A Few Quick Notes on A’s Matters
Today Rick Magnante was named the manager of the A’s affiliate Vancouver Canadians. He’s previously managed in Italy and in the Detrot minor league system. Magnante is currently busy running the South African WBC squad. Apparently Billy Beane was so impressed with the way Magnante is running the team that he decided to offer Magnante the position vacated by outgoing manager Juan Navarette.Here’s his bio from the WBC site:
Rick Magnante (South Africa)
One year after beginning his professional baseball career in 1969 with the Cleveland Indians, Magnante graduated from UCLA with a degree in political science. The 58-year-old resident of Van Nuys, Calif., has managed the Italian Serie A team, Novara, as well as Minor League teams for the Detroit Tigers. Magnante recently worked with the 2005 MLB European Academy as an infield coach and with a strong scouting background, he is currently acting as an Oakland A’s area scout. Magnante is the recipient of numerous awards, including the Southern California Scouts Association’s Scout of the Year Award (2001, 2003) and the A’s Dick Bogard Memorial Award (2001, 2003).
He’ll be a good fit up in Vancouver, I think. HollywoodOz, the guy behind Notes from the Nat, a great blog about the Canadians, likes him already, in fact. Here’s his take on Magnante from NftN. (broken link, sorry)
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Ray Ratto, infamous for predicting a 60 win season for Oakland just a year ago, actually wrote a good article about Danny Haren today.
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And here’s a rundown of the news coming out of the A’s camp in Arizona so far. Mainly fluff and filler, but there are some revealing quotes about the future of Barry Zito, Kendall’s home runs (or lack thereof), and the mysterious Milton Bradley.
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I wrote a piece on Scott Hatteberg over at MVN when the Reds signed him to a deal, but I won’t be doing the same today with Erubiel Durazo. The Rangers signed him to a minor league deal with an invite to spring training. Simply put, Hatteberg seemed to be more of an Oakland A than the “Holy Grail” ever was. Sure, Durazo hit .321 in 2004, but after he missed all of 2005, everyone forgot about him rather quickly. I’ll always remember him for having the distinction of needing Tommy John surgery because he played one game at first base and blew out his elbow. He had more than a tin glove in the field, apparently he also had a glass elbow. Attached to short arms.
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In the latest Susan Slusser notebook from the SF Chronicle, Eric Chavez is apparently going revert to being a “badass” this year. Sure, Chavvy, whatever you say, as long as you don’t break your shoulder off or hit .200 for the first six weeks of the season.