The Chattanooga Lookouts expect to have new ownership by the start of the 2012 season, but their coaching staff will remain intact.
The Los Angeles Dodgers announced Thursday night that manager Carlos Subero, hitting coach Franklin Stubbs and pitching coach Chuck Crim will return to Double-A after guiding the Lookouts to a 77-62 record and their first berth in the Southern League playoffs since 2006. It will be the second season in Chattanooga for Stubbs and Crim and the third for Subero.
"We like the guys who were there last season and thought they did a tremendous job with our young prospects," Dodgers player development director De Jon Watson said. "Carlos did a great job getting that group to jell in the second half of the season, and we got to see the kids mature and grow as a whole. Chuck Crim did a great job there with the pitchers, some of whom moved on to Los Angeles and helped the team down the stretch.
"Franklin Stubbs also did a tremendous job, because Chattanooga was in the top five in almost every offensive category. So we were really pleased with the overall staff and look forward to another productive year."
Chattanooga led the league with a .444 team slugging percentage and tied for the lead with 705 runs scored. Lookouts pitchers led the league with a 3.66 team earned run average and with 1,103 strikeouts and had four make the jump to the majors.
The Dodgers, whose .543 win percentage in the minors this past year ranked second among all big-league organizations, also are keeping their Triple-A Albuquerque staff intact.
"This really helps with the overall development in our system," Watson said. "These players know who they are going to get as they progress forward and what they are all about and how they go about it."
Lookouts owner Frank Burke said last December that he might have to sell the team, and that became a certainty earlier this year. He operated the storied franchise throughout the 2011 season but turned over many of his responsibilities in September to general manager Rich Mozingo, who was hired in July, and assistant GM John Maedel to focus on the sale.
Burke is hopeful of a deal at some point this winter.
"It's a complicated process," he said. "There is a lot going on, but it just isn't something I can talk about right now."