Maddux Retirement Press Conference Scheduled For Monday At the Bellagio

This will certainly add to the buzz out in Vegas next week. Hopefully I'll get some on-the-scene pictures.

I took this photo overtop the visitor's bullpen at Nationals' Park before he started the August 27th game in Washington.

A New Team In Philly

So I worked as an intern for the Philadelphia Phillies from January, 2004 thru September of 2005. This was part of a great program that exposed me and 25 or so other college students to the business of baseball... and the fascinating stories of Philly's phinest phans.

Essentially, our main job was to sell tickets and answer customer service questions in the Phillies phone center, but occasionally we dabbled in other departments too. My personal highlight came each year at amateur draft time when I participated in some of the pre-draft prep work and tryouts. I also got to call off a player's name into the league-wide conference call during the '05 draft. My selection came in the 48th round and he went by the name of Ben C. Hornbeck out of Sunnyslope HS in Phoenix, Arizona. I was a bit nervous, but when the 1437th overall pick finally came, here's how it all went down.

From time to time I like to monitor the moves going on in their organization and I still keep in touch with a few friends and former interns. During the time I was there the team was led by Ed Wade, now the General Manager of the Houston Astros. After I left, Pat Gillick previously of the Seattle Mariners, was hired to run the show. He kept most of Wade's staff and then proceeded to advance the team to two playoff appearances and one phulfilling championship. Since the end of October the Phils have made a few moves:

Ruben Amaro, Jr. was selected to supplant Gillick as GM and Assistant GM Mike Arbuckle decided to move out to Kansas City to be the Special Advisor to GM Dayton Moore. That created an opening for Orioles' Director of Baseball Administration Scott Proefrock, who was subsequently hired to replace Arbuckle. Now the braintrust is pretty much complete for 2009. Or is it?

Kasten's Nats

Just a quick note about something I read this morning about the Nationals on ESPN.com. I'm not surprised to see an article written like this about Washington. The team has been close to terrible since it's come to the Nation's Capital and they are still years away from developing a farm system that will produce annually. Also, everything I've heard from folks around the game and from my brief experiences working with them and attending games at Nationals' Park has alluded to this sentiment: The organization is in disarray.

But one section of the article took me by surprise from the above reading and it makes me sad:

It's no secret in baseball circles that club president Stan Kasten has chafed over his role in the hierarchy. In late September, both Washington newspapers, the Post and the Times, described Kasten as frustrated with his lack of organizational clout. According to the Post, Kasten has had difficulty coping with the Lerner family's "hands-on, tight-fisted management style."

One baseball executive who's friendly with Kasten told ESPN.com that the Nationals' president was "miserable" in his current role. Kasten declined an e-mail request for an interview but recently insisted that he'll be back with the organization in 2009. Nevertheless, his name has been bandied around in Toronto in conjunction with the Blue Jays' vacant CEO position -- in part because of his friendship with interim CEO Paul Beeston.

If this has any merit the organization is doomed.

Here's an update on what I have planned for the Winter Meetings next week:

Like I said in an earlier post, I've been trying to schedule meetings with different teams in an effort to get them to hire me. Yesterday I had two promising leads come through. One with the Cardinals and one with the Diamondbacks. Lead is a relatively loose term though, so in other words I'll get a chance to hobnob with some of the lower rung officials, shake some hands, and pass out some resumes. Nevertheless, it's positive. The others I plan on meeting with are the Brewers, Reds, and the O's.

I'll be sure to keep you abreast if Theo rings the celly.