Seawolves set to name new manager

[fyrftrjim]

SeaWolves set to name new manager

From staff reports

The Erie SeaWolves have scheduled a news conference for Monday afternoon, when they are expected to announce Matt Walbeck as their new manager.

Walbeck, 37, a former catcher who played in the major leagues from 1993-2003, is expected to be promoted to Erie after managing the West Michigan Whitecaps, the Detroit Tigers' low Single-A Midwest League affiliate, to a 231-185 record over the past three seasons.

Walbeck managed the Whitecaps to the Midwest League championship this past season and in 2004, and has guided West Michigan to the playoffs in each of his three seasons with the club.

Neither Walbeck nor Dan Lunetta, the Tigers' director of minor league operations, would confirm nor deny Walbeck's promotion.

Walbeck guided the Whitecaps to an 89-48 record (.650) this past season. West Michigan won both the first- and second-half Eastern Division championships, and Walbeck was named the Midwest League's manager of the year.

His 2004 team finished 69-70 and won the Midwest League title. West Michigan finished 73-67 in 2005 and earned a wild-card playoff berth.

Baseball America in 2005 named Walbeck the Midwest League's best managerial prospect.

The former catcher played in the majors with the Chicago Cubs (1993), Minnesota Twins (1994-96), Detroit Tigers (1997, 2002-03), Anaheim Angels (1998-2000) and Philadelphia Phillies (2001).

The Detroit Tigers fired SeaWolves manager Duffy Dyer and his staff - hitting instructor Pete Incaviglia and pitching coach Mike Caldwell - Sept. 4.

Their firing came on the heels of a 60-81 record and a second consecutive last-place finish in the Eastern League's Southern Division.

Dyer's 2005 team finished 63-79, including losing 28 of its last 35 games.

The SeaWolves were 123-160 in Dyer's two years as manager.

Walbeck finished his major league career with a .233 batting average and a .991 fielding percentage behind the plate.


http://www.goerie.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061104/BASEBALL01/611040408/-1/BASEBALL

[dt35456884]

Good for Walbeck. I still wish Rojas had wanted this job.

[MelissaG915]

article failed to mention this year's MWL championship. I guess it gets lost in all the accolades.

Congrats Wally! Guess we are going to have to road trip to heckle you on 3rd!

[estrepe1]

Good for Walbeck. I still wish Rojas had wanted this job.

Rojas isn't even a manager anymore. He is the roving catching instructor. Which could be viewed as a promotion... I am not sure.

As much as I disliked Walbeck's statements about not coming back to WM in the middle of the season... I am fine with this decision. I don't want Sager at AA though.

[Mr.MelissaG915]

You get Walbeck, you get Sager. They are a tandem team.

[dt35456884]

Rojas isn't even a manager anymore. He is the roving catching instructor. Which could be viewed as a promotion... I am not sure.

I know. He seemed like a great manager, though, and already had experience at the Double-A level.

Has anyone (Roger, Yoda) heard who might take over at Lakeland?

[redshark63]

Word is that it will be Kevin Bradshaw.

[Yoda]

Word is that it will be Kevin Bradshaw.

Fact.

[RedRamage]

article failed to mention this year's MWL championship. I guess it gets lost in all the accolades.
Yes they did, but you might have missed it cause they didn't say '2006':
Walbeck managed the Whitecaps to the Midwest League championship this past season and in 2004, and has guided West Michigan to the playoffs in each of his three seasons with the club.

[RedRamage]

Okay... so who's more likely to appear in Tiger's uniform again first:

Walbeck or Trammell

[estrepe1]

You get Walbeck, you get Sager. They are a tandem team.

Which is extremely unfortunate.

[grandma g]

Which is extremely unfortunate.
Check out the Whitecaps pitching stats....think there are pretty good....hope this is nothing personal....a good duo...

[estrepe1]

Check out the Whitecaps pitching stats....think there are pretty good....hope this is nothing personal....a good duo...

Calvin Chipperfield had a good season in WM. Part of that is due to the park.

I have nothing personal against Sager, but I hate the pitch to contact philosophy. Sager is a proponent of that. I think it works okay at the lower levels but as a pitcher gets higher they need to throw strikes and pitch away from contact a bit to get strikeouts and in turn take pressure off of the defense.

[Microline133]

I too am not that big a fan of Sager's move to Erie...but he shouldn't have much of a negative impact on any pitchers that rely on strikeous, this year. The only three pitchers he might have that will be major strikeout forces are Jurrjens (to a minor extent), Whelan, and possibly Miller. Jurrjens has already maintained very solid k-rates under Sager's tuteledge, so I'm less worried there.

He's largely going to have a group of pitchers that don't put hitters away anyway....Trahern, Ardoin, Finigan, Zell, Bumstead, etc....so any negative impacts won't be felt this season...if at all.

[fyrftrjim]

Walbeck named SeaWolves manager

Former major league player Matt Walbeck today was named Erie SeaWolves manager.

Walbeck, who played 11 seasons in the majors, is the 11th manager in team history. He replaces Duffy Dyer, who was fired along with his staff on the last day of the 2006 regular season.

Walbeck spent the previous three seasons as manager with the West Michigan Whitecaps, a Class A team that, like the SeaWolves, is part of the Detroit Tigers' minor league system.

The Whitecaps won the Midwest League championship in 2004 and again this past season, when Walbeck was named the league's manager of the year. He's a two-time Baseball America best managerial prospect.

The new field staff is pitching coach A.J. Sager, who spent five seasons with the Whitecaps, and former Seattle Mariners minor league hitting coordinator Glenn Adams as hitting coach.

Find out much more about the SeaWolves' new staff Tuesday in the Erie Times-News.


http://www.goerie.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061106/BASEBALL01/61106017

[UC Riverside Tiger]

Check out the Whitecaps pitching stats....think there are pretty good....hope this is nothing personal....a good duo...

IMO Sager is getting a bum rap here. The idea that West Michigan pitchers benifited tremendously from their park isn't backed up by the stats. One way to judge a pitching staff is to look at their road stats compared to the rest of the league. WM's road OPS (.631) was .073 better than the league average (.704) - a significant number; WM's road WHIP (1.14) was .22 better (1.36) - a good number; WM's W/9 (2.32) was 1.03 better (3.35) - a very significant difference; WM's K/9 (6.85) was .47 below (7.32) - a slightly significant shortcoming. AJ and the Whitecaps didn't benifit much from their home park, supposedly a pitcher's paradise, either. Home OPS was actually higher (+.006), WHIP actually higher (+0.05), W/9 actually higher (+0.08), K/9 was the only stat better at home (+0.29). Since we now have data to back up opinions (I can't find any pre-2006 splits), I think we can conclude that the park is not as big a factor as commonly thought and that AJ did an admirable job. Any arguements?

[Mr.MelissaG915]

Dumb question. What is WHIP and how is it calculated?

[whitecapwendy]

Dumb question. What is WHIP and how is it calculated?
WHIP is walks and hits in innings pitched. add walks and hits allowed and divide by number of innings pitched. (I think I am remembering that calculation correctly)