The Indians continue their search for a right-handed hitting outfielder. Could former Pirate Lastings Milledge be one of their targets.
ORLANDO, Fla. -- News, notes and quotes from the winter meetings at the Walt Disney Swan and Dolphin resort.
-New Seattle manager Eric Wedge was working the lobby Tuesday. Wedge, who managed the Indians for seven years before getting fired after the 2009 season, has purchased a home in the Seattle area and is in the process of moving his family to the great northwest.
When he became manager of the Indians, he moved to Cleveland.
"I've got to be all in," said Wedge. "That's me."
Wedge has surrounded himself with a lot of former Indians. Robby Thompson will be his bench coach, Carl Willis will be his pitching coach and Jeff Datz will coach third base. Chris Chambliss, another former Indian, will be his hitting coach.
"We're going to slow things down like we did in Cleveland and build it back up," said Wedge.
The Mariners lost 101 games last season.
-Jeff Francoeur may have been too expensive, but the Indians continue to check the market for right-handed hitting outfielders. If that's the case, how about Lastings Milledge.
The Pirates non-tendered Milledge last week, but manager Manny Acta has history with the former Mets prospect. Acta was the Mets third base coach when Milledge made his big league debut in 2006 and helped pull some strings to get him to Washington in 2008 where he hit .268 (140-for-523) with 24 doubles, 14 homers and 61 RBI for his best season in the big leagues.
Milledge, 25, hit .277 (105-for-379) with 21 doubles, three triples, four homers and 34 RBI for the Pirates last season. He made $452,000.
He was said to have a bad attitude in New York, but last season when the Indians played the Pirates in interleague play Acta that was overblown because it happened in New York.
-Arizona GM Kevin Towers on why he hired Charles Nagy as his pitching coach, "
"I looked at our starting rotation," said Towers. "We have some young guys who are not overpowering guys other than Dan Hudson. Ian Kennedy, Barry Enright and Joe Saunders, their styles are very similar to Charlie's. He didn't have overpowering stuff. He really had to add, subtract and hit the spots. He had to pitch.
"Who better to help make those guys what Charlie Nagy was? . .I think our guys will enjoy him, enjoy being around him. He can teach them how to win."
Nagy was the Indians Class AAA pitching coach at Columbus last season.
Towers was the Padres general manager when Nagy finished his carry there in 2003. Padre manager Buddy Black recommended Nagy as well.
-Josh Byrnes, who got his front office start with the Indians, said he was close to rejoining the Tribe this winter after getting fired as Arizona's general manager.
Byrnes had opportunities from several teams, but chose to join the Padres as an senior vice president of baseball operations.
"Cleveland is a good situation," said Byrnes, whose wife is from San Diego. "It was interesting because Mark (Shapiro) and Chris (Antonetti) are both in the their first years of new jobs and I could have been resource to both of them."
Byrnes spent six years in the Tribe's front office.
-ESPN is reporting that the Indians have shown interest in veteran shortstop Adam Everett. He played 31 games for the Tigers last year.
The Indians don't really have a legitimate shortstop to backup Asdrubal Cabrera, who has been injury prone the last two seasons. Jason Donald and Luis Valbuena struggled at short last season.
-The Nationals reportedly are deep into the Cliff Lee derby along with the Yankees and Rangers. The Nationals just signed Jayson Werth to a seven-year deal and they could be preparing a similar offer to Lee.
-The Orioles acquisition of Arizona's Mark Reynolds on Monday took one more third baseman off the board. The Indians had mild interest in Reynolds.
-Columbus will have an interesting tune up for the International League season in 2011. They play the Indians on March 30 at Heritage Park.They'll travel to Akron to play the Tribe's AA team April 4 before retuning to Columbus to play Ohio State and Akron.
-Should have included Lonnie Chisenhall and Jared Goedert among the infielders Travis Fryman can help in new job as minor league fielding coordinator.