East Notes: Braves, Phillies, Red Sox, Yankees

As the Braves remake their player personnel asset base, the team continues to make changes in other areas. Atlanta recently announced the hiring of Ted Simmons, Matt Kinzer, and Leon Wurth as MLB scouts. Simmons, an outstanding catcher in his playing days, recently served as a special assistant to the GM with the Mariners. Kinzer was an important Marlins scout, as Bob Nightengale of USA Today notes on Twitter, while Wurth recently finished a 13-year run with the Brewers. Also joining the Braves is former Fangraphs prospect analyst Kiley McDaniel, who’ll become the team’s assistant director of baseball operations.

Here are more notes from the eastern divisions:

• The Phillies are working hard as they approach a key draft for the organization, MLB.com’s Todd Zolecki writes. Philly holds the top pick in next year’s draft, and amateur scouting director Johnny Almaraz is continuing to canvas the crop of talent that will be making the leap to the professional ranks. Almaraz says that the team will be patient and allow players to develop before reaching a final decision. He added that the Phils will also look to be “creative” to take full advantage of their draft position and overall pool money.
• The Red Sox announced a series of front office promotions today in the scouting arena. Most notably, perhaps, was the bump up of Eddie Romero to VP of international scouting. The team says that the 35-year-old Puerto Rican native has been with the Boston organization since 2006. Romero most recently played an important role in the team’s efforts to sign highly-regarded Cuban prospect Yoan Moncada. And as Ben Badler of Baseball America notes on Twitter, Romero has had a hand in adding several other key prospects as well.
• While signing a second baseman is an obvious route for the Yankees to take in bolstering their chances in 2016, Chad Jennings of the Lohud Yankees Blog writes that it isn’t quite that simple. If the organization’s recent history is an indication, says Jennings, an in-house route could be more likely than a new signing, and the recently-acquired Dustin Ackley could pair with homegrown Rob Refsnyder, with Jose Pirela also on hand. “I think we have at least some comfort knowing that I have Ref [and] I maybe have Ackley if we get a better feel for what he can provide on the defensive standpoint,” explained GM Brian Cashman. “We have Pirela who had a hell of a year at Triple-A (but) has not really shown that yet at the Major League level. I think we have some candidates here that as we move forward, we can say we have something, unless something presents themselves as being better.”