Nats Minors Managerial Moves
What began with the promotion of Randy Knorr from Syracuse Chiefs manager to Washington Nationals bench last month continued with the promotions of Tony Beasley and Matt LeCroy today.
Beasley was named the Syracuse manager after a single season at Harrisburg, one in which the 44-year-old led the Senators to the Eastern League’s best record at 80-62. This will be Beasley’s first stint at the AAA level. According to Patriot-News beat writer Geoff Morrow, he will be joined by longtime Harrisburg hitting coach Troy Gingrich.
Taking Beasley’s place will be Matt LeCroy, who also managed just a single season at Potomac while guiding his club to a second-half playoff berth. The almost-36-year-old LeCroy will be joined by longtime Potomac pitching coach Paul Menhart, who will replace Randy Tomlin as the Senators pitching coach (Tomlin has left the organization voluntarily for personal reasons, see first link for more details).
Washington Post beat writer Adam Kilgore is reporting that replacements for the Potomac coaching staff will be made within a few days.
Beasley replacing Knoor in SYR = good move. LeCroy replacing Beasley in HAR = bad move, imo.
I felt like LeCroy struggled with keeping the team together in POT, and to advance him along with some of those players to HAR could be a problem, imho. Better to leave LeCroy in POT for 2012, and bump Cathcart or Daubach up to HAR.
I’d be more worried about who the pitching coach is in Potomac … not who is managing the merry-go-round of minor league affiliates.
Potomac projects to potentially feature one hell of a starting rotation and so needs the best the organization can find for a mentor and coach.
Solis, Demny, Rosenbaum in Harrisburg … they will follow Menhart. Perhaps jumping to Syracuse and Greg Booker who could have Bradley Meyers and Yunesky Maya to start off.
In Potomac you could initially find Matt Purke, AJ Cole, Cameron Selik, perhaps Kylin Turnbull and Alex Meyer, and perhaps Robbie Ray.
Potomac looks like a place for the best pitching coach and an ex-catcher like Daubach. Be interesting to see who’s on tap.
Psst. Daubach was a first baseman. You of all folks should love his story: Toiled in the minors until he was 26, tasked with replacing an All-Star in Boston and made good on what everybody thought was Dan Duquette pulling a Bowden.
Lecroy has never kept a team together. He’s had pretty good talent every year and he always loses the team. I dont understand how he keeps getting promoted. They have better guys than him.
Potomac rotation–Cole, Ray, Jordan, Purke (if healthy), and Hansen (if healthy).
Jordan (if healthy), too. I still have heard nothing as to what his injury(ies) was/were.
Peric is dead on about the pitching coach’s importance. losing Tomlin, hopefully temporarily, is a big blow because he and Paul ‘magic man’ Menhart have been crucial in the development of so many Nats pitchers.
Does anyone think that Peacock goes from a nobody to potential star without spending two years with these great coaches?
Tomlin has a son with autism that’s on the verge of adulthood and it would not surprise me if I were to learn that that’s why he’s taking some time off. I know all too well how challenging that is, as my older son also has autism and is on the verge of puberty (ugh). I too hope that he returns to coaching for the Nats.
Otherwise, yes, I totally agree that there should be some concern about who’s going to replace Menhart. I don’t necessarily think that the delay in an announcement means Daubach, et al are necessarily staying, either. Could just simply mean that they haven’t lined up the staffs elsewhere.
Yes, the pitching coaches are important, particularly with the # of young arms that the Nationals have in the system. The loss of Tomlin (hopefully a temporary situation) shuffles things & leaves some uncertainities.
However, the Managers have the final say regarding the overall team setup day-to-day, and can effect player morale / development far more than the pitching coach.
Echoing those concerns about LeCroy following good players to HAR, it will hurt their development.
Sorry to hear about Tomlin, but yes the truth in dealing with children with autism reaching adulthood is a daily battle and one that probably demands his full attention. Same for you Sue!
Let me be clear before folks blow this out of proportion: That’s just a guess, based on this quote from the Kilgore article: “Tomlin stepped down for personal reasons, Harris said, and the Nationals intended to keep him in their system.”
I too, am not sure about the continuous promotion of LeCroy. The team in H-town never really “played” for him. Now if they wanted a coach that demanded hustle, how about Tony Tarasco? :o)