Sliders have a manager
I mentioned on this blog two days ago about the Midwest Sliders – the Frontier League's travel team for 2008 – did not have a manager. Well, that situation has changed. The Sliders have hired 37-year-old Eric Coleman to be their manager.
Coleman comes to the Sliders with no prior professional baseball managerial experience. He has, however, coached in the Northwoods League, a highly regarded collegiate summer league. Coleman also coached collegiately, mostly on the West Coast and in Canada. He told the Oakland (Mich.) Press that he plans to bring a West Coast-style of play to the Sliders, emphasizing bold baserunning, steals, bunts and hit-and-runs.
The Sliders will become the Oakland County Cruisers (http://www.cruisersbaseball.com) in 2009 and move into a 3,782-seat ballpark that is being built in Waterford Township (Mich.).
The Sliders played last year in Slippery Rock and were managed by Greg Jelks, who is the Wild Things' new manager.
Coleman comes to the Sliders with no prior professional baseball managerial experience. He has, however, coached in the Northwoods League, a highly regarded collegiate summer league. Coleman also coached collegiately, mostly on the West Coast and in Canada. He told the Oakland (Mich.) Press that he plans to bring a West Coast-style of play to the Sliders, emphasizing bold baserunning, steals, bunts and hit-and-runs.
The Sliders will become the Oakland County Cruisers (http://www.cruisersbaseball.com) in 2009 and move into a 3,782-seat ballpark that is being built in Waterford Township (Mich.).
The Sliders played last year in Slippery Rock and were managed by Greg Jelks, who is the Wild Things' new manager.
posted by Chris Dugan at
8:09 PM
4 Comments:
Word is that Washington may have swung a trade to acquire Phil Butch from Midwest...Any thoughts on this move? And who would they have given up? A pitcher? Maybe one of the outfielders and going to sign another one?
I know the Wild Things tried to acquire Phil Butch last year at the trade deadline (when they acquired Ryan Bethel) but Slippery Rock was already at their transaction limit. Butch is a player Ross Vecchio likes. he also might be a favorite of Greg Jelks. I really didn't see much that interested me from Slippery Rock other than Zac Cline and possibly Anthony Albano and Casey Bowling. I doubt if Washington would give up a player to a travel team. It's more likely that a draft pick is involved.
looks like they gave up two players to get him...
I would be surprised if both players signed with Midwest. Life on a travel team is rough. Newman has had so few at-bats as a pro, and he could sleep at home when the Sliders are in Washington, so he might sign. Vernon can definitely help the Sliders - he's as fast on the bases as anyone in the league - but would he want to play for a travel team after being a 3-games-per-week player last year? It will be interesting to see if he wants to continue playing, or opts to, as Chuck Noll used to say, "get on with his life's work."
The acquisition of Butch makes me think the Wild Things are either not sold on Rene Quintana playing second base regularly or they are concerned about finding a backup infielder who is capable of playing good defense at shortstop, which is the toughest position to fill in the Frontier League.
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