EIGHT INDEPENDENT MANAGERS BUSY IN ARIZONA WINTER LEAGUE

What do Independent Baseball managers do in the offseason?

This question has a great variety of answers, of course, but eight of them plus some coaches are already back in unform, working in the annual pay-to-play showcase known as the Arizona Winter League.

When the expanded league, operated out of Yuma, AZ by the Golden League, kicks off its 20-game schedule Friday six of the eight teams will be led by Independent skippers. Eddie Dennis is the field boss for Rio Grande Valley of the United League while Golden League managers handling teams are Garry Templeton of Chico, CA, Mike Marshall of Yuma, Brent Bowers of Edmonton, Paul Abbott of Orange County (Fullerton, CA) and Tim Johnson of Tucson.

Sioux City, IA (American Association) manager Les Lancaster is one of two roving pitching coordinators and Toby Rumfield of Florence, KY (Frontier League) is both a catching and hitting coordinator. Edmonton player-coach Darryl Brinkley also is a hitting instructor. The other AWL managers are coaches during the regular Independent season, with Boots Day the hitting coach for the Golden League's Calgary Vipers and Brooks Carey pitching coach for Normal, IL of the Frontier League.

15 HAVE NON-ROSTER JOBS

Our count of former Independent players who have been invited to major league spring training camps as non-roster invitees has grown to 15. That is far below the 33 of one year ago, but then a number of teams have not yet divulged all of their non-roster players. Middle infielders have been ignored so far, just as they were in 2009.

We will be keeping up with these developments here and in our subscriber-only Independent Baseball Insider column.

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BATTING AVERAGES SEEM MINISCULE WHEN COMPARED TO A SERIOUS VEHICLE CRASH

Cory Snyder knows a lot about the ups and downs in the life of a baseball player from his nine-year (1986-94) major league career and his current managerial days, but the Snyder family is dealing with an issue right now that is so much bigger than a batting slump.

The onetime outfielder, who is due to manage the new Maui team in the Golden League this summer, is dealing with a serious auto accident January 10 that has left his second daughter, Amberley, with a broken back and at least temporary paralysis from the waist down.

Amberley, an 18-year-old and the Women's World Rodeo All-Around Champion, rolled her truck while on the way to the stock show in Denver. She was thrown from the vehicle and suffered the broken back along with other injuries. She was taken to a smaller hospital then airlifted to another facility in Casper, WY for surgery.

She obviously is a strong young woman as evidenced from becoming a rodeo champion and current Utah Future Farmers of America (FFA) president at such a young age (she turns 19 in one week) as well as from her own Facebook posts describing the accident, her injuries and her thanks to friends for all of their encouragement.

Cory Snyder, a collegiate standout at BYU and a 1984 Olympian, has managed St. George, UT in recent Golden League seasons.

MANAGERIAL OPENINGS

At least three Independent managerial jobs remain open, starting with Snyder's former post in St. George. The Tijuana team in the Golden League has not yet named a manager nor has the new Pittsfield team in the Can-Am League although there are indications Brian Daubach, who led the team last year when it was known as the American Defenders of New Hampshire (Nashua), will return.

LANGAIGNE'S BAT HOT IN VENEZUELAN PLAYOFFS

Well-traveled Indy outfielder Selwyn Langaigne is hitting .340 (17-for-40 with seven RBI) for the Margarita Bravos in the Venezuelan League playoffs. He was with Shreveport, LA in the American Association last season after three years of United League play at Alexandria, LA, including a career best of .353-9-80 in 2007. He played in the Central League for Rio Grande, TX and Jackson, MS from 2003-05.

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NORTHERN LEAGUE VET'S NEWEST OPPORTUNITY IS WITH PIRATES

Brian Myrow never seems to have a clear path to a major league job despite his 11-year .307 minor league batting average with decent power (115 homers in 3,181 at-bats). We can mark down 2010 as more of the same, though there seems to be some wiggle room for the 33-year-old, whose first two and a half professional seasons (1999-2001) were in the Northern League (Winnipeg).

Myrow moved within Triple-A ranks from the White Sox to Pittsburgh mid-way in 2009, and he made the most of his 62 games for the Pirates in Indianapolis, hitting .330-8-34 with an exceptional .448 on-base percentage. Someone obviously took notice.

This Fort Worth, TX resident's latest major league spring training invitation is with the Pirates where the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette said at the time of Myrow's recent signing his experience at first base (more than 400 games) is "an area where the Pirates might have a reserve need".

Pittsburgh's current look at first base has Jeff Clement and Garrett Jones, lefty hitters like Myrow, with the inside track for the new season. Still, Clement has hit only .237 in his first 75 major league games (none of them were last season), and Jones, .293-21-44 in 82 games last season, has been more of an outfielder than a first baseman. The newest signee, veteran outfielder Ryan Church, could become part of the first base solution.

Myrow's 52 games of major league experience have been divided into three seasons with San Diego and the Los Angeles Dodgers, but he was largely a pinch hitter in those cases.

JAY GIBBONS NOW IN DODGERS' ORGANIZATION

Veteran major league outfielder Jay Gibbons, who logged some time with both Long Island, NY (2008) and Newark, NJ (2009) in the Atlantic League, has signed on with the Los Angeles Dodgers although his name does not yet show up on the Dodgers' non-roster list for spring training. Gibbons, 33 by the time the new season starts, hit .233 in 163 at-bats at Newark.

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MICHEL HERNANDEZ COULD BACK UP MATT WIETERS IN BALTIMORE

If you are anything like me, one way to get through these frigid days that have come to most of the country is to read about the daily baseball signings and the spring training invitations.

While we can rest assured he did not get a fraction of the Jason Bay or Matt Holliday money, Michel Hernandez is among the most recent Independent Baseball refugees to get a major league spring training invitation.

The 31-year-old catcher will be in camp with Baltimore where his defensive skills may give Hernandez a chance to continue his big league career. Hernandez, whose 25 games for Somerset, NJ of the Atlantic League in 2007 provided a very nice springboard to the majors, would seem to be the top choice right now to back up Matt Wieters. Hernandez hit .242 in 35 games for Tampa Bay last season after serving as the backup catcher throughout the Rays' American League championship run at the end of 2008.

Non-roster invitations are starting to cascade in, and we hope to have a complete current rundown in Thursday's Independent Baseball Insider, the first of 41 such efforts for subscribers in the new year.

JOLIET HAS TWO OPEN TRYOUTS THIS WEEKEND

It is not often when an Independent team strays far from its home base to hold tryout camps, but the Northern League's Joliet Jackhammers are doing just that this week. Manager Chad Parker will look for players at noon this Saturday at San Diego Christian College and at 10 a.m. Sunday at the Masters College in Los Angeles. Downloadable registration forms are available at www.jackhammerbaseball.com.

FARGO BUILDS IT RADIO BASE

I found two things intriguing about the new radio agreement signed by Fargo, ND, another Northern League team.

The RedHawks say The Fan (AM 740) covers more than 100,000 square miles with its daytime coverage, the fifth largest territory for a station in the United States. While day games are usually limited to Sundays and special camp or school days, those contests give Fargo quite a reach. As intelligent marketers, Fargo's agreement with The Fan allows the team to cross-promote on all other stations in the home area.

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