Super Joe is back on the Frontier
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| Photo by Bruce Bishop/Chronicle-Telegram |
Former Wild Things hitting coach -- and the world's unhandiest handyman -- Joe Charboneau is back in the Frontier League.
Charboneau has been hired as the hitting coach of Lake Erie Crushers.
Charboneau was Washington's hitting coach in 2002 and 2003. Since then, Joe has had short stints in the league with Windy City and Chillicothe. He also has been the director of a youth league complex in Ohio and had a starring role in Catastrophe, Inc., a television show that aired last fall on the DIY channel.
Here's a link to a story about Charboneau's hiring:
http://chronicle.northcoastnow.com/2014/02/28/lake-erie-crushers-hire-super-joe-charboneau-hitting-coach/
One thing you might notice when reading the story is, it mentions that Charboneau was a coach with the Richmond Roosters in 2001 and 2002. We know that's wrong because Super Joe was with Canton in 2001 and and came to Washington a year later when the franchise was moved.
The thing I find interesting about this hire is, according to sources, the Lake Erie owner nixed the idea of hiring Charboneau for the same job last year because he didn't think Super Joe and all his quirks fit with the organization's image.
posted by Chris Dugan at
8:36 AM
7 Comments:
Is Jeff Isom still the manager at Lake Erie?
If so, that make sense hiring Joe since Jeff kept him at Canton and Washington.
Plus, Lake Erie is close to Joe's home.
Jeff Isom will be managing Joliet this year.
Chris, do you think Bart Zeller is a good manager? If so, why? If not, then who? Who would be best for this team?
Bart is old! Therefore, Bart is very good. Old Guy's Rule!
Ima Fraid
IfChris were to answer that Bart is not a good manager, you can forget any future interviews with any one related to the Wild Things.
I consider Bart a good manager. Heck, he's been a manager for three years in the league and won one championship, that's a pretty good ratio. He obviously brought some semblance of normalcy to the position following the roster fiasco of 2012, and that probably was this team needed most last season.
Every manager has his strengths. For example, Jeff Isom had more connections to college programs than any Wild Things manager, and you better have connections in this job because it's more like being a college coach (you have to recruit every player you sign) than that of an affiliated manager. John Massarelli was the best teacher of the game of the Wild Things' 7 managers. Darin Everson probably ran his two teams more like an affiliated club than the other managers when you look at all the early work they did (perhaps too much). IMO, Bart's strengths are he's a player's manager, he knows the Frontier League inside and out and he's a good evaluator of talent that he has actually seen. Does he have a lot of connections in the college ranks? It doesn't look that way to me because Bart is not a big stats guy or college guy. He really doesn't care how many home runs you hit in college or what your batting average was in a specific rookie league. He wants to see you in person and judge from that whether you can play or not.
Can Bart win in Washington? Sure. But there are other managers in this league who could win in Washington, too. Isom, Fran Riordan, Mike Pinto, among others, could win here. They all know how to put together a good team. That's what make the league so competitive.
OT but...
I read in the February issue of the Washington County Business Journal the Stu Williams has sent scouts to the Dominican Republic to check out prospects to play for the Wild Things. Has anybody else heard of this? Any prospects recruited? Also, just who are these so-called scouts? I hope he wasn't referring to his "front office" staff who have already shown us they would not know talent if it slapped them in the face.
Ima Fraid
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