Minor Leagues Beat Writer
Chicago Sports Online
Cape Hatteras, N.C. – In a move that surprised analysts around the league, the Chicago Black Sox this week dismissed the Carolina Flight’s well-regarded, veteran manager – Jeff Matthews – and replaced him with a younger, unproven skipper out of the Dominican Republic.
At a morning news conference in Chicago, Black Sox General Manager Benedetta Vitale announced that the team has hired Paco Creteles, 44, as the Flight’s new manager. He was signed to a 3-year contract that will pay him $182,000 annually.
Paco Creteles
“What I can tell you is that our leadership consultants, the Kocherschmeltz Group, identified Mr. Creteles as someone who would have excellent development influence on our players and fits well with our management philosophy.
“Plus,” Vitale added, “his color-coded evaluation is bright, electric blue.”
Matthews, she pointed out, had graded poorly under the K-Group’s rubric, with below average development influence and poor relationships with most of the team.
“That,” she said, “is not part of our Blueprint™ for success.”
As it turns out, Creteles will not be the only new leader in Carolina next season.
Long-time Flight Pitching Coach Pedro Maldonado, 64, who many around the league described as “great,” retired at the end of the year.
“It was kind of a long, disappointing season,” Maldonado said in a telephone interview, “and at the end, I realized it was time to do something else. I loved my time in Carolina, but I need to move on to the next phase of my life now.”
The Flight recently hired Maldonado’s replacement: Francisco Nava, a 43-year-old groundball specialist with no professional coaching experience.
Vitale said the franchise likes Nava’s philosophy and will invest in training for him during the offseason.
“We were sorry to see Mr. Maldonado retire,” Vitale said, “but we understand and we wish him well in his future endeavors.”
Maldonado signed with Carolina in 2038 and never experienced a losing record with the team. The Flight has narrowly missed the playoffs the last 3 seasons, though, and Maldonado said pressure had been building within the organization for a change.
“So, the move with Jeff doesn’t surprise me much,” Maldonado said. “This has been coming for awhile – especially since Benny took over as GM in Chicago.”
“That’s baseball, right?” he said. “What have you done for me lately?”
What Vitale did, of course, was win consistently: his worst season in Carolina was his first, 2038, when the team finished 72-60, won the division, and made the AAA playoffs. The Flight won its division the next season, too, but has finished second or third since then and missed the post-season.
“We realize that winning is not, necessarily, the most important job of a minor league manager,” Vitale said. “Player development, of course, is critically important. In that aspect of his job, we believe Mr. Matthews left a bit to be desired.”
It didn’t help, of course, that Carolina also hasn’t been to the playoffs since 2039.
“We are trying to instill a winning tradition in this organization,” Vitale said. “Part of that involves participating in the postseason. Our major league team made the BBA playoffs for the first time in 10 years; our AA team won its division and made the playoffs this year; our Single A team won its league championship; and our Rookie League team made its playoffs as a wild card.
“We very much want our AAA team to be a part of this culture.”
When Vitale was reminded that Carolina came within just 2 games of the playoffs this season, she shrugged.
“We understand that,” she said. “We also understand that, even so, the playoffs went on without them. Also, you must understand that Mr. Matthews’ color-coded K-Group evaluation was a dull, underachieving orange. That is unacceptable. We want electric blue managers leading our teams, up and down the organization. We have no place for orange. Not anymore.”