of that day’s exchange then I cannot post anything other than the posted articles + what I received for comment.
Regarding your comments on this post and the others on the topic of the 2013 schedule, from an outsider’s perspective it looks pretty haphazard. Since I do not have access to all of the stadium availability dates, especially since the addition of the Raton Osos and Pecos Bills, certain dates may have been locked in when the new teams were announced. Also, unlike the Northeast, many teams in the Southwest play in markets which just don’t care about baseball once mid-August rolls around. Sadly, many of the DFW teams in recent years (American Association w/ Fort Worth and Grand Prairie, United League w/ Fort Worth, Continental w/ McKinney) cannot draw a dime past mid-August, unlike teams in other areas of the country. Some of that likely was due to poor marketing/advertising, but a good chunk of it is due to the football focus (and “back to school”) of the locals by that time of year.
Having had to draw up schedules for independent leagues when last-minute changes were made, those in charge of their local teams tend to demand that the schedule accommodate their marquee dates/promotions in order to have a chance to draw the most money. Again, not knowing all of the facts, I cannot comment. I agree that no days off is brutal and can cause burnout or risk of injury. This is something which may be addressed in the future as it is cause for concern.
Regarding the naming of Leahy, that is a call by Jay Acton and the NYSL. He has operating control of the players and managers for the Blizzard. Jay has been around for a long time, so I have to trust that he knows best for his options within his budget and other constraints. I do not know Leahy personally, so I hope that he has the intangibles needed to lead the Blizzard on and off the field, especially with as much traveling as that team will be doing. Having been a bullpen catcher for years, I know that it takes a certain type of mindset to be that close to the game yet not be “officially” on the roster. One has to be passionate (and slightly crazy to take all of the physical damage from that many catches, especially during pre-game practices!) to do that year in and year out with minimal attention and not being officially in the record books. Being tough, crazy, and passionate are traits that I hope Leahy brings to the team. If not, as you indicated, the team is in for a long season before the first pitch.
Thanks for all of your comments on this, and the other posts, and please keep them coming. It is great to have passionate fans who care about the product and the industry as a whole, especially these lower-level independent leagues where the players (often unjustly) get disregarded by the higher-level leagues. Having been involved in some of these lower leagues, the players earn the right to call themselves “professional” simply due to the mental toughness to not have the amenities that their higher-level independent league counterparts get to experience. Please spread the word about the good side of these on other forums, social media, and other places as there truly are some great stories which are worth the time for the traditional baseball fan, who doesn’t know much about independent baseball, to spend the time to discover.