More on Organizational Prospects

[AZZenny]

JetHawks’ Backman Honored By The Sporting News
Skipper Named Best Minor League Manager By Publication
(LANCASTER, CA)- On the eve of leading his club into the Southern Division Finals of the California League playoffs, Lancaster JetHawks manager Wally Backman has been named The Sporting News’ Minor League Manager of the Year, the publication announced today. The issue, featuring an article about the Minor League Manager of the Year, as well as the publication’s Minor League Player and Executive of the Year, will be released to newsstands next Wednesday,
September 15.

Backman, a 14-year major league veteran who played on the 1986 New York Mets World Championship club, is in his first year with the Arizona Diamondbacks organization, following a three-year stint in the Chicago White Sox chain. The 44-year-old led Lancaster to first and second-half division titles this season, despite numerous player transactions throughout the campaign. The JetHawks posted identical 43-27 records in each half, earning a first-round playoff
bye.

The Oregon resident began his managerial career in the independent ranks, guiding three different clubs, before joining the White Sox. While in the Chicago organization, Backman led the AA Birmingham Barons to the 2002 Southern League title and posted a record of 152 - 125 (.548) in his two seasons there. Following the 2002 season, Backman was named Best Managerial Prospect in the Southern League by Baseball America, an honor bestowed on him once again this year by the publication.

The former first-round pick of the Mets played with a total of five
organizations during his career before retiring in 1993. He hit .275 with 240 RBI in 1,102 career games at the Major League level. In addition to the World Series title in 1986, Backman saw action in two other postseasons, 1988 with New York and 1990 as a member of the Pittsburgh Pirates.

The JetHawks open the California League Southern Division Playoffs at home this Saturday, September 11 at 6:30 pm.

I'm a big fan of Backman's - listening to the games he manages is a pleasure.

 

[AZZenny]

I went to the Moorad meeting with fans last night - Liked Moorad a great deal, and I came away feeling that we're probably going to be in very good hands.

I asked him afterwards about the lack of defense and plate discipline in pretty much every single prospect who gets to the big club, after he'd said the focus on fundamentals will no longer just be given lip service - his word - now that he's here, because it drives him just as insane as the average fan.

He then got very enthused about Wally Backman and how his is the approach that will be used throughout the minor league system. (From listening to Jethawks games, Wally won't tolerate sloppy or brainless play, and works constantly and personally on defense and baserunning - guys come there making a ton of errors, and then suddenly the rate and frequency of errors plummets over 3-4 weeks.) Won't surprise me to see Backman get moved up in the organization. Moorad tactfully also all but said AlP is gone. ("I understand from people here he's considered a very nice man and that his work in the minors has been appreciated... "

 

[burndoggy]

I went to the Moorad meeting with fans last night - Liked Moorad a great deal, and I came away feeling that we're probably going to be in very good hands.

I asked him afterwards about the lack of defense and plate discipline in pretty much every single prospect who gets to the big club, after he'd said the focus on fundamentals will no longer just be given lip service - his word - now that he's here, because it drives him just as insane as the average fan.

He then got very enthused about Wally Backman and how his is the approach that will be used throughout the minor league system. (From listening to Jethawks games, Wally won't tolerate sloppy or brainless play, and works constantly and personally on defense and baserunning - guys come there making a ton of errors, and then suddenly the rate and frequency of errors plummets over 3-4 weeks.) Won't surprise me to see Backman get moved up in the organization. Moorad tactfully also all but said AlP is gone. ("I understand from people here he's considered a very nice man and that his work in the minors has been appreciated... "

im actually optomistic they might have backman with the big club next year. i think he has earned his stripes in the minors.

 

[AZZenny]

Update on "The prospect formerly known as Adriano Rosario" -

Diamondbacks Cleared Of Wrongdoing In Rosario Case
By Ed Price
September 19, 2004

An investigation by Major League Baseball has found no wrongdoing on the part of the Diamondbacks in the matters surrounding the pitching prospect formerly known as Adriano Rosario.

“It was real good to hear,” Arizona general manager Joe Garagiola Jr. said Friday.

As far as the team knows, there are also no sanctions against the pitcher. But because he obtained a visa under a false identity, there's still the issue of whether U.S. immigration will allow him back in the country.

The hard-throwing righthander, whose true name is Ramon Antonio Peña Paulino, used the name of his cousin to appear three years younger.

Even before his false identity and birthdate were discovered, an ESPN investigation showed that Ivan Noboa—a buscone, or independent developer of talent—took $100,000 from the D-Backs as part of Peña's signing in June 2002. He didn't tell the pitcher of that payment when he also took a $100,000 fee from his $400,000 signing bonus.

Ivan Noboa is a brother of Junior Noboa, the Diamondbacks' director of Latin American operations. MLB found, as the club insisted, that Junior Noboa didn't conspire with his brother to have the player sign with with the Diamondbacks. The Dodgers also had interest in Peña.

Peña (as Rosario) was a nonroster invitee to spring training and began the year rated by Baseball America as the No. 5 prospect in the Arizona system. He went 3-3, 5.44 in seven starts at Double-A El Paso before his identity came into question. Afterward, he returned to the Dominican Republic and eventually made three appearances (as Ramon Peña) for Arizona's entry in the Rookie-level Dominican Summer League.

Because Peña is 22, he must be put on the 40-man roster this winter or be exposed to other teams in the major league Rule 5 draft. There's some thought within the organization that he could help Arizona at the major league level soon because he has a fastball that has reached 97-98 mph.

So do we have to put him on the 40-man roster without knowing if he can even get back in the country? Not that there isn't some deadwood on the roster that one sincerely hopes will be pruned in the off-season.... Apparently it is getting extremely difficult to get a proper Visa for such lower-level sports guys and various students and workers even when you've never lied on your papers, so maybe we shouldn't count on this one.