SARASOTA, Fla. — In the summer of 1996, Tiger Woods turned pro and Monica Lewinsky no longer worked as a White House intern.
That was also the last time Mike Goff managed a baseball team, but that changed earlier this month when he began leading the Double-A working group of the Cincinnati Reds. Members of that Double-A working group will become Chattanooga Lookouts this weekend, when all of Cincinnati’s minor leaguers break camp and head for their developmental destinations.
“Managing has always been my dream and my love, and it’s been fun getting back on the field with these guys,” Goff said Tuesday. “It will be a lot more fun once we get out of here and get our club set.”
Goff was hired by Cincinnati after spending 16 seasons in the Seattle Mariners organization, which included roles the past three years of first-base coach and bench coach with the big-league team. The last team he managed was Wisconsin in the Single-A Midwest League.
Chris Bosio is Chattanooga’s new pitching coach, and Chattanooga resident Jamie Dismuke is back for a fifth consecutive season as hitting coach.
Second baseman Drew Anderson played a team-high 128 games last season under then-manager Jayhawk Owens, and pitcher James Avery made a team-high 27 starts for coach Grant Jackson. Anderson and Avery have been penciled to return to Chattanooga, but it’s already a different atmosphere.
“I think our overall staff this year is outstanding, and that’s nothing against the staff last year,” Avery said. “This staff will tell you what they think, and it’s nice to know exactly what your manager is thinking all the time. You don’t have to sift through, ‘What does he mean by this?’ He’s very blunt and very up front about what he wants and expects, and if you don’t do it, he’s going to tell you.”
Said Anderson: “I got the same impression about the way he carries himself. It’s a little intimidating at first when he tells you, ‘This is the way we’re going to run things,’ and, ‘We’re going to play the way I want to manage,’ but then he loosens up and let’s you know he’s on our side.”
The Lookouts should have a familiar opening roster, especially in the starting rotation.
Four of the five spots have been set with Avery, Carlos Fisher, Sam Lecure and Justin Mullett. That quartet combined for 77 starts last year, with Mallett making an additional 36 appearances as a reliever.
Craig Tatum is returning at catcher, Anderson and first baseman Tonys Gutierrez are scheduled to return to the infield and Cody Strait and Sean Henry are expected back in the outfield. Gutierrez and Strait began last season in Chattanooga before being sent down to high Single-A; Henry came to the Lookouts in August via a trade that sent Jeff Conine to the New York Mets.
Of Baseball America’s top 10 Reds organizational prospects, only reliever Josh Roenicke (No. 9) will start out with the Lookouts. Roenicke went 1-1 with an 0.95 ERA in 19 appearances with Chattanooga last year and did not allow a run in five innings earlier this spring at big-league camp.
“Roenicke pitched good enough at big-league camp to pitch in the big leagues,” Reds farm director Terry Reynolds said. “I’m not sure how long he will be there, but I would think sooner rather than later he will be moving.”
The Lookouts play Chattanooga State in an exhibition game Tuesday at AT&T Field and open their Southern League season two nights later in Montgomery.
“We’ve been here for close to a month now, and the dog days of spring training have set in,” Goff said. “I think all these guys are hungry to go out and see some different uniforms to play against every night, see some fans and get the adrenaline going on a nightly basis. You can watch all the spring-training games you want to watch, but it’s a different ballgame when people are in the stands and you’re playing for real.”
RED HOTS
The top 10 prospects in the Cincinnati Reds organization:
1. OF Jay Bruce
2. RHP Homer Bailey
3. 1B Joey Votto
4. RHP Johnny Cueto
5. OF Drew Stubbs
6. C Devin Mesoraco
7. SS Todd Frazier
8. 3B Juan Francisco
9. RHP Josh Roenicke
10. LHP Matt Maloney
Source: Baseball America
David Paschall is a sports writer for the Times Free Press. He started at the Chattanooga Free Press in 1990 and was part of the Times Free Press when the paper started in 1999. David covers University of Georgia football, as well as SEC football recruiting, SEC basketball, Chattanooga Lookouts baseball and other sports stories. He is a Chattanooga native and graduate of the Baylor School and Auburn University. David has received numerous honors for ...
