Some recent front office and coaching moves around baseball…
- Sara Goodrum, believed to be the first woman in Major League history to hold the role of minor league hitting coordinator, will leave the Brewers to become the Astros’ director of player development, according to MLB.com’s Adam McCalvy. She’ll follow a pair of path-breaking women — Marlins GM Kim Ng and Orioles director of baseball development Eve Rosenbaum — who’ve been hired to prominent front office roles. While her elevation to her new role represents another in a series of major steps forward for women in Major League Baseball, Goodrum is also one of several other women employed by teams in coaching roles in recent years.
- The Padres have hired longtime big-league catcher Francisco Cervelli as their new catching instructor. The thirty-five-year-old Cervelli, who posted a solid .268/.358/.382 batting line across parts of thirteen seasons with the Yankees, Pirates, Braves, and Marlins, will take over for Rod Barajas. Barajas, also a former catcher, had been in the Padres organization since 2014, amassing a 1-7 record as interim Padres manager for the last eight games of 2019, following the firing of Andy Green. A veteran of 13 big league seasons, Cervelli will now be overseeing a crowded catching situation in San Diego. The Padres acquired backstop Jorge Alfaro from the Marlins Tuesday to supplement a group headed by incumbents Austin Nola and Victor Caratini.
- The Reds announced a series of coaching changes Monday. Former Astros farmhand Rolando Valles has been promoted from major league associate coach to major league assistant coach. Kyle Arnsberg, the game-planning coach for Double-A Chattanooga, was also promoted to an assistant coach role on the MLB staff. Former Vanderbilt infielder Joel McKeithan has been named a major league assistant hitting coach and offensive coordinator. Bullpen catcher Nate Irving has taken over Arnsberg’s old role in Chattanooga, where he’ll also serve as the bench coach.
Hopefully, she does a good job.
Padres are putting together a decent coaching staff under Melvin. I liked the hire of Niebla from the Indians. I like the hire of Cervelli. He should be a good mentor/coach to Campusano. And my Rockies sit on their hands.
Am I not reading this right?
“The Reds announced a series of coaching changes Monday. Former Astros farmhand Rolando Valles has been promoted from major league assistant coach.”
What was he promoted to?
In the Red’s official post, it says he was promoted from “associate” to “assistant.”
That’s supposed to be “assistant to the coach.”
“…first woman in Major League history to hold the role of Minor League…” lol
Hey, that’s a tough job, coordinating all that hitting!
Not sure that was the direction Vanilla was going.
I heartily support where he was “going”…. hence the
S A R C A S M