Boardwalk Empire - 2041.2 - Staff Promotions

[Joshua Biddle]

Gamblers Fill Staff Vacancies Internally; Promote Esquivel, Sánchez

The Atlantic City Gamblers filled their vacancies by promoting internal candidates, promoting Bartolo Esquivel to the position of hitting coach and Lorenzo Sánchez to the position of pitching coach.

Esquivel, 56, joined the Atlantic City Gamblers organization prior to the 2037 season as hitting coach for Class-Short Season A Bogota Scholars, contributing to the team's 48-22 record and their 2037 Supremacy Series championship. He graduated to hitting coach of Class-A Long Island for the 2038 season, helping the team achieve a 78-54 record, though the team fell short of clinching a playoff berth. In 2039, he moved up to Class-AA Trenton as hitting coach, where he contributed to a division-winning effort with a 82-49 campaign. This was followed up in 2040 with Class-AAA Brooklyn, where he helped lead the team to an 86-58 record and another playoff berth. Esquivel was a natural choice as the Gamblers' organization have multiple, potent young bats in the high levels of the minor leagues and possibly ready to make the major league roster as soon as this year; and Esquivel was hands-on with the development of many of these athletes. As such, it was hard to imagine the organization going external to fill the vacancy when an obvious candidate who has shown a proficiency in leading young offensive talent was in their midst.

Sánchez, 53, joined the Atlantic City Gamblers prior to the 2034 season, joining as pitching coach of Class-Short Season A Bogota Scholars, where he remained in the position through the 2035 season (42-50, 2nd place in 2034; 33-38, 4th place in 2035). He was promoted to pitching coach of Class-AA Trenton prior to the 2036 season, spending four years with the affiliate and experiencing a period of prolonged success which included four consecutive first place finishes in their division and a The Final Judgment victory during the 2037 season. During the four season run, the Trenton Generals finished with earned run averages of 3.71, 3.88, 3.76 and 3.68. For the 2040 season, Sánchez moved up to Class-AAA Brooklyn as pitching coach, with the team winning their division with a 86-58 record. Sánchez is an interesting choice as the Gamblers' organization has lacked the success stories of intriguing pitching prospects, which is a sharp contrast to how Esquivel earned the role. However, the Gamblers went with the best available external candidate when they hired Tom Rodriguez a few seasons ago, which did not bring the success the organization had hoped for in his two-year stint.

The familiarity the candidates have with Gamblers' manager Jack Parkinson certainly played a significant role as well. Parkinson and Esquivel were on the same staff for one season (2039 - Class-AA Trenton); Parkinson and Sánchez were on the same staff for four seasons (2036-2039 - Class-AA Trenton).