51s, Blue Jays will give it a try

51s president Don Logan likened losing the Los Angeles Dodgers and gaining the Toronto Blue Jays to "a divorce and a remarriage" when the Jays were announced as Las Vegas' new parent club Thursday.

"Having been through (a divorce myself), you know the second one's got to be better than the first one and the third one's got to be better than the second one," Logan joked.

The 51s and Blue Jays were the last Triple-A and major league franchises left to match up for an affiliation this offseason, so the two-year contract is more of an arranged marriage than a torrid affair.

Logan also conceded that unless he realizes his goal of getting a new ballpark built in two years, Las Vegas could be left looking for its fourth partner after spending its first 18 seasons (1983 to 2000) with the San Diego Padres and its past eight with the Dodgers.

Los Angeles ended its affiliation with the 51s because of inadequate player amenities at Cashman Field, which opened in 1983 and will essentially be the third-oldest Triple-A ballpark in the country next season. And it's likely the Blue Jays and any other big league club will have the same concerns as the Dodgers.

Toronto's top prospects are accustomed to playing in Syracuse, N.Y., at Alliance Bank Stadium, which was built in 1997 and features many amenities Cashman Field lacks.

"Syracuse put in a new playing field last year and they had some nice indoor (batting) cages they don't have here," Dick Scott, Toronto's director of player development, said after a news conference at Cashman Field. "That's something we'll have to address at some point -- the cages."

In addition to featuring two indoor hitting tunnels, a weight room and a video room, Scott said the clubhouse at Alliance Bank Stadium "has got plenty of room for everybody."

But Scott, Toronto's lone representative at the news conference, declined further comment about Cashman Field until he spoke with Logan and the team's owners.

"The (stadium issues) we've been hearing in the past are also (issues) we're curious about," Scott said. "We'll sit down and try to come up with a solution."

A former player in the Pacific Coast League, Scott downplayed the stadium issue and said playing in an older park is simply another obstacle for a prospect to overcome.

"The way I look at it, our players are going to have a good place to play here," he said. "What (minor league) players want are to get to the major leagues, and guys that can tune out (the facts) that the clubhouse isn't perfect or the batting cage is outside -- those are the guys that are going to get there anyway.

"If guys are going to complain about it, we probably don't want them in Toronto anyway."

Contact reporter Todd Dewey at tdewey@ reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0354.