Farm Report: No One Wants to Manage in Santa Cruz
by Nes Lessman, Journal Correspondent
There's usually not a lot to talk about in terms of the minor leagues during the off-season, with teams typically only making small adjustments to their squads, barring a major trade. Knowing the generally trade-adverse General Manager Rob McMonigal is in charge means getting a large influx of prospects, as other teams have done, just isn't likely.
But there was an event that got me out from watching college football and into investigation mode – the curious case of the manager position in Santa Cruz.
With a new general manger coming on board, all of the existing coaching staff waited with baited breath to see if McMonigal would radically alter things in his own image. It's not unusual for a new person to want "his" guys, so to speak. However, everyone under contract was retained and even those with expiring ones tended to get extensions.
One notable exception was manager in The Nine's AA affiliate, Santa Cruz. They'd finished second, albeit with a losing record, and McMonigal clearly wanted something different from the last true development stage of the minors.
And the position went unfilled.
For weeks.
And weeks.
Finally, Jin-oong An agreed to take over the team. Formerly a pitching coach for Albany Atoms in the BBA rookie league and then moving on to Ho Chi Minh City in 2051 (A – level affiliate for the Global Baseball Consortium), he has zero experience as a manager. So why in the world did the Nine, who have enough cash to pay for top of the line coaches, end up with An? I called up McMonigal and asked him point blank: "What were you thinking?"
"I admit he's an unusual choice, but An has an amazing history of success as a pitching coach. We'd had him on our radar if we needed to fill the position. When we'd talked again, he mentioned to me he'd like to transition into managing. I did a lot of work looking at how he worked with younger players and his ability to make the whole team feel supported, not just the pitching staff. With pitching so very important in the majors, having an extra set of eyes on our up and coming players is a net positive."
I was about to ask a follow up, but McMonigal continued. "And he's a winner. Back to back championship teams with the Explorers. Two straight playoff appearances for Albany before that. I want our players to be winners from the day they step onto the field. An brings that with him."
"So he was your first choice?"
"He was the best choice," said McMonigal, and hung up.
Well I smelled a rat, so I decided to dig in further. I was able to get my anonymous sources to help piece together a narrative. It turns out that not only was An not the first person asked to helm the Spartans, he wasn't even the second. Or the third.
A primo stepping stool job with a franchise as storied as the Nine and McMonigal couldn't land his man three straight times. Not exactly a ringing endorsement of his skills as a general manager.
I tracked down the men allegedly offered the manager's chair, starting with John Funk. He was willing to talk with me, which frankly startled me.
"Yeah, I remember McMonigal offering me the deal. It was a good one. But Charlotte offered me a chance to manage in Richmond. And I just thought the vibe was better. Have you seen the night life in Santa Cruz? A funky guy like me needs a hip city to live in half the year. I found that here in Richmond."
Looking over his career with the A- level Bears, Funk had middling success at best, but really great relationships with his players.
The second man to reject McMonigal was apparently Fernando Aguilar, now managing the Surprise Talons for Phoenix at AA. He has a a long track record with multiple clubs, a great reputation for working to develop players of all kinds in almost every area, and being a player's manager to boot. Definitely a man you want helming a team.
I would have loved to know why he declined the offer, but the Talon's social media office told me that it is against their policy to speak other than the league-mandated minimum times and therefore, Aguilar would not be available for questions.
The final rejection is extremely strange. I almost wasn't able to reach him, as apparently phones aren't allowed where Armano Alvarado spends most of his time, an exclusive club for gentlemen in a forgotten area of Bucharest. It was looking like it needed a personal visit, but both my wife and my editor rejected my request to travel. Eventually, I got the text back to my question: "Why didn't you want to manage Santa Cruz?"
"McMonigal wouldn't agree to my lifestyle requests." read the text.
"What were those?" I texted back.
The answer, unfortunately, isn't printable, but it probably got my number added to a watch list. Suffice it to say that I learned a lot about a very different way to utilize baseballs, bats, and the concept of extreme team sports involving inter-gender relations. I showed them to my editor, who promptly fainted.
On the other hand, if you only had one losing season in your career, made the playoffs all but once, and won it all 2 times at the major league level, it might make more sense to just live out your days exploring your personal fetishes instead of toiling away on team buses across the United States.
Still, he would have been an amazing get for Yellow Springs, and potentially a game-changer. A huge difference to say the lease from the straight-laced An, who is said to enjoy his time at home reading and re-reading books about arm mechanics. A bit of a recluse, no one can recall An staying past his due at any bar or team event. There were never any talks about him when he was a player, either, a quiet four years from 2025 to 2028, primarily at first base for California. From all accounts, he's as mild mannered as they come.
Boring for me as the beat reporter for the minors, but probably a safe choice for McMonigal, whose first few months as the Nine's General Manager have been quiet and safe as well.
Will that strategy work? We'll know soon. In the meantime, I'll get back to my television and easy chair and report more when the minor league seasons pick back up again – assuming McMonigal doesn't make any major changes before then. Based on what we've seen so far, odds are against that.
