LOOKING IN ON: LAS VEGAS 51s

Friday, Jan. 5, 2007 | 7:14 a.m.

If the Los Angeles Dodgers couldn't move their spring training home to Southern Nevada, as 51s President Don Logan had hoped, the Phoenix suburb of Glendale is the next best site.

Logan said the Dodgers' decision to move their spring training operations from Vero Beach, Fla., to a new complex slated to be built in Glendale by the 2009 season would be a "win-win" situation for both the Dodgers and their Triple-A affiliate, the 51s.

"To me, it never made sense for the Dodgers to have their fan base 4,000 miles away" during spring training, Logan said. "I think for our fans, who typically become Dodger fans, it's a good thing to get to go to spring training, get to see our guys."

Having the parent club train within 300 miles of Las Vegas would allow 51s fans to make weekend trips to watch both the major league players and the potential 51s players prior to the start of the Pacific Coast League season. It also would allow 51s officials to schedule spring trips for some of the team's sponsors, as they did when they were affiliated with the San Diego Padres, who train in Peoria, Ariz.

"It's just easier to go down to Arizona, and it's different in Arizona than in Florida," Logan said. "You have better access (to the players) and it's a more relaxed, looser feeling that everybody has.

"Whoever made that decision, I think it's a very smart thing they did."

The Dodgers and Chicago White Sox, who train in Tucson, have entered into a Memorandum of Understanding with Glendale to build a two-team spring training facility on Glendale and Phoenix city land. According to published reports, the project would be funded by Arizona, Glendale and a private developer.

"(This) is an important step toward bringing the Dodgers and this wonderful tradition closer to our legions of fans throughout the West," Dodgers owner Frank McCourt said of the project.

Vero Beach has been the spring training home of the Dodgers since 1948.

For years, Logan has been involved in attempts to bring Major League Baseball spring training to Southern Nevada .

Big League Weekend

Because of a quirk in the 2007 Major League Baseball schedule, Logan was able to secure only two teams for this year's annual Big League Weekend at Cashman Field.

The Chicago Cubs and Seattle Mariners will play a pair of games - at 7:15 p.m. March 30 and at 1:05 p.m. March 31.

"The Dodgers were willing to play here, I just couldn't get an opponent for them on that Thursday," Logan said. "All of the American League West Coast teams are opening at home against their own division and vice versa in the National League; there isn't anybody coming West from Florida (to pair with the Dodgers)."

Logan said the Dodgers' decision to move their spring training base to Arizona in two years would make it easier in the future to have the Dodgers play a spring game in Las Vegas before their traditional Freeway Series exhibitions with the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.

Coaching changes

The 51s will be guided by a new manager and hitting instructor for their 25th season in Las Vegas.

Lorenzo Bundy replaces Jerry Royster as manager, and Mike Easler takes over for Steve Yeager as hitting coach. Ken Howell returns to the 51s for his second season as the team's pitching coach.