The Salt Lake Trappers, defending Pioneer League champions, begin their eighth season tonight at 7 MDT at Butte with probably the most carefully selected team they've ever had.
Yet nobody knows what that means."We don't have any idea what they'll be like, and they don't know what we'll be like," says Trapper manager Nick Belmonte, entering his third year with Salt Lake with two division titles and a championship to his credit.
This is, after all, a rookie league, and while the independent Trappers, under a 1991 rule change, may use many veterans, major-league-sponsor teams must have mostly beginners. Even most Pioneer managers are new: Only Helena's Harry Dunlop and Belmonte return.
The Trappers themselves have only five players back from last year's champions - second baseman Eddie Ortega, catcher Willie Smith and pitchers John Gilligan, Jim Guidi and Chris Schultea. That's because half the '91 Trappers' contracts were sold to major-league organizations - the club's real purpose in life - and most of those players have moved up. And some, like pitcher Willie Ambos, have retired.
To replace the '91 team that won 27 of its last 35 games and equalled the franchise record for wins with 49 in 70 games - they'll play 76 games this year - Trapper personnel boss Van Schley and his scouts were more selective than ever about signing new players.
"Our standards have gone up because of teams like last year," says Belmonte. "We were more patient," he says. Instead of signing players on the spot, they checked backgrounds, talked to players' coaches and "tried to minimize the risk," Belmonte says.
The Traps spent much of last season refining the roster. For example, they had eight third basemen, four first basemen and tried 16 pitchers, Guidi and Schultea among the replacements, along with Ortega at second, who helped make the great stretch drive possible.
"Looking back, we must have made the right moves, but I hope we don't have to make as many," says Belmonte.
He does expect daily lineup changes defending upon whether the opponent pitches a righty or lefty, because he has six left-handed hitters (Bobby Benjamin, Tim Clark, Ortega, Todd Rosenthal, Pookie Wilson and Billy Vosik).
Belmonte thinks the Traps will see Butte lefty Scott Eyre of West Valley City in one of the three games of this series, perhaps tonight.
Right-hander Cecil Pettiford will be the Trappers' opening-night starter, with righty John Thoden scheduled to pitch the home opener Saturday night at Derks Field against Idaho Falls.
"It's an honor," says Pettiford of getting the opening-night nod. "All these guys (Trapper pitchers) are pretty good, and they chose me."
Pettiford is in his fourth pro year, having started with the Cleveland organization in 1988 and pitched most recently with Kinston (Carolina League) in Class A. There, he was teammates with Trapper starting shortstop Tim Rigsby.
Pettiford had shoulder soreness last week because, he says, he worked so hard in camp to get ready. The soreness was gone by Monday, he said. He calls himself a control pitcher who had 70 strikeouts in 85 innings last year and 90 in 140 innings the year before with a fastball in the mid-80s that cuts in to righties and sinks to lefties.
Belmonte lists Pettiford as one of the team's colorful types. "People are going to enjoy watching him perform," he says. "He has a demeanor about him; he exudes confidence."
The center fielders are also likely candidates for crowd appeal because of their names (William "Pookie" Wilson and Andrew Jackson) and speed. Wilson's a hustler, Jackson a muscleman.
Benjamin and Clark are the free swingers at the plate, proven long-ball hitters, and with any success, rookie pitcher Jon Harden will be a hit with fans because his slowball pitches confuse hitters. "He doesn't throw hard, but he makes people look bad at the plate," says Belmonte.
Third baseman Billy Vosik impressed the coaching staff throughout training camp both offensively and defensively. "I thought he was a good player, but he's shown he's a real consistent hitter," Belmonte says.
And catcher Randy Snyder, a second-round draft choice and three-year pro who's gone as high as Double A (eight games), should anchor the way David Rolls did at the position last year.
There are some structural changes in the league, with Pocatello moving to Lethbridge (Alberta) and the Northern Division with the Medicine Hat Blue Jays, Billings Mustangs (Reds) and Great Falls Dodgers, and the Helena Brewers moving to the South with the Trappers, Idaho Falls Braves and Butte Copper Kings (Rangers). Lethbridge is a co-op team and will be known as the Mounties.
The changes mean 1,300 more travel miles for the Trappers - regular treks to Helena instead of Pocatello - and a stronger Southern Division. Pocatello was always poor, and Helena's always been strong.