LITTLE ROCK — The team should look different, but the Arkansas Travelers Manager will appear very familiar next year.
The Los Angeles Angels announced Wednesday that Bobby Magallanes would return for a third consecutive season after leading the Travs to last year's Texas League championship. Magallanes is thefirst three-time manager Arkansas has had since Chris Maloney was with the team from 1998-2000, when the Travelers were affiliated with the St. Louis Cardinals.
"My family and I are really happy, to be honest, and when my family is happy I'm happy," Magallanes said from his home in Phoenix. "The city and the people, the relationships I've established there, it's been really warm."
Last year's Travelers, many of them Class AA veterans, opened at 0-7 and had the worst regularseason record of a Texas League championship team (62-78).They finished with the worst batting average (.259) and sixthworst ERA (4.50) in the eightteam league.
But the Travs showed an ability to play as a team in key moments, winning the North Division first-half title with an 11-inning, comeback victory over Springfield. They played to a 26-44 second-half record but swept division rival Northwest Arkansas in the first playoff round and took Frisco to the fifth and deciding championship series game that they won 11-3 at Frisco.
Magallanes, 107-153 with the Travs and 312-366 with two playoff trips overall, downplayed hiscontribution. He said the most important thing he could do was not panic when things went poorly, keep the clubhouse loose and trust his veteran players.
"I remember those players telling me 'Mags, just wait for the playoffs. You just watch for the playoffs,' " Magallanes said.
Pitching coach Ken Patterson will return for the second consecutive year and third overall with the Travelers while the Angels appointed Francisco Matos hitting coach to replace Eric Owens, who will manage the Angels' Class A California League team in Rancho Cucamonga. Matos was hitting coach at Rancho lastseason under Ever Magallanes, Bobby's brother.
Ever left the organization to manage the Chicago White Sox's Class AA Southern League team in Birmingham, Ala., leading the Angels to appoint Owens to the vacant job at Rancho Cucamonga.
"That's the way baseball is," Bobby Magallanes said. "You establish a lot of relationships in baseball. Once you've been around for a while you meet so many people."
Next year's Travelers likely will be made up of younger players and more Angels prospects who weren't ready for ClassAA last year, when farm director Abe Flores signed multiple free agents to shore up the Travs ranks and give them a chance to win.
But the potential newcomers, many who have been together during their climb up the organizational ladder, have playoff experience at the lower levels and should give the Travs a chance to win in 2009, as long as the pitching holds up, Magallanes said.
"It will most definitely be a young roster," Magallanes said. "I think we'll be a lot younger next year than we were this year, because we did have those free agents."
Sports, Pages 38 on 11/27/2008