truebluefan

Treanor to return to 'Topes helm in 2007

The Albuquerque Isotopes today announced the club's field staff for the 2007 season with manager Dean Treanor returning as manager for the third consecutive year. Steve Phillips will also be back as Albuquerque's hitting coach while Rich Gale joins the 'Topes from Double-A Carolina to handle the pitching coach duties. Trainer Steve Miller is also slated to return to the Isotopes in 2007, reprising his role from a year ago.

Dean Treanor, 59, who also managed the Isotopes in their 2003 inaugural year, returns after leading the 'Topes to a 70-72 record in 2006, keeping the team in contention for a PCL American Southern Division crown virtually all season despite enduring a franchise-record 181 roster transactions. Under Treanor's stewardship, Albuquerque has consistently fielded one of the Pacific Coast League's strongest teams, claiming the 2003 Central Division title and finishing just short of another division crown on the last weekend of the 2005 campaign. In his three years as Isotopes manager, Treanor has amassed a record of 222-208. The 2007 season will mark Treanor's fifth as a manager for the Triple-A squad of the Marlins, having skippered the Calgary Cannons in 2002 before accompanying the team on its move to Albuquerque. Treanor spent the 2004 season as Florida's minor league pitching coordinator. Prior to joining the Florida organization, Treanor served as pitching coach in the Los Angeles Dodgers chain, including a year as pitching coach for the 2000 Albuquerque Dukes.

Steve Phillips, 38, resumes his position as Isotopes hitting coach, where last year he helped guide the team to a .288 overall batting average, its highest such mark ever and second highest in the Pacific Coast League. Prior to making his Triple-A coaching debut last year, Phillips spent 2005 as hitting coach of the Carolina Mudcats, Florida's Double-A affiliate. Before joining Carolina, Phillips managed three seasons in the Marlins system, spending 2003 and 2004 with Single-A Greensboro and 2002 with Single-A Kane County. An alumnus of the University of Kentucky, where he was a football and baseball star, Phillips played four years in the New York Yankees organization before coaching in the Montreal Expos chain.

The lone new face on the Isotopes coaching staff belongs to Rich Gale, 52, who joins Albuquerque after a year as the pitching coach for Carolina, for whom he returned to baseball after 11 years away from the game to spend time with his family. In 1992 and 1993 Gale served as pitching coach for the Boston Red Sox, where his charges included Roger Clemens, Frank Viola, and Jeff Reardon. After being drafted by Kansas City in 1975, Gale spent seven years in the Major Leagues with the Royals, San Francisco Giants, Cincinnati Reds, and Red Sox, where he amassed a record of 55-56 and made one World Series appearance with Kansas City in 1980.

Keeping the 'Topes healthy once again will be trainer Steve Miller, 32, who returns for his third straight season at the Triple-A level and his sixth as a member of the Marlins organization. After joining the organization in 2002 with the Single-A Kane County Cougars, Miller steadily ascended through the Florida system, serving as trainer for Single-A Greensboro in 2003 before spending the 2004 campaign in Carolina.

Albuquerque begins its 2007 Triple-A All-Star campaign on April 5th with an eight-game homestand against Omaha and Iowa. For information on Triple-A All-Star Fiesta tickets, season tickets, and mini-plans, please call (505) 924-2255 (BALL) or visit albuquerquebaseball.com: Home.