10 Questions with the Durham Bull’s Bigalric

Q: Tell the readers about the Season 16 Bulls. What makes the fans come to the ball park to see this team?
A: Borderless optimism. We've been so bad the last seasons, it can only get better.

Q: I miss Bull's slugger Pedro Ortiz, no other man could sky the ball like him. And yet still strikeout about 200 times a season. Bobble head night or commemorative jersey?
A: Bobble head night on our last home stand this season.

Q: In your opinion, what minor league player, in your franchise, has the most potential to be a ML star and why?
A: That's clearly A.J. Rollins, our starting SS at AAA, and the next superstar in Durham.

Q: Which Bulls player, past or present, have the fans in Durham been most fond of, and why?
A: Scott Rose, great guy, great player, who left us as a free agent after season 14.

Q: Which Bulls player, past or present, the fans have the highest hopes for, only to have them dashed by poor performance?
A: Probably Will Gonzalez, our 1st round pick (#5) in season 5. He was a great minor league player, but in the majors he never lived up to his potential.

Q: Which AL team do you consider to be your biggest rival?
A: The Washington old school warriors. Most seasons we are battling for last place.

Q What trade or off Season move have you made that you have the most regrets over?
A: In season 8 I traded Shayne Nagy for Vicente Montanez, Richie Cormier, and Sam Parker. I got 2 good players, who were mainstays for some seasons in my lineup; Cormier is still a fan hero. But ... you simply don't trade a player of Nagy's class. To top that, in season 9, I traded Shayne Owen for Jose Chavez, Andres Amaral, and Sam Hawkins. Amaral and Hawkins were total busts for me, but Owen is one of the best players today. So I traded my no. 1 draft picks in consecutive years and my team in the whole wasn't any better off after that. Show me worse managerial decisions in our league and I'll buy you a drink. I am still not over it.

Q: What players on your team (past/present) have had the best nicknames?
A: Shea 'We have a problem' Houston, a very bad fielder. Pete 'Moon' Walker.

Q: What player on your team has the best theme music?
A: Eswalin Lopez with "the carnival is over' performed by the Seekers, one of my all-time favorites. To be honest, we only promoted him for having an opportunity to play that song at our home games.

Q: The Clubhouse can be an interesting place to get a behind the scenes look at our favorite players. Tell us an interesting story from the clubhouse.
A: Some seasons ago we had someone from Haiti in our clubhouse. He performed some voodoo magic aimed to better our record. Well, we lost the next 7 games, our equipment guy got ill and never recovered, and we had 3 failed marriages on our coaching staff in the next 3 months alone. Oh, and I won 100k in Vegas ... but that's another story...

Q: In closing, please list the players who have played on your team that you feel are Hall of Fame worthy?
A: Obviously Timothy Garcia. Then Pedro Ortiz, Richie Cormier, Scott Rose, Jose Jose, Shayne Nagy, Shayne Owen, Jose Chavez.