Monday, November 15, 2010

DIAZ STEPS DOWN AS OAXACA MANAGER

Baseball Mexico’s 2010 Mexican League Manager of the Year, Eddie Diaz, has resigned from his job as pilot of the Oaxaca Guerreros to take a full-time position scouting for the Tampa Bay Rays.

The 47-year-old native of San Pedro de Macoris, Dominican Republic broke into pro baseball with the Yankees organization in 1980 when he played both pitcher and catcher as a 16-year-old in the rookie Gulf Coast League (he was 2-2 with a 2.30 in 17 relief appearances and batted an even .200). After converting to catcher with Atlanta's GCL team in 1981 and hitting .256, Diaz was out of organized baseball for a season before spending two more years as a catcher in the Cleveland Indians system in 1983 and 1984.

As a manager in Oaxaca this season, Diaz led the Guerreros to an 18-game turnaround from a 42-63 record in 2009 to a 60-45 mark last summer, finishing second in the LMB South both halves and a division finals berth against Puebla despite a season in which the Guerreros had a home series cancelled and faced the possibility of a mid-season move out of Oaxaca due to a workers strike at the college-owned ballpark where the team plays its home games.

Diaz will continue to manage the Obregon Yaquis in the Mexican Pacific League this winter.

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