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Post by jamesmcgillstatue on Jan 8, 2015 14:15:52 GMT -5
Portland announces officially that Billy McMillon will be back as manager, with Joppie as batting coach and pitching coach Kevin Walker moving up from Salem. Link
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Post by jamesmcgillstatue on Jan 8, 2015 14:13:55 GMT -5
Official announcement from Pawtucket: Kevin Boles back as manager, along with infield coach Bruce Crabbe. Kipper the new pitching coach, and Rich Gedman will come with him, with Dave Joppie switching jobs with Geddy to join the Portland staff. Link
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Post by jamesmcgillstatue on Jan 8, 2015 13:57:15 GMT -5
Short-Season Lowell announces (via milb.com) that Joe Oliver will return as manager in 2015. Pitching coach Walter Miranda moves up to Greenville; he will be replaced in Lowell by Lance Carter, who joins the organization in 2015. Iggy Suarez will be the hitting coach, replacing Noah Hall. Wonder if there will be a chain reaction of pitching coach promotions, at least above the GCL level, with Sauveur quitting Pawtucket at the end of 2014. EDIT: And with the tweeting of Bob Kipper's promotion to Pawtucket today, that seems to be happening. Link
Alumni News: Billy Gardner Jr., son of the former Red Sox player, coach and minor league skipper, and a member of the Sox' minor league managerial staff under Dan Duquette and Kent Qualls, has been reappointed manager of Triple-A Syracuse by the parent Nationals. The Nats also rehired Brian Daubach as skipper of Double-A Harrisburg.
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Post by jamesmcgillstatue on Dec 18, 2014 10:23:31 GMT -5
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Post by jamesmcgillstatue on Dec 16, 2014 16:40:46 GMT -5
Baseball America (through Alex Speier) announces retirement of Greenville hitting coach U. L. Washington, 61, the former Royals, Pirates and Expos SS, who has been in the organization since 2002. Washington, according to the Portland Press-Herald, was instrumental in convincing Mookie Betts to lower his leg kick when both were with the Drive in early 2013. Betts' meteoric rise followed from there. www.pressherald.com/2014/05/18/betts__on-base_streak_ends_/EDIT: Washington was at Salem, not Greenville, in 2014.
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Post by jamesmcgillstatue on Dec 16, 2014 8:40:39 GMT -5
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Post by jamesmcgillstatue on Dec 10, 2014 9:50:54 GMT -5
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Post by jamesmcgillstatue on Nov 11, 2014 10:32:57 GMT -5
Thanks. The Globe this morning reported that pro scout David Keller is the guy who is leaving to work for the Marlins. As for replacements, I would expect that news of some of the hires/promotions will leak out before the Red Sox formally announce their minor league field staffs and scouting and player development hires/promotions, which usually happens in separate press releases during the December-January timeframe.
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Post by jamesmcgillstatue on Nov 10, 2014 19:50:16 GMT -5
Gammons last week alluded to Cherington losing three top evaluators, two to the Dodgers and one to the Marlins, this offseason. (Plus Tom Batista, returning to the Braves.)
Tonight, Cafardo tweets that Dave Finley is joining Galen Carr in leaving for the Dodger organization. He most recently was director, player personnel, and IIRC is one of the few remaining ex-Marlin baseball ops people (like David Chadd, Murray Cook, Rob Leary, etc.) who came to the Red Sox at the start of 2002 when JWH joined forces with Werner and Otten. With the Marlins, he was credited as the signing scout for #1 pick Adrian Gonzalez. He came here as West Coast cross-checker, then became national x-checker and was special assistant to Theo Epstein in 2010-11. I had him pegged as one of the Sox' baseball ops executives who might leave for the Cubs, but he's going to work for Friedman.
I have not yet seen which evaluator has left to work for Jeffrey Loria
It will be interesting to see who Cherington adds/promotes in their places.
EDIT: Rookie mistake: Realizing that I am repeating info that's already been in the main offseason thread, I concede that this might be a redundant thread and as such can be deleted by the moderators if they wish.
EDIT 2: Dave Finley's title with the Dodgers is vice president, international and amateur scouting; Galen Carr is director, player personnel.
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Post by jamesmcgillstatue on Oct 28, 2014 6:33:23 GMT -5
A potential "non-move:" Special assignment scout Galen Carr, rumored (by Cafardo) to be interviewing for a top post with the Padres under new GM A. J. Preller, may be shut out of that opportunity with the flurry of hires the Padres have recently made, including luring Logan White away from the Dodgers to be their senior advisor to the GM/director of pro scouting. Other Padres hires (per BA) include Don Welke (vp/scouting) and Sam Geaney (director, player development). BA. EDIT: Galen Carr, although not headed to San Diego, has apparently been hired by the Dodgers in an unspecified capacity, per Alex Speier on 11/7. Carr has been a special assignment scout (2012-14), Major League scout (2007-11), professional scout (2006), advance scouting coordinator (2003-05) and administrator (2001-02), and intern (1999-2000). Colby College grad and Burlington, Vermont, resident. Speier: Carr "was considered one of the top evaluators in the Red Sox organization." Aside: I wonder if R. J. Harrison, Long Beach native and longtime Rays' scouting director, is going to join Friedman in Los Angeles. If so, could be another critical defection from TBR front office, although their system is now being described as "depleted." DRaysBay/SB Nation.
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Post by jamesmcgillstatue on Oct 15, 2014 14:07:53 GMT -5
I guess my question (or observation) was that the draft ranking of the Red Sox as having the third-best in 2014 might be based on overall depth, potential ceiling of prospects, etc., simply because no single player stood out among the "top five draft-wide lists." Obviously, Chavis, Kopech, etc., appear to be top prospects who might have been edged out of top-five rankings by better debuts by other draftees ...
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Post by jamesmcgillstatue on Oct 15, 2014 13:35:42 GMT -5
Hat tip to SOSH, who ran with Keith Law's report that Sox SoCal area scout Tom Battista (Henry Owens) has joined the Braves as a regional cross-checker. SB Nation.I'm keeping my eye on the Cubs this off-season, as the three-year "no compete" should be expiring right about now. Matt Dorey and Kyle Evans were two of the people Theo was allowed to take with him after the 2011 season; there may be more defections this off-season.
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Post by jamesmcgillstatue on Oct 15, 2014 13:25:56 GMT -5
Pennington was the only Red Sox draftee singled out as one of the five best players, draft-wide, in any category.
I'll leave it to some of the vets on this board -- and those who know the BA folks (Manuel and Longenecker) who compiled it -- to interpret further, but their detailed analysis of Sox draftees on page 22 mentioned Travis (best pure hitter), Chavis and Ockimey (power hitters), Mars and Kemp (fastest runners), Fisher (best defensive), Kopech, McAvoy and Cosart (best fastballs), Whitson, Beeks and Shepherd (best secondary pitches), McAvoy again and J. Betts (best pro debuts), Steen (best athlete), Travis and Beeks (closest to MLB), and Peterson (28th round) as the "one who got away."
Summary: "Boston began its high-profile draft class with two high-schoolers and tied for the most prep signees of any AL team with eight."
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Post by jamesmcgillstatue on Oct 15, 2014 12:27:07 GMT -5
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Post by jamesmcgillstatue on Oct 15, 2014 9:29:05 GMT -5
I don't know if this is the right thread for this, but electronic edition of Baseball America today listed their 2014 draft report cards: Best Draft
1. Indians 2. Royals 3. Red Sox
4. Cubs 5. Blue Jays Yet the only player they list is RHP Josh Pennington (29th round) under the "Best Late Round Pick" category -- and Pennington did not appear in a game for the GCL Sox in 2014. www.milb.com/player/index.jsp?sid=milb&player_id=656837#/career/R/pitching/2014/ALL
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Post by jamesmcgillstatue on Sept 13, 2014 8:30:35 GMT -5
I thought that a thread that contains news and updates about off-season hirings, departures, promotions and re-assignments in the Red Sox' MLB baseball ops, player development and scouting departments might be useful, since the minor league news especially tends to trickle out. This week, as has been noted, Pawtucket pitching coach Rich Sauveur has notified the Red Sox that he is leaving his post and the organization. Woonsocket Call, 25 September 2014
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Post by jamesmcgillstatue on Jul 6, 2014 6:58:30 GMT -5
Not so sure I like the idea at DSL level but love the idea at about low A level. The thing that would be difficult is finding another team. You can't add one team to a league, you need to add two in order for every team to play every day. I always wanted them to add an Appalachian League team especially when Baltimore dropped their team from the league in 2010. Toronto has since picked up that affiliate. Just a few years ago, and before the financial crisis, MLB/MiLB were talking about contracting the Appy League as a whole. I'm glad that didn't happen. Given that you need to find cities and acceptable facilities within the TN/VA/NC/KY footprint -- and two of them to keep an even number of clubs and balance the schedule -- it's stickier than adding a second GCL team that would play in a facility that the Red Sox already own and control and need to utilize. Of course, the GCL is a half-step below the Pioneer and Appalachian leagues. Kinston, NC, which lost its Carolina League franchise, might be a candidate for an Appy League team; it's in eastern North Carolina, and according to Google Maps, it's three hours from Danville and Burlington.
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Post by jamesmcgillstatue on Jun 6, 2014 12:45:16 GMT -5
Interesting to think back to July 1976. The defending AL champion Red Sox -- expected to repeat after adding Ferguson Jenkins to a team that should have won the 1975 World Series against a vaunted Cincinnati ball club -- are unraveling under Darrell Johnson. Tom Yawkey has just died on July 9 from leukemia. Dick O'Connell is in the GM chair, with Jean Yawkey -- who hates him passionately -- as the new owner and former crown prince Haywood Sullivan, demoted to scouting director, vying to use his very close friendship with Mrs. Yawkey to claw his way back to power in the organization. Johnson has supposedly gone back to drinking heavily and barely makes it to the All-Star Game in Philadelphia, during which he manages another losing AL effort. The Red Sox are 41-45 and have just lost five games of a six-game series (!?!; must have been some rainouts being made up) to the Royals in Kansas City. Johnson, clearly, is going to be fired. Who were the in-organization candidates, in addition to Zimmer, then in his third year as third-base coach?
Johnny Pesky was coaching at first; he was the only other coach with significant managerial experience (pitching coach Stan Williams had managed Double-A Bristol for one year) on Johnson's staff. He had compiled a very poor record as manager of the very flawed 1963-64 Red Sox, but you could argue that that was an organizational failing (and especially a failing of general manager Pinky Higgins, who had never wanted Pesky as his manager). Pesky had spent eight years as a minor league manager (with the Tigers, Red Sox and Pirates from 1956-62; 1968) and coached for the Pirates (1965-67) before working on the Sox' broadcast team. Pesky, of course, would have been a popular choice, at least as an interim manager (as Zimmer was) to finish out the season and right the ship.
Joe Morgan was in his third year as manager of the Pawtucket (that one year known as the "Rhode Island") Red Sox. He was not then a local celebrity, outside of the Walpole and BC people who knew him well; Gammons used to mention him occasionally in the Sunday baseball notes. Like Pesky, he had been a minor league manager and MLB coach with the Pirates. But the PawSox had finished 57-87 and 53-87 in Morgan's first two seasons at McCoy and, although they improved to 68-70 in 1976, they were generally considered a mess; this was the year just prior to Ben Mondor's buying the team. I don't remember Morgan being mentioned for any Boston managerial openings from the time he joined the Red Sox organization in 1974 until he actually succeeded John McNamara as interim manager (like Zimmer, promoted from third-base coach). The other Sox minor league managers were John Kennedy at Bristol, in just his second year as a manager, and veteran Class A managers Bill Slack, Rac Slider and Dick Berardino. Organization man Eddie Popowski was 63 and a roving instructor; he had twice before been interim manager (relieving Dick Williams and Eddie Kasko), but he was assigned to the minors that year as a roving instructor and would actually be called up to resume his Red Sox coaching career to fill Zimmer's old role that year.
Sam Mele was then a special assignment scout for the Red Sox. In fact, they had hired him in 1967 for the job right after he was fired in midyear by the Twins, who he had led to the 1965 pennant. Much of the time during Mele's managerial career in Minnesota, the Twins had been contenders. He was a popular, ex-Red Sox player and (like Pesky) had married a local woman and settled in the Boston area. He was 54 years old -- certainly not too old for job. He may have been the only person from their scouting department who might have been given the job. EDIT: Ex-skipper Eddie Kasko was also a scout for the Red Sox at the time; no one (that I recall) seriously advocated that he get his old job (1970-73) back.
In my memory, that was the in-house field O'Connell had to choose from to find a manager who could at least finish the season. Despite the Denny Doyle "No No No/Go Go Go" confusion of Game 6, Zimmer was respected as a third-base coach. He had managed the talent-bereft San Diego Padres for almost two full years. At 45, he was young and energetic. Interestingly, the Red Sox went 2-8 in their first ten games under him to fall to 43-53. But they closed strong and finally got back up over .500 on September 26, and finished 83-79 (42-34 under Zimmer).
At some point that summer, O'Connell removed the interim title and named Zimmer manager for 1977. He might have been justified for doing so based on the team's improved performance during August and September; I don't recall there being a hue and cry about the appointment. He might have waited until the end of the season and looked at people from outside the organization. That off-season, apart from the expansion managers (one of whom was Darrell Johnson in Seattle), Joe Altobelli (Giants), Vern Rapp (Cardinals), Dick Williams (Expos), Bob Lemon (White Sox), Chuck Tanner (traded from the Athletics to the Pirates), and Jack McKeon (Athletics) were all hired. Of those, only Altobelli and Lemon might have made a short list of managers for the Red Sox. Ralph Houk, perennial candidate for the Red Sox managerial post, had a job already with the Tigers. I would imagine O'Connell might have approached Jim Campbell about releasing Houk, but they were in the midst of their pre-Sparky rebuilding and were rivals in the AL East; no doubt any request about approaching Houk was denied. And, of course, there were innumerable coaches and minor league managers from other systems that could have been dark horse candidates.
Many people believe Zimmer should also be faulted for the 1977 Red Sox season, when they finished 2.5 games out despite hitting 233 home runs. Certainly, Zimmer's handling of his pitching staff was questioned; it was one of the reasons for the gathering, and the dismantling, of the Buffalo Heads. But O'Connell was fired himself by Mrs. Yawkey when she arranged for the club to be handed to her organizational favorite, Sullivan. Plus, she liked Zimmer tremendously; part of the reason seemed to be that she hated drinkers (surprise surprise) and Zim was an alcohol abstainer all his life. Sullivan apparently also got along with Zimmer.
Whether it was the power of incumbency, or whatever, Zimmer was on surprisingly solid ground during 1978, even though he had essentially been hired by the deposed Dick O'Connell. And then they renewed his contract in the midst of the 1978 swoon, and in the days leading up to Zimmer's firing in late September 1980 (with Pesky as his interim replacement) there was a lot of ink spilled about how Mrs. Yawkey dug in her heels and refused to consider firing the man.
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Post by jamesmcgillstatue on Mar 7, 2014 20:40:12 GMT -5
wasn't Columbia's Eddie Collins a player-manager, player-coach, then coach? Ah, good point-- I forgot he coached as well. Dartmouth's Red Rolfe managed the Tigers from 1949-1952 -- after coaching at Yale and for the Yanks. He then was the longtime AD at Dartmouth and they named a field for him. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_RolfeAlso, Eddie Sawyer, manager of the 1950 Whiz Kids, had a Master's from Cornell. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eddie_Sawyer
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Post by jamesmcgillstatue on Jan 29, 2014 18:03:02 GMT -5
Whoever updates the Red Sox' roster on the Wikipedia has them giving Pierzynski #40 and Mujica #54, as well as Bogaerts' snagging of Ellsbury's old number. No assignments yet for the rookies nor for Badenhop, Herrera or Sizemore (who might get #24, out of circ since Saito wore it in 2009). The link
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