Tuesday, Sept. 2, 2003 | 9:21 a.m.
John Shoemaker has known success.
The Las Vegas 51s manager, in his 26th year in the Dodgers' organization, has been a success at just about every level. He has managed seven years at Single-A and four at Double-A, winning two league championships in four trips to league finals.
And in any other year, he might be heading in that direction with this year's Las Vegas 51s, his first season at the Triple-A level.
The 51s closed out the 2003 season Monday with a 10-1 victory against the Sacramento RiverCats, the same Sacramento team that finished the season 15 games ahead of the 51s in the PCL's Southern Division. Las Vegas closed the year with the third-best record in the Pacific Coast League.
Shoemaker said that while he doesn't like to see the season end early, he felt his team played strong in 2003.
"Going into a season, your number one goal is to win every game you can possibly play. You know it's not going to happen," he said. "We're disappointed we didn't qualify for the playoffs this year, but we are not disappointed in how well we played. We were in a situation this year where Sacramento was the best team in the league, and they proved it on the field by winning 92 games."
The 2003 season was best characterized as fluid. Over the year, the 51s had 112 player transactions.
"Because of the numerous injuries that the Dodgers had in Los Angeles, I was not anticipating this many roster moves," Shoemaker said. "Normally, without the injuries, I don't think you have this many moves. That was the one thing I had never been associated with at this level, players going up and down. That did surprise me that we had this many."
Adding to the struggle was the challenge of playing struggling prospects while players that might perform better had to sit on the bench for the organization's sake. Shoemaker gave credit to pitching coach Shawn Barton for making sure that the pitching staff stayed fresh with game-time experience.
He used his times at Single-A as an example.
"At the lower levels, you might have a good prospect that's going to be a real good player, but he's starting to struggle, he's starting to make a lot of errors, he's starting to strike out a lot," he said. "You still have to play him. You're not going to play the guy that maybe can do a little bit better for you, and maybe's not going to advance out of Single-A ball. You have to play the prospects."
But despite the fluidity and the disappointment of an early September finale, Shoemaker said he hopes to be back next year. He will spend the remainder of this season in Los Angeles with the Dodgers.
There is plenty of speculation that Shoemaker will not return to the 51s next year, and there are about as many who think Shoemaker will be back for a second season. Shoemaker was coy when asked if he expected to be back next year.
"Baseball is a strange game," he said. "Oftentimes, plans are set, strategies are set up, and at the last minute, things happen. For example, Brad Mills was set to return to Las Vegas last year and he was selected by the Expos to go to the major leagues. I have no idea what the Dodgers plans are for making staff assignments for 2004.
"But if I were given the opportunity to return to Las Vegas to manage the 51s, I would not hesitate to return.'
archive
