2010 HUNTSVILLE STARS
|
MANAGER |
MIKE GUERRERO |
|
PITCHING COACH |
JOHN CURTIS |
|
HITTING COACH |
AL LeBOEUF |
2010 Southern League Managers/Coaches
| BIRMINGHAM |
EVER MAGALLANES |
J.R. Perdew/Andy Tomberlin |
| CAROLINA |
DAVID BELL |
Ryan Jackson/Tom Brown |
| CHATTANOOGA |
CARLOS SUBERO |
John Valentin/Danny Darwin |
| JACKSONVILLE |
TIM LEIPER |
Corey Hart/John Duffy |
| MISSISSIPPI |
PHILLIP WELLMAN |
Garey Ingram/Marty Reed |
| MOBILE |
RICO BROGNA |
Turner Ward/Dan Carlson |
| MONTGOMERY |
BILLY GARDNER, JR. |
Ozzie Timmons/Bill Moloney |
| TENNESSEE |
BILL DANCY |
Tom Beyers/Dennis Lewallyn |
| WEST TENNESSEE |
TIM LAKER |
Andy Fox/Lance Painter |
Huntsville native Chad
Anderson is the new voice of the Huntsville Stars.
The Stars will be back on the air in 2010
after a year's absence because of budget cuts. At least 85 contests will
be aired (what isn't heard will be on the www.milb.com), so some home
games will be heard on 1450-WTKI, 92.9 FM, in Decatur on 1490-WEKI, 94.9
FM and 1050-WWIC in Scottsboro. 1450 was the Stars flagship station for
many years, but it has been bought by area businessman Fred
Holland........ Anderson. Chad will also do the broadcast for the SL
All-Star Game which is at the Joe this year...... Chad began broadcasting
for Bob Jones HS, handling baseball and football, graduated to events at
the Crimson Tide's campus stadium as a student, and did a morning show for
WUMP, which aired the Stars in 2007-08....... As of February 4, there was
one intern position open with Chad. Broadcasting opportunities,
include play-by-play, analyst, and pre and post-game hosting. Additional
responsiblities includes writing the daily game notes, broadcast and
commercial production and digital recording. Some travel is possible.
Sales opportunites will be optional at a 30% commission.....
Brett Pollock left after the season to pursue
other opportunities.
The Nashville Sounds will also have a new
radio voice as well.

Stu Cole was hired away from his long-time job
as voice of the Texas League San Antonio Missions. Chuck Valenches, who
was the voice of the Sounds for 10 years, has left. Don't know the
circumstances. The Sounds accepted over 100 applications back in November.
Now, what's the status on the scoreboard? From
GM Buck Rogers:
As everybody
knows last season the video board finally blew out and all our efforts to
get it repaired failed. We had four separate companies try to determine
and correct what was wrong. This Tuesday the company that produced the
scoreboard is coming to the stadium to attempt to repair it. They have
shipped us a crate of parts for just about anything that they think could
be wrong. We'll have an 80' lift awaiting them and then, rain or shine or
cold weather, they're going to take one last shot to repair it. Hopefully
by Tuesday night we'll have a photo of it lit up on our video board. I
would like to thank the people that helped eliminate some of the problems
and narrow down the main issues; we've had some engineers and
techno-freaks working on this thing for months, from the folks at NetwoRx
of Huntsville to the City of Huntsville's IT Department. We can't thank
them enough for trying to sort it all out and repairing as they went thru
the system. Most of you know that this has been a frustrating issue with
us and the company that installed the scoreboard, TS
Sports, is sending their crew and
parts at no cost to the city or the team to attempt to get this monster
rebooted! Keep your fingers crossed for good weather and good news on
Tuesday.
Corey Kemp has
announced his retirement....... Kemp made his debut as a Huntsville Star
in an August 22 loss to Montgomery. He finished with the Stars 0-for-16
after hitting .282 in 108 games for the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers.......
According to a poster on brewerfan.com, "he was upset that he wasn't given
more catching time than some of the younger guys that struggled all year
defensively. He was promised more catching opportunities and was not very
happy that some of the younger catchers that did not catch or throw very
well were getting so much time behind the plate. He was promised some
catching time after the season in instructional league and never received
any. You must remember that this kid was relegated to catching in the
bullpen early in the season and only started playing when the other
catchers struggled with the bat."
The Pirates have signed infielder
Kevin Melillo as a free agent. Melillo was
picked up by the Stars just before the 2009 season got underway. He got
off to a .270+ start the first two months of the season, went into a dive
in the final two months of the season, hitting .203, finishing at
.249...... The Oakland A's traded pitcher
Dana Eveland to the Toronto Blue Jays for a
player to be named/cash. The former Stars lefty had cleared waivers before
the deal was struck.
He had a terrible '09 season (2-4, 7.16) and stunk up Class AAA-Sacramento
as well (8-6, 4.94 ERA in 21 starts). Eveland, in his 2nd pro season, was
10-4 with a 2.72 ERA for the 2004 Stars.
Outfielder
Freddie Parejo, who set a Stars record in
2008 with a .421 April batting average, was signed by the Houston Astros
to a free agent contract. Parejo hit .275 for the 2008 Stars, then
slumped to .229 in 92 games last year, but did win a promotion to
Nashville, where he hit .262 in 16 games........
Vinny Rottino has earned an invititation to the Florida Marlins'
spring camp......... J.C. Boscan and
Vince Perkins have been re-signed by the
Atlanta Braves and Chicago Cubs respectively to minor league deals........
Cole Gillespie was added to the 40-man roster
of the Arizona Diamondbacks........ Charlie Fermaint,
who started the 2009 season with the Stars, went 0-for-10 and was
released, signed a minor league deal with the Washington
Nationals.
Vineland, New Jersey product Darren Ford, who never got
higher than Brevard County and was traded to the Giants in the Ray Durham
deal, was a victim of an armed robbery in Vineland, but was uninjured. The
robber, brandishing a double-barreled shotgun, fled with a bank deposit of
$300, his cell phone, and fled. Ford works for a Chevy dealership (think
about that one) during the off-season. Ford was an 18th round pick by the
Brewers in 2004.
The latest from Don Mincher Drive.
If
you're a season-ticket holder, you will get a promotional windbreaker this
season. The Stars office is placing the order February 15, so if you want
one, come to Don Mincher Drive and get your season tickets before that
date. Additiional windbreakers will not be ordered after the 15th.
Speaking of season tickets, the package includes the 2010 All-Star game
and all home playoff games......... Joe
Davis Stadium will no longer be the home of the UAH Chargers, who have
their own on-campus field now, but a pre-season exhibition game is still a
possibility....... No clean-up day at the stadium this year. The tasks
will be confined to the staff and a new 10th Man Club that will be formed
later this month.
Pitcher Mark Holliman,
who once pitched a no-hitter for the Smokies against the Stars, and wound
up as a starter for Huntsville last year, was released by the Brewers.
Holliman was 7-10 with a 4.64 ERA in 26 starts last season.......
Josh Wahpepah, who was released after the
2009 season ended, will pitch independent ball this year for the Kansas
City T-Bones of the Northern League. (Thanx to brewerfan.net)......Pitcher Bobby
Bramhall is doing well after undergoing Tommy John surgery in
November. Bramhall will miss the 2010 season. Bramhall had some success
last season, winning three games for the Stars in June and going 2-1 with
a 3.14 ERA in 8 appearances for the Stars in August. He finished the
season 6-7 with a 5.29 ERA.
The Brewers announced their organizational
shifts at the start of the year. As most of you know,
Mike Guerrero will be the new manager of the
Stars in 2010. John Curtis remains as
pitching coach and Al LeBoeuf, who spent last
season with the Blue Jays as a coach at Class A-Dunedin (Fla. St.), is on
as hitting coach. Le Boeuf has 15 years of minor league coaching
experience behind him with the Phillies (as a manager), the Mets and
Royals as well. LeBoeuf was a .270-hitting 1st baseman in the Phillies
organization from 1981-88....... Bob Miscik,
who led the Stars to a first-half title, will manage at Brevard County
this coming season. Joining him as the Manatees' hitting coach will be
former Huntsville Stars outfielder Dwayne Hosey
and former Stars pitching coach Fred Dabney......
Hosey played in 28 games for the 1991 Stars and hit .245. He went
on to the majors and played for the Red Sox in 1995-96, hitting .338 in 24
games in '95. Dabney was 2-8 for the Barons in 1992, later pitched for the
Orlando Cubs, and was part of the Stars' staff in 2004.......
Don Money and Sandy
Guerrero return for the second season at Nashville. Rich Gale, who
was the pitching coach for Class A-Hagerstown (SAL), and a former pitching
coach for the Carolina Mudcats, will serve in that capacity for the
Sounds. Gale was a 14-game winner as a rookie for the Kansas City Royals
in 1978. David Yeager, who was the Stars' athletic trainer since 2005, and
Southern League Trainer of the Year in 2007, moves up to join the staff.
Aaron Hoback will be the Stars' new trainer, joining the team from a
season with the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers last year.
The Timber Rattlers will be managed again by
Jeff Isom. Wisconsin finished last in the 2nd half of the West Division of
the Midwest League last year and 7th among the 8 teams in the division
overall. Former Stars pitching coach Chris Hook
(2008 Stars) will be their pitching coach, joining Matt Erickson on the
baselines. Jeff Paxson, who was the Sounds' athletic trainer for the last
five seasons, will serve in that capacity for the Timber Rattlers.
The Helena Brewers will be managed by
former minor leauge catcher Joe Ayrault, who managed the Reds' Class A
farm club at Sarasota (Fla. St.). Ayrault played in the Southern League
for the Greenville Braves in 1994-95 and managed to make it to Atlanta,
getting 5 at-bats for the Braves in 1996. Elvin Nina, who pitched in the
Southern League for Jacksonville in 2003 and Tennessee in 2005, will be
their pitching coach.
Tony Diggs returns for his 3rd season as
manager for the Brewers' Arizona League rookie team. Steve Cline returns
as the pitching coach, and Kenny Dominguez as hitting coach.
Former Stars catcher Nestor Corrredor (2004)
will manage the Dominican Summer League Brewers.
In other moves, the Brewers hired Reggie
Williams as roving outfield instructor and Darnell Coles as hitting
coordinator. Both played in the majors -- Williams with the Dodgers
(1985-87) and Coles with the Seattle Mariners and several other clubs from
1983-1997, ending with the Colorado Rockies. Charlie Greene, who caught a
few games for the Brewers in 1999, returns as catching instructor, Lee
Tunnell (1982-84 Pirates) as pitching instructor, and Garth Iorg (1978-87
Blue Jays) as a roving infield instructor.