We Got Wood - 43.12 - Dempsey to Mentor Kim

[7teen]

With the acquisition of "Trojan" Kim by Portland in a trade with Edmonton, Steve Dempsey sees the writing on the wall: His playing days are coming to a rapid end. Dempsey, who sits just 78 hits shy of the 3,000 hit milestone understands and sees Portland trying to turn the corner as a franchise and has bought into both his days being numbered and the organization he's spent the last 3 seasons with trying to become a relevant organization.

"As a competitor, I want to play and be on the field" said the 37 year old, 17 year veteran of the BBA. "Yeah I have my selfish reasons. 3,000 hits obviously. But at the same time, I'm also smart enough to realize I'm not the same player at 37 that I was at 27. I'm an old man now. And I guess old men in this league are looked up to and become mentors of the younger guys. And that's what I'm going to do."

Trojan Kim comes to Portland with some baggage and some up and down play in his 3 seasons with the Jackrabbits. Despite bringing 3 years of experience in the post-season with him, Kim wasn't always looked upon with kind eyes and words by his teammates in Edmonton. Seen as a "selfish player" and one with "little leadership ability", Steve Dempsey hopes he can turn Kim around.

"I see a lot of myself in Kim" said Dempsey. "Aside from the obvious comparison that we both hit for average, love to hit doubles in the gap, and use our speed to swipe some bases, we both came into the league as young 'hot-shots' I guess you could say. Sometimes us guys who don't have a lot of power and don't produce the slugging that a lot of GMs like, we develop sort of a chip on our shoulder. I've had that chip for a lot of my career as fans and rivals have talked down on what I haven't accomplished despite the things I have accomplished. I think Kim has a chip very similar to that. We've talked some this off-season, since the trade that brought him over to Portland. We have plans to get together here soon, before we report to spring training, and figure out an approach that will not only help Kim succeed and be more consistent, but hopefully help him be a leader in Portland. Something this organization needs: Young leadership."

Portland has begun drawing some attention in the last few weeks since the Menzies-Kim trade as a possible dark horse over the next few seasons to be a competitor in the Pacific division. The Robert Menzies-Kim duo at the top of the lineup has drawn some comparisons to the old Mons Raider-Steve Dempsey 1-2 punch of Madison years ago. Something Dempsey commented on as "let's wait and see on that" Dempsey commented with a laugh. "I know these two young guys have plenty of playoff experience, more than Mons and I ever got, but Mons and I were one of, if not the greatest, 1-2 combo in the league. Let me see these two up close before I go that far."

Regardless of your thoughts there, it appears Steve Dempsey is prepared to turn a corner and begin the next phase of his career. This one still isn't over just yet though.