By Scott Taylor, National Post

A regular look at the issues and news events that affect the Winnipeg Goldeyes and the Northern League by the television voice of the Goldeyes, the co-author of Home Run: A History of the Winnipeg Goldeyes and Canwest Park and a man who has been around the league since 1994.

April 7, 2008

Forney’s 2008 Goldeyes Just About Ready

Goldeyes manager Rick Forney likes the looks of his team and likes it even more as the days tick by until the opening of training camp.

On Friday, Forney made a good team even better when he dealt Walter Young to Hal Lanier’s Sussex Skyhawks of the CanAm League for a player to be named later. The reason for the move? Fehlandt Lentini had been released from his Mexican League contract.

Please don’t misunderstand. There was certainly nothing wrong with Walter Young. After all,
Big Walter hit 21 bombs last year and drove in a team-high 78 runs. The fans loved him and certainly loved to watch him launch the ball into the river.

However, Forney, along with his ace recruiter, coach Tom Vaeth, has done such an outstanding job signing players this off-season, that a problem – a good problem, one supposes – arose this past week.

Lentini became available.

And there was no possible way Lentini was going to be allowed to sign someplace else.

“The best thing that could happen to Fehlandt is that he stays with his Mexican League team, where he can make some pretty big money,” said Forney recently. “But if he ever becomes available, we want to get him back here.”

Last year, the 30-year-old Lentini hit .321 with 10 homers and 54 runs batted in while
leading the league with 53 extra-base hits. He also stole 42 bases, the second straight
year in which he led the league. A tremendous fielder who can lead off or hit second,
Lentini is a table-setter that just happens to be able to drive in runs.

The only thing standing in the way of Lentini’s immediate signing was the fact the Goldeyes already had their maximum four veterans under contract – Young, Max Poulin, Tydus
Meadows and Kevin West.

So now, the Goldeyes will head into training camp with a very solid roster, one that could number as high as 29 come May 1. Right now, Forney has 14 pitchers and 13 position
players. He’s allowed to bring 28 players to camp, 29 if he drafts someone at the Northern League tryout this weekend.

“We’ve just about wrapped it up,” Forney said of his off-season recruiting. “Thanks to all
the good work done by Tom, we’ve got a good team that we’ve put together. We’ve worked
hard this winter and I think we’ve found the best players available within the rules of
our league.”