Cubs Sign Fassero

[Tim]

Really.

 

 

 

 

 

 

As the new pitching coach for Peoria. :)

 

CHICAGO – The Chicago Cubs today announced their minor league managers and coaching staffs for the 2011 season, which includes Bill Dancy taking over at Triple-A Iowa, and a new coaching staff at Double-A Tennessee led by manager Brian Harper, a former catcher for 16 big league seasons.

 

Here’s a look at the Cubs minor league coaching staffs. Managers/staff returning to the organization but assigned to new positions next year are listed below in bold, while managers/staff new to the organization are listed below in bold italics. More information on the returning members of the Cubs organization can be found on pages 175-187 of the Chicago Cubs 2010 Media Guide.

 

AFFILIATE MANAGER PITCHING COACH HITTING COACH ATHLETIC TRAINER

Iowa (AAA) Bill Dancy Mike Mason Von Joshua Matt Johnson

Tennessee (AA) Brian Harper Marty Mason Mariano Duncan Nick Frangella

Daytona (A) Buddy Bailey Tom Pratt Barbaro Garbey Peter Fagan

Peoria (A) Casey Kopitzke Jeff Fassero Ricardo Medina Aaron Larsen

Boise (Short A) Mark Johnson David Rosario Desi Wilson Bob Grimes

Mesa (Rookie) Juan Cabreja Rick Tronerud/Frank Castillo Jason Dubois Steve Melendez

Dominican-1 (Rookie) Manuel Callado Leo Hernandez Alberto Garcia Robert Jimenez

Dominican-2 (Rookie) Yudith Ozorio Anderson Tavares Leo Perez/Franklin Blanco Wilkin Perez

 

Dancy will manage the Iowa Cubs after last season earning the 2010 Southern League Manager of the Year award and helping Tennessee advance to the Southern League Championship Series. Prior to 2010, he spent 30 years as a coach or manager within the Philadelphia Phillies (1978-2009) and Kansas City Royals (2009) organizations, and his 1,604 career minor league victories rank fourth among active minor league skippers. Mike Mason will serve a fourth term as Iowa’s pitching coach while Von Joshua returns as Iowa’s hitting coach for the sixth-straight season. Matt Johnson enters his fourth season as the club’s athletic trainer and his 10th year in the Cubs chain.

 

Harper takes over at Tennessee after leading the Single-A San Jose Giants to the California League Championship in 2010, his first season as a minor league manager after serving as San Francisco’s roving catching instructor in 2008-09. Harper batted .295 in 1,001 big league games from 1979-95 and made World Series appearances with the Cardinals in 1985 and the Twins in 1991. Harper’s staff includes Marty Mason, who spent the last 25 seasons as a coach in the

St. Louis Cardinals system, including the last 11 as the major league bullpen coach. Mariano Duncan, a 12-year major league veteran infielder (1985-97), joins the organization as the club’s hitting coach after five seasons as the Los Angeles Dodgers major league first base coach. He was a member of two World Series champions, the 1990 Cincinnati Reds and 1996 New York Yankees. Nick Frangella enters his eighth season in the Cubs organization and his fourth as athletic trainer for Tennessee.

 

Buddy Bailey returns as Daytona’s manager for the third-straight season after leading the team to a 139-135 (.507) record in his first two years. A minor league manager for 22 years (with the Cubs since 2006), Bailey previously worked in Boston’s (1991-2004) and Atlanta’s (1982-1990) organizations. The former catcher managed at the Triple-A level with Pawtucket (1993-96, 2002-04) and served as Boston’s big league bench coach in 2000. Bailey will be joined by pitching coach Tom Pratt, who also enters his third season with Daytona, and hitting coach Barbaro Garbey – 2011 will be his first season with Daytona after serving as Peoria’s hitting coach in 2009-10. Peter Fagan joins the organization as the team’s athletic trainer, and brings 27 years experience having worked in the St. Louis Cardinals (1982-2000) and Houston Astros (2001-10) organizations.

 

Casey Kopitzke enters his third season as a minor league manager in the Cubs chain, his second at Peoria after leading the team to a 71-66 record in 2010. He made his managerial debut in 2009 with Boise after two seasons as the Cubs minor league catching coordinator. Former major leaguer Jeff Fassero takes over as Peoria’s pitching coach after handling the same duty for Boise last season. Fassero went 121-124 with a 4.11 ERA between Montreal (1991-96), Seattle (1997-99), Texas (1999), Boston (2000), the Cubs (2001-02), St. Louis (2002-03), Colorado (2004), Arizona (2004) and San Francisco (2005-06). Ricardo Medina, who previously coached with the Dominican Summer League, Mesa and Boise, will serve as the team’s hitting coach. Aaron Larsen, with Boise in 2010, begins his first year as Peoria’s athletic trainer.

 

Former catcher Mark Johnson will begin his managerial career with Boise after enjoying 16 professional seasons (1994-2010) on the field, including 332 major league games with the White Sox (1998-02), Athletics (2003), Brewers (2004) and Cardinals (2008). He most recently completed his second stint with the Iowa Cubs having appeared with the team in 2005 and 2009-10. Assisting Johnson will be the team’s pitching coach, David Rosario, who was with Peoria last season. In addition, Desi Wilson enters his fourth season in the Cubs organization, his first as Boise’s hitting coach, after serving as Mesa’s hitting coach in 2010. Bob Grimes will begin his 27th year in the system as the team’s athletic trainer after three seasons in the same capacity with Daytona.

 

Juan Cabreja, who is in his eighth year with the organization, begins his third season as Mesa’s manager while Rick Tronerud returns for his 16th year with the Cubs, and his 11th season as Mesa’s pitching coach. Former Cubs pitcher and 13-year major league veteran Frank Castillo joins the club, assisting with pitching coach and minor league rehab duties. The righthander compiled an 82-104 record and a 4.56 ERA with Chicago (1991-97), Colorado (1997), Detroit (1998), Toronto (2000), Boston (2001-02, 2004) and Florida (2005). Former outfielder Jason Dubois also begins his coaching career, handling hitting coach duties for Mesa. Originally selected by Chicago in the 14th round of the 2000 Draft, he logged major league playing time with the Cubs (2004-05) and Indians (2005) and was with Iowa last year. Steve Melendez, in his 26th season with the organization, returns as the club’s athletic trainer for the fourth season.

 

The Cubs will again run two clubs in the Dominican Summer League. The first team will be managed by Manuel Callado for the second-straight season while Leo Hernandez will be the team’s pitching coach in his 16th year with the club. Alberto Garcia will be the hitting coach for the second-consecutive year. Robert Jimenez is the team’s athletic trainer.

 

Yudith Ozorio will manage the second Dominican squad, the same position he held in 2010. Anderson Tavares will handle pitching coach duties for the fifth-consecutive year while Leo Perez and Franklin Blanco will take on hitting coach duties. Perez begins his third season as a coach in the Dominican while 2011 marks Blanco’s fifth year with the organization. Wilkin Perez will serve as the club’s athletic trainer after spending the previous two seasons in the Nationals organization.

[Guest]

Other familiar names on the list coming back as coaches: Jason Dubois (hitting coach for Mesa) and Frank Castillo (pitching coach for Mesa).

[ConstableRabbit]

OMG I was just ready to flip out.

 

phew.

[Guest]

OMG I was just ready to flip out.

 

phew.

Sorry. For my first post in a few days, this was a bit mean, wasn't it?

[SouthSideRyan]

I love seeing the random major leaguers that show up as minor league coaches.

[Bruno7481]

Have to think that Riggins had some role in getting Mason in the system. Mason was canned by the Cardinals for publicly criticizing the front office towards the end of last season I believe.

 

Pitchers frequently credited Mason as the go-to man for mechanical issues and described the working relationship between he and Duncan as a major reason for the team's tradition of pitching success. While Duncan is typically viewed as stoic, pensive and even intimidating to some younger arms, Mason served as a folksy buffer also adept at breaking down a pitcher's delivery.

The Cardinals ranked sixth in NL relief ERA (3.73) last season, a year after ranking fourth (3.67).

Mason had made clear to Mozeliak his misgivings about the integrity of the player development pipeline, an opinion club sources believe made him vulnerable to Monday's move.

 

www.stltoday.com/sports/baseball/profes ... 2bc8b.html

[erik316wttn]

Tim, don't scare us like that! haha

[Old Style]

OMG I was just ready to flip out.

 

phew.

+1

 

lol

[NCCubFan]

I wonder if the two Masons are related. I also noticed that Jody Davis isn't managing in the system next year.

 

In addition to Dubois starting coaching another member of the 2010 I-Cubs, Mark Johnson, is also shifting to coaching/managing as new manager of Boise.

[Old Style]

I wonder if the two Masons are related. I also noticed that Jody Davis isn't managing in the system next year.

He's mad because he didn't get the big league job. He's going to manage in the Philly farm system next year, but he won't be wearing #7.

[Bruno7481]

I wonder if the two Masons are related. I also noticed that Jody Davis isn't managing in the system next year.

.

 

I do not believe they are.

[dew1679666265]

OMG I was just ready to flip out.

 

phew.

Sorry. For my first post in a few days, this was a bit mean, wasn't it?

 

I actually figured it was Jeff's son or something that we had signed as an undrafted free agent (do they have those in baseball?).

[Bear Cub]

Looks like Richie Zisk has left the Cubs organization after many years as Daytona's hitting coach.

[Guest]

Have to think that Riggins had some role in getting Mason in the system. Mason was canned by the Cardinals for publicly criticizing the front office towards the end of last season I believe.

 

Pitchers frequently credited Mason as the go-to man for mechanical issues and described the working relationship between he and Duncan as a major reason for the team's tradition of pitching success. While Duncan is typically viewed as stoic, pensive and even intimidating to some younger arms, Mason served as a folksy buffer also adept at breaking down a pitcher's delivery.

The Cardinals ranked sixth in NL relief ERA (3.73) last season, a year after ranking fourth (3.67).

Mason had made clear to Mozeliak his misgivings about the integrity of the player development pipeline, an opinion club sources believe made him vulnerable to Monday's move.

 

http://www.stltoday.com/sports/baseball/professional/cardinal-beat/article_d0ca985c-daef-11df-bcbd-00127992bc8b.html

 

Thanks for the link. Sounds like a good move for the Cubs farm.

[Bruno7481]

I think it is a positive addition as well. I don't really care what the relief pitcher's ERA was, but it's good to have a guy who has been in that staff for 10 years working in the Cubs minor league system.

[questionmarkgrace]

Other familiar names on the list coming back as coaches: Jason Dubois (hitting coach for Mesa) and Frank Castillo (pitching coach for Mesa).

 

Not sure that it matters because it is Mesa, but what Dubois is doing as a hitting coach? He may have been a good AAA or 4A player but he couldnt hit a beach ball with a canoe paddle in the majors. Hes probably not the first guy that comes to mind when thinking about teaching the art of hitting to young college and international players.

[SouthSideRyan]

Other familiar names on the list coming back as coaches: Jason Dubois (hitting coach for Mesa) and Frank Castillo (pitching coach for Mesa).

 

Not sure that it matters because it is Mesa, but what Dubois is doing as a hitting coach? He may have been a good AAA or 4A player but he couldnt hit a beach ball with a canoe paddle in the majors. Hes probably not the first guy that comes to mind when thinking about teaching the art of hitting to young college and international players.

 

Very few major league hitting coaches were successful in the majors.

[Lefty]

Very few major league hitting coaches were successful in the majors.

 

Just got back from an instructional baseball camp where the instructors were present or former MLB coaches. The hitting coaches were Ty Van Burkleo, Jim Presley, Orv Franchuk, Brook Jacoby and current minor leaguer Sean Kazmar. Collectively their stats aren't great. But hitting is so tough I would think that most A-ball players could learn something from Jason DuBois about the mechanics of hitting. Albert Pujols probably wasn't available.

[Ding Dong Johnson]

Sean Kazmar

lol, remember when steve philips traded him for victor zambrano?

[hardcorecubfan]

Sometimes if you can't do you are very good at explaining how to do it. Let's hope that is the case

[NCCubFan]

Sean Kazmar

lol, remember when steve philips traded him for victor zambrano?

I'm not sure if you were joking or not, but it was actually Scott Kazmir that was traded for Zambrano.

[wekse]

Sean Kazmar

lol, remember when steve philips traded him for victor zambrano?

I'm not sure if you were joking or not, but it was actually Scott Kazmir that was traded for Zambrano.

 

no, i'm pretty sure it was sean kazmar...just as bob said.

[sweetpeteman]

Sean Kazmar

lol, remember when steve philips traded him for victor zambrano?

I'm not sure if you were joking or not, but it was actually Scott Kazmir that was traded for Zambrano.

 

 

He also wasn't traded by Steve Philips...so I think:

http://proselyytti.files.wordpress.com/2009/08/thats_the_joke.jpg

[javy knows my name]

I didn't think it was possible, but you've truly outdone yourself this time. Btw, if you're trolling, it is the single greatest thing the internet has ever seen.