Thursday, September 15, 2011

First opening

The first official managerial opening in the Frontier League for 2012 is in Normal, Ill., where the CornBelters have announced that Hal Lanier will not return for a third season.

The 69-year-old Lanier, a former National League Manager of the Year with the Houston Astros, guided Normal to a 90-102 record in his two seasons in the Frontier League. The Cornbelters were 46-50 this year and finished in third place in the West Division, but missed the playoffs by 12 games.

"This decision was based on a second season in which expectations were much higher than what was achieved," CornBelters general manager Steve Malliet said. "There's no doubt our talent pool of players grew significantly this season, but that didn't translate into enough wins on the field.

"We felt Hal worked hard to bring a winning team to Normal, and we wish him all the best. We expect to compete for a playoff spot each and every season."

Malliet plans to have a new manager hired by Nov. 1.

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10 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

one more is coming at the end of september--mr. smily. and several more (probably five total) before the end of november.

such is life in the frontier league.

September 16, 2011 at 1:14 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

No former major league manager should lower himself to have any association with the frontier league. if they do, they only damage there reputation beyond repair.

September 16, 2011 at 4:27 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hal WILL be the next WT manager Mark my words! It's already a done deal.
Danny

September 17, 2011 at 8:37 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Any idea whom the Wild Things are looking at for there Manager (if anyone)?

September 18, 2011 at 2:07 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

How about Wayne Herrod? He doesn't do anything worthwhile anyway.

September 19, 2011 at 11:57 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I've been told Darin Everson will sign a two-year contract extension with the Washington Wild Things by the end of the week.

September 19, 2011 at 8:43 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

wild things hold the mr. smily cards...they have an option for next year. and they are not going to exercise it.

the owner has made it clear to several people that this change has to happen. team needs a connection to affiliated players being cut loose, to undrafted, missed college kids on the way up....mr. smily showed clearly that he has neither connection.

September 20, 2011 at 6:37 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

'the owner has made it clear to several people that this change has to happen. team needs a connection to affiliated players being cut loose,"

How do you know that to be true? Everybody is supposed to not discuss certain things at Mr. Williams request. You could at least respect that, couldn't you?
Some people have no honor in their entire body.
Ima Fraid

September 21, 2011 at 5:42 PM  
Blogger Chris Dugan said...

Saying a team needs connections(s) to players released from affiliated ball is hardly breaking news. It's stating the obvious. It's the same as saying "we need to find good players." This organization has had a lack of connections to scouts and affiliated teams for several years. There have been precious few, if any (I'll have to check), players signed during the season who were recently released from affiliated ball. Signing players from the Pecos League is not the way to build a Frontier League playoff team.

September 21, 2011 at 7:45 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

But the Pecos League is such a quality league. Washington even has an Applebee's to make the players (and coaches) feel right at home!

September 23, 2011 at 9:25 AM  

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