Monday, November 5, 2012

Corrales headed to Dodgers

Pat Corrales, who has spent the last six seasons as a member of either the Nationals' coaching or player development staff, is leaving the organization to join the Dodgers.

Corrales will become a special assistant to Los Angeles general manager Ned Colletti, in the process rejoining Dodgers president Stan Kasten (who previously employed him in both Atlanta and Washington).

The 71-year-old Corrales was originally hired by the Nationals in 2007 to serve as manager Manny Acta's bench coach. He was reassigned in 2009 as a special consultant but rejoined the big-league staff as interim bench coach both when Jim Riggleman replaced Acta as manager during the 2009 All-Star break and when Davey Johnson replaced Riggleman as manager during the 2011 season.

Corrales returned to his consulting role this year and spent most of his time scouting and as a roving instructor within the Nationals' minor-league system. He was a particularly close confidant of Johnson.

71 comments:

Anonymous said...

This is the first domino to fall in a number which will include Davey Johnson probably stepping down to save face and the Nats getting a new manager before the week is up

Anonymous said...

Ask yourself this question, why haven't we heard a peep on the faith of Davey Johnson?
Why hasn't management between Rizzo or the Lernards say the Johnson will be back or any word.

Sorry to say Davey Johnson is gone. Corrales was friends with Johnson, good friends. For him to just leave at the age of 71 to start all over in a different organization is crazy.

I feel that there is a lot of cleaning house going on because of what happened in game five. We should know my the end of the week

baseballswami said...

I only have one thing to say at this point --- WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT????????

Faraz Shaikh said...

Fall of Nats Dynasty.

The Real Feel Wood. Accept no substitutes. said...

I feel that there is a lot of cleaning house going on because of what happened in game five.

Right. Because if there's one thing we know for sure, it's this. Game Five was entirely Pat Corrales's fault. Accountability. Finally. At long last, JayB is happy.

Don said...

How did Rizzo not make a qualifying offer to Jackson??

Doc said...

Ditto, for me Swam!

I guess everybody has a right to their own delusions, but really......

Steady Eddie said...

swami -- when a post makes no sense at all, it's probably not worth responding to.

Corrales grew up in California, he presumably has a lot of friends and family still there, he wants to finish his career out there reconnecting with Kasten, who he's worked for for more than a dozen years.

Sheesh.

Don said...

Corrales is an LA guy and he's 71 yrs old. I am guessing that he is taking a less travel gig for his home town team more than he is running from the Nats. And it's just a big deal at all in my mind that Pat won't be a roving instructor for us going forward.

MurrayTheRed said...

I think this is Kasten stealing our guys (formally his guys). I wouldn't read to much into it, but I'd worry that Kasten is going to steal some front office guys we may not want to give up.

MicheleS said...

Wow, talk about grasping at straws.

Dr Trea (formerly #werthquake) said...

Why are some of you freaking out? This is what happens when a team is as successful with good coaches as we do. I expect DJ to be back next year...this isn't a sign he is leaving. If anything, maybe he can give a good impression and teaching to his new assistants. Its all part of the plan.

Dave said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Dave said...

The Nationals had the best record in baseball in 2012. "Their year" is still supposed to be 2013.

The Dodgers made a big mid-season trade in 2012 and took on a huge amount of new payroll. They did not, however, make the playoffs; they didn't even come close.

To suggest that the Nationals are cleaning house because they lost their last playoff game is truly delusional.

Ghost Of Steve M. said...

Was Jerry Hairston last year an advance part of this mass conspiracy?

sjm308 said...

Are you people seriously upset with a 71 year old leaving the organization that was not even in the dugout and probably hardly ever even in the clubhouse last year? Seriously, how much did he add last year. I appreciate what he did in the early years but he was hardly mentioned last year as we became the winningest team in Major League Baseball.

Ghost Of Steve M. said...

SJM, I hope they are joking but clearly some people aren't happy unless they're complaining.

JD said...


Ghost,

And Adam Kennedy played for the Dodgers last year too. If Matt Stairs signs with the Dodgers I say we file a grievance.

Ghost Of Steve M. said...

JD, exactly. We all know how great Adam Kennedy was for the Nats. Did anyone freak when Kasten got Bob Wolff and Cheryl Rampy and Bill the copy guy?

MicheleS said...

SJM.. I think only letters/numbers is the one that is upset about this. Obviously he/she was convinced the reason we lost game 5 was because Pat C was secretly giving information to the dodgers. :-)

Another_Sam said...

Spring training can't arrive quickly enough.

djinFl. said...

I see this years wacky weed harvest is in full swing.

MicheleS said...

For your viewing tonight:

StrasMas is on Nats Classic.

SCNatsFan said...

With Porter and Corrales leaving one thing is for sure... its good to see the rest of MLB raiding us then us raiding them for a change. Speaks volumes of how much the franchise is improving.

sm13 said...

Thanks natsjack and sjm for talking me down from the ledge!

Anonymous said...

Say good-bye to Davey. A lot of stubborn people around this place. Two words-Cito Gaston!!!

baseballswami said...

Steady Eddie @3:24 - Thanks for talking me down.

Dryw Loves the Nats said...

Another_Sam, amen to that, for more than one reason!

MicheleS said...

Ask and you shall receive

Rosenthal on Davey

MicheleS said...

I am still thinking they announce Davey's extension when he wins MOY.

And from the Story, apparentlty I need to be bribing Rizzo. Mike, I got some bourbon and Maalox for you!!!!

MicheleS said...

Boz must be on vacation or he would have had this story and then started screaming about the Lerners, etc to get the deal done.

Steady Eddie said...

swami -- happy to help but I have to admit, this one was pretty easy: choose between
(1) ho-hum, older-guy-returns-home-with-a-familiar-friend/colleague-on-the-road-towards-retirement, or
(2) random, a-propos-of-nothing, extreme silliness.

The Real Feel Wood. Accept no substitutes. said...

There is absolutely no chance that Rizzo or the Lerners aren't going to do whatever it takes to bring Davey back as manager next year. The only one that could stop that from happening is Davey himself. Yet Rosenthal, Boswell et al keep complaining that the Nationals drag their feet on things like this. Last year they were complaining that Zimmerman's extension hadn't happened, even though no one doubted it would. Has there been even one case where something like this should have happened but didn't under Rizzo and the Lerners? No, there hasn't. Those guys must have driven their parents crazy with "Are we there yet?" when they were kids. Maybe they still do.

MicheleS said...

Feel.. a little gentle nugging never hurts. i am sure it will get done too, just love when either Davey or Rizzo start using the press to accomplish the deals.

Drew said...

Numerical Anon: Keep us posted about your meeting with Bigfoot, Jimmy Hoffa and Queen Elizabeth on the Grassy Knoll.

MicheleS said...

So.. Reds are thinking about making Chapman a starter. I wonder if it actually works?

Sunshine_Bobby_Carpenter_Is_Too_Pessimistic_For_Me said...

Re: "Why hasn't management between Rizzo or the Lernards say the Johnson will be back or any word?"

I think it's because Pat Corrales actually was seen on the grassy knoll in Dallas on Nov. 22, 1963.

That is about as logical as anything else I've seen connecting Corrales' departure (to his hometown club, at age 71!) to Davey not returning.

Despite by Newton said about equal and opposite reaction, sometimes things just happen. And they're not related to anything.

One word: "Sheesh..."

And, pal, it's Lerners, not Lernards.



waddu eye no said...

"ask yourself this question, why haven't we heard a peep on the faith of Davey Johnson?"

Hmm

Freedom of religion?

MicheleS said...

Watching Strasmas. God Dribble is horrible

SonnyG10 said...

Davey's not going anywhere yet. He's going to make stars out of our peeps and win the world series first.

SonnyG10 said...

I used to be a fan of Dribble. What was I thinking?

Theophilus T. S. said...

Dribble had the virtue of criticizing a team that was one of the worst in baseball -- in a long time -- and richly deserved criticism. Until he dumped on Strabsburg, I doubt management had any idea what their color guy was saying about the team on their TV network. Or that there was a direct relationship between Dibble's commentary and their miserable TV ratings. (Not that Angelos minded much.) If Nats management had been paying attention, Dibble would have been canned much sooner. And maybe the Nats ownership would have realized how badly they needed to spend major bucks on players to rehabilitate the image of the team.

Gonat said...

http://www.cbssports.com/mlb/blog/jon-heyman/20838908/top-40-free-agent-hit-list-projected--for-greinke-hamilton-bourn--37-more

Good read in terms of dollars. I hope the Expert Opinion on LaRoche is right and not Heyman:


"Adam LaRoche, 1B. Monster year should pay off. The Red Sox, who had him briefly, should covet LaRoche. The incumbent Nats surely do, too. Expert: $39 million, 3 years. Me: $56 million, 4 years."

Gonat said...

MicheleS said...
Ask and you shall receive

Rosenthal on Davey

November 05, 2012 5:50 PM
__________________________________

Good read. Sounds like it will happen shortly.

Gonat said...

Skole with another 0-fer day. 0-4 today and 2 for his last 24.

Gonat said...

http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/awards/mlb_awards_content.jsp?content=roy_history

Check out all the Rookie of the Year winners that flamed out. Its hard to believe when you come up as a Top Prosepct and then win the ROY and then struggle just shows how tough it is.

Here's 4 in the last 10 years.

2009 Chris Coghlan Florida
2008 Geovany Soto Chicago
2003 Dontrelle Willis Florida
2002 Jason Jennings Colorado

Gonat said...

2012 Players Choice Awards is on and the NL Top Rookie is ____________________

Gonat said...

Todd Frazier? What a joke.

Ghost Of Steve M. said...

Gonat, the players vote on the awards and its a popularity influenced vote. Many players have an issue with a 19 year old who accomplished more at 19 than they could hope to do at the best point in their career. He also rubbed some the wrong way. That's what I think. A combination of many factors.

peric said...

If letters and numbers gloom and doom squad is right then I guess Rizzo and Roy Clark are on their way out. Rizzo picked Davey. Thinks he should be a permanent part of the furniture while he is GM.

BTW, Davey doesn't "have to resign". His contract as manager is up. He's not the manager until they negotiate a new deal with him.

Gonat said...

Its now clear this Awards show was pre-taped as they have Chipper outside in the Georgia sunshine.

Sunshine_Bobby_Carpenter_Is_Too_Pessimistic_For_Me said...

The Big DUNN-key!!

Sunshine_Bobby_Carpenter_Is_Too_Pessimistic_For_Me said...

Dibble in the booth, Debbie in the dugout.

Dunn on first, Goozie at second.

Gosh, we are so much better now -- on the field, in the broadcast booth, in the dugout, on the bench, everyway around.

baseballswami said...

And you know, it wasn't all that long ago, folks.

Sunshine_Bobby_Carpenter_Is_Too_Pessimistic_For_Me said...

One more thing: I don't miss Adam Kennedy one whit.

Sunshine_Bobby_Carpenter_Is_Too_Pessimistic_For_Me said...

One telling scene from the Strasmas game: Rizzo, in tie and jacket, sitting in stands with StanK.

Nowadays, he looks SO MUCH better in those bright polo shirts. And SO MUCH more in charge.

And we are SO MUCH better for him. As for StanK...meh...addition by subtraction.

baseballswami said...

Every time I watch one of these games I could make a very long list of things I don't miss.

Sunshine_Bobby_Carpenter_Is_Too_Pessimistic_For_Me said...

baseballswami said...
Every time I watch one of these games I could make a very long list of things I don't miss.

I'm with you, Schwam...

Gonat said...

From Ladson:

Second-base situation looms large for Nats
WASHINGTON -- The Nationals are in constant discussions on what to do at second base for the 2013 season, according to a baseball source. Will it be Danny Espinosa or Steve Lombardozzi?

The team ended the season with the switch-hitting Espinosa as the starting second baseman, but he had problems from the left side of the plate, hitting .233 with 141 strikeouts. From the right side of the plate, Espinosa was much better, hitting .281 with 47 strikeouts. He is also a Gold Glove Award-caliber second baseman. There isn't any talk of Espinosa being strictly a right-handed hitter.

Lombadozzi, who is an excellent defensive infielder, was a backup player most of the season and hit .273 with an on-base percentage of .317. His playing time diminished once shortstop Ian Desmond was activated from the disabled list in August. Manager Davey Johnson has often said that Lombardozzi is not a bench player.

To prove that point, the source said the Nationals are looking for a backup middle infielder, which indicates that the team doesn't consider Espinosa or Lombardozzi future bench players.

Johnson and Nationals general manager Mike Rizzo were not available for comment

D'Gourds said...

I've said all year that the 2012 Nats remimded me so much of the 85 Mets lead by Davey. There is no doubt in my mind 2013 is our year and Davey will bring us to the promised land like he did with the 86 Mets. The Nays are a special team and Davey is a special leader.

D'Gourds said...

Meant the Nats. The Nays suck.

peric said...

Ladson and his sources ... albeit in this case it doesn't sound like its one of his hare-brained ideas ... its in the way he phrases his report ... it might be legit ..

But, the FO is likely discussing kicking the tires on a lot of idea. But, NOTHING and I mean NOTHING can happen until they decide what to with Davey ... the guy with numbers and letters is right about the inference: based on reading Ladson I believe there are FO types who resent Davey's input into their roster construction schemes. I don't believe its Rizzo or Clark but ... there may be some who do not like Davey as both a major league manager and the chief player development coach.

Unknown said...

I liked Debbie Taylor! (Not that there was anything with Christina)- just saying Debbie stuck with us through the rough times like a trooper.
As for Dibble, hr was an a$$ but that was never a secret and his outspokeness was part of his schtick that people liked. I liked because he necame a real fan of the team while he was here.

Gonat said...




In that same piece, Ladson also notes that the team views Ian Desmond, Danny Espinosa and Steve Lombardozzi all as starting middle infielders. That evidence is supported by the fact that Ladson's source tells him the team is still in pursuit of a backup middle infielder despite the trio's presence. It seems implied that one of the three could be on the trading block this offseason, though that's just my speculation

Read more at http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2012/11/nationals-notes-johnson-laroche-second-base.html
_______________________________________

Not buying that Desi would be traded. If there are proposed trade, yes, I could see Espi or Lombo being part of a blockbuster.

NatsLady said...

So. I listen to a podcast called "Gleeman and the Geek." It's mostly Twins-oriented, but usually they discuss general baseball topics also.

In today's podcast, they mentioned that they were shocked that the Nats had not given Jackson a qualifying offer, since he had a "solid" season, and they had paid him $11MM last year. [Interesting to hear this view of Jackson from outsiders.]

So, they speculated that Jackson had it in his contract that he NOT receive a qualifying offer. Upon research, they found that Jackson signed his contract after the CBA had been ratified and published, and that he could (and should) have such a clause. (ALR, of course, signed his contract before the new CBA).

In other words, if a player is "worth" $13.3 MM for a one year contract, it is not in the player's interest to have a qualifying offer--it merely lessens his market value since a team signing him would lose a draft pick. If a player ISN'T worth it, then the team won't make the offer, for fear of the player accepting.

This may explain the paucity of qualifying offers--only nine, I believe, in all of MLB.

I'm not sure what the problem the "qualifying offer/draft pick" was supposed to solve. I know teams were gaming the system by picking up future free agents at the July trade deadline (whether they needed them or not!) and then getting draft picks, but the new language says the player has to be with the team all year, so it did put an end to that practice. At any rate, it seems like players will have that type of clause in future contracts, so is this they way MLB and the players' association intended for it to work?

Unknown said...

I really believe bringing back Debbie Taylor needs to be a priority. With Christina gone there is no one at that position. Sign her for two years with an option for the third. If she produces we pick up the option and trade her at the deadline.

NatsLady said...

Sorry, this is from the previous thread but I just read it and some following comments, that, I believe misinterpreted the "math."

Theo said...
Two, Bourn, with his 155 Ks, has no chance of getting on base one-quarter of his PAs. In order to make up for it, he has to run at virtually every opportunity in order to be in scoring position for the boppers behind him. Is he going to get faster, or slow down?

I believe what was meant here is that since Bourn K's 20.2% of the time, and thus has no chance of getting on base in those PAs, he has to use his speed to defeat BABIP on the PAs where he doesn't strike out. If his OBP is .390, then that means he does a pretty fine job of getting on base in the remaining PAs--but if his speed goes and his eye doesn't improve, you aren't left with much.

P.S., I'm neutral on Bourn--many good points made on both sides--and favorable towards BJ. There is a negative article up on Bourn on Hardball Talk.

history-suggests-that-michael-bourn-is-likely-to-be-a-bust

http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/2012/11/05/history-suggests-that-michael-bourn-is-likely-to-be-a-bust/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter

SonnyG10 said...

What happened to Christina?

Dave said...

Kristina's website--which looks different than it did last spring--says that she is currently "the in-game reporter for the Washington Nationals on MASN as well as a contributor to Nats Xtra."

So it doesn't look like she's going anywhere, at least from her point of view.

Tcostant said...

It's kind of amazing that we had no update on Davey's contract yet. I hope he gets ever cent he can.

Unknown said...

"So it doesn't look like she's going anywhere, at least from her point of view."

Whew, looks like we dodged a bullet there. There was talk that she had been hired full time as anetwork reporter in Texas.
Continuity is so important when building a dynasty.

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