Blue birds

BLUEFIELD — Playing in the American League East, the Toronto Blue Jays must complete in a division that includes the high-revenue Yankees and Red Sox, along the talent-rich Rays.

It might seem like an impossible situation for the Blue Jays, who have finished third or lower every year, but one since winning the second of two straight World Series titles in 1993.

Don’t tell that to Charlie Wilson, the director of minor league operations and farm director for the Blue Jays, which will take the place of the Orioles in Bluefield when the 2011 Appalachian League season begins.

“I don’t think it is a disadvantage, but I look at it as a challenge for sure being in the same division as the Yankees and the Red Sox,” Wilson said. “People refer to the American League East as the ‘varsity division.’

“The Tampa Bay Rays have built a hell of a club too, but we are going to build this thing from within. We are going to build through scouting and player development.”

Wilson said Bluefield will have a crucial role in that process during a press conference at Bowen Field on Tuesday to introduce the Blue Jays as the replacement for the Orioles, which left on Aug. 31 after 53 years in Bluefield.

Bluefield will be a third rookie league team for Toronto, which Wilson said is important to the future of the Blue Jays.

“You need a third team, and this team is going to be essential in our development,” Wilson said. “It will be the first time these kids have lived away from home, it is the first time they are playing every day, it is the first time they are playing under the lights, and the first time they are playing in front of fans.

“It is of paramount importance that they come through this level in the early stages of development.”

George McGonagle, the president of the Bluefield Baseball Club and acting general manager of the organization, had talked with other teams prior to the Orioles’ public announcement on Aug. 28, but felt the Blue Jays stood out for many reasons.

“I don’t like to go back, but they really reminded me a lot of the Baltimore Orioles,” McGonagle said. “They are a class act, and a quality organization.

“I think we can see that in the people that are here ... and the excitement they have shown in coming to Bluefield, and we are also excited.”

So are the Blue Jays. Toronto was in the Appalachian League not all that long ago, spending two seasons in Pulaski from 2005-06. Wilson said the Blue Jays — which is now under new leadership, including president Paul Beeston and general manager Alex Anthopoulos — are glad to be back in the circuit in what he calls ‘an outstanding baseball-rich city.’

“I think this is going to be a good partnership, the Blue Jays are very excited about coming to Bluefield, and our players and our staff couldn’t be happier,” he said. “We are happy to be back in the Appalachian League and I think we are going to form a lot of good relationships here in the city of Bluefield, and I think it is going to be a good partnership...

“I think we are really going to like Bluefield and can hardly wait to get started.”

The facilities at Bowen Field were definitely to the Blue Jays’ liking, especially the natural green backdrop provided by the mountain beyond the left and center field fences.

“It is a tremendous hitter’s park, I would like to hit here, but I think it is going to be good,” Wilson said. “I think the field is solid...and the batting cage facility is going to be very good, they’ve got a weight room, and they’ve got a second field up on top of the hill so I think it will be really good.”

Since the arrival of Anthopoulos for departed J.P. Ricciardi last October, the Blue Jays have made major changes in scouting and player development, including more staff for both, and have provided more resources for amateur signings.

“We have spent more than 28 other clubs this year on amateur signings including the draft and international free agent players, there is only one team that spent more money than we did,” Wilson said. “That is how you build an organization, from the bottom, and we are going to get the best players we possibly can in our system at a low level and develop them.”

Many of those will play in Bluefield. They’ll play for Dennis Holmberg, who will serve as the manager for the Blue Jays when the ‘11 seasons starts in June. Holmberg has been with Toronto for 33 years, managing in more than 2,500 games, and winning more than 1,200 of them at the minor league level.

“Dennis is an excellent communicator, an excellent instructor, he is an excellent manager for young minor league players,” Wilson said. “He’s had a tremendous amount of success in our organization and he is going to do the same right here in Bluefield.

“I think the town will really like Dennis and welcome him. He is a great personality. He loves the small cities and towns, he is going to make himself at home here so I all I can tell you is ‘get ready.’”

Other Toronto officials in Bluefield on Tuesday were Holmberg, along with pitching instructor Pat Hentgen and field coordinator Doug Davis, both of whom will be in Bluefield often when the season begins.

While Hentgen has the on-field credentials of pitching for 14 seasons in the major leagues with Toronto and — ironically Baltimore — Davis was the bench coach for the Florida Marlins when they won the World Series in 2003.

They’ll be working with players accumulated by the Blue Jays, either through the draft, free agency or those acquired from the Dominican Republic, Venezuela and other Latin American countries, while looking to select the ‘best players available.’

“It is difficult to project what the 2011 draft will look at like because I don’t even know what number we are picking and we still have some free agents that might want to sign with our club so we don’t know how many draft picks we are going to have,” said Wilson, who added that Toronto currently has nine of the first 113 picks in next June’s draft. “Certainly there will be a mix of high school players, maybe some junior college players, and there will be some players from Latin American on this roster.

“I think there are going to be some very talented baseball players here.”

Wilson, a native of Canada, would have loved to have been one of them. He always dreamed of playing for the Blue Jays. That didn’t happen, but he can sure help build a winner in Toronto.

“I wasn’t very good, I think I was destined to the office when I was about 16 years old,” Wilson said. “I played amateur baseball in Toronto and that was it.

“I think the dream was to play second base for the Blue Jays. It wasn’t necessarily to work for them, but I was fortunate to get an internship in the nineties and I got on board in a full-time capacity in 1997.

“I’ve been in my current role really for one year and worked in player development for the last seven.”

He expects Bluefield to be a part of that development plan, and isn’t going to back down from having to compete in the ‘varsity division.’

“Nobody wants excuses, believe you me, we are trying to build a winner,” Wilson said. “From player development we are trying our best to develop players who will be ready to play in the major leagues.”

Note: More on Hentgen and Holmberg later this week in the Daily Telegraph.

—Contact Brian Woodson

at bwoodson@bdtonline.com

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