Fielders' MVP right now has to be its manager
News you can use ... or maybe not.
n The Zion-based Lake County Fielders plucked 12 players off the Northern League scrap heap -- two each from the league's six established teams -- as our new independent minor-league baseball team continues to move from being actor/singer Kevin Costner's dream to a live entity.
The dozen were left-overs after each team was allowed to protect its 11 best players which, if you're doing the math, would be an entire starting lineup and the next-best pitchers. The Fielders were allowed to pick over what was left, taking no more than two players from each team.
The guess here is that the dozen will be told not to give up their day jobs in anticipation of playing for the Fielders starting next May.
Here's why.
Fielders manager Fran Riordan was a top-end player-manager and then a top-end manager in the Frontier League for nine seasons, and he obviously knows what winning baseball is about at the independent-league level.
After all, his teams won three Frontier League playoff titles and, last year, finished first in its division in the regular season.
So, think about this: In nine years, how many top-quality players and top-quality people has Riordan worked with who he'd love to bring with him to his new venture in Zion?
Best guess: 22.
Guess how many players are on a Northern League team roster?
Twenty-two.
Would Riordan -- and the baseball fans of our area -- be better served with top-quality players Riordan knows and is comfortable with, or would we all be better served with players the opposition in the Northern League didn't want?
That's an easy call.
n More on the Fielders. The local guys fronting for actor/singer/team owner Costner might want to stop emphasizing the importance of putting a winning product on the field in Year 1.
It's a high-reward/high-risk strategy that, given the current lack of a home playing field, seems dangerous, at best.
And, yes, we all want a winning team here.
But, because of someone's snafu, the stadium will not be ready for opening day in May, so the team will be playing about three weeks worth of road games before its home opener at the Field of Dreams.
Putting a new team together and having them play 15 road games to start the season seems like a recipe for disaster.
Which begs the question: How come Costner just didn't cut a check for $17 million to make sure the stadium for his team and the stage behind the fence in center field for his country-rock band would be ready way in advance of the first pitch?
Besides, there are going to a dozen good reasons to attend Fielders games next year, without having to talk about "playoff implications."
n There is a basketball buzz in Waukegan these days that has never been matched in these parts at the prep level. Not at Warren 10 years ago ... and not even in Zion a couple of years back.
The anticipation of an IHSA state title, and national recognition has the community talking Bulldog hoops in every corner of town.
If anything, the community and the student-fans already are borderline overconfident that the Bulldogs will take a big bite out of every opponent.
Remember guys: Waukegan doesn't have to win every game this winter. The Bulldogs just have to win the last game.
n If you're scoring at home ...
Former Waukegan High football coach Pat Jennings, who took the Bulldogs' program from point "E" to point "D" to point "C" and then fell back to "D" before departing after four seasons, is 3-5 this fall in his new gig at St. Ignatius in Chicago and, as was the case when he was here, will be watching the playoffs from the bleachers.
n If you're scoring at home II ...
Former Lake Forest High football coach Willie Snead III has turned Muskegan Heights High -- an inner-city basketball school in Michigan -- into a football school in one season.
His Tigers are 6-2 this year and have qualified for the Michigan playoffs.
The team's star is the coach's son -- Willie Snead IV -- who passed for 241 yards and 5 TDs and rushed for 115 more yards in the team's latest win.
n Artificial turf anyone ... everyone? In the last seven days, Vernon Hills High moved its Senior Night varsity football game to Carmel High, Mundelein High moved an IHSA regional boys soccer match to Stevenson High and Lakes moved an IHSA regioanl boys soccer match to Grayslake Central.
The reason?
Vernon Hills', Mundelein's and Lakes' football fields -- grass pitches back in August -- are now quagmires and unfit for competition.
Carmel, Stevenson and Grayslake Central, of course, have artificial-turf fields.
You do the math ... and, remember, the first number you're adding is the $1 million needed for a fake-grass field.
Kevin Costner ... can you cut these guys a check, too, please?
