• The Long Island Ducks announced their 2010 coaching staff on Tuesday. To no one’s surprise, Dave LaPoint will return to manage the team. Kevin Baez will be back as infield coach, and Buddy Harrelson will continue as the team’s part-time first base coach.
Ducks’ all-time saves leader Bill Simas joins the staff as the team’s pitching coach. Simas was 5-4 with a 2.76 ERA and 27 saves for Long Island last year. I wonder if he’s really done pitching or if he’ll find a way back onto the roster at some point this summer.
• The York Revolution announced three more player signings on Thursday, including a pair of Atlantic League veterans.
Outfielder Jose Herrera played for the Newark Bears for four seasons and spent the end of last year with the Ducks. At age 37, he hit .298 with two home runs and 17 RBIs in 43 games. Herrea, the 2007 Atlantic League Championship Series MVP, has a career.325 (532-for-1638) Atlantic League batting average. He played in the majors for Oakland in 1995 and 1996, hitting .264 with six home runs and 32 RBI in 141 games.
Shortstop Liu Rodriguez is returning for his third Atlantic League season. He split last year between the Southern Maryland Blue Crabs and York, hitting a combined .275 with three home runs and 23 RBI. He also played with the Newark Bears in 2006. Rodriguez, 33, has some Major League experience, appearing in 39 games for the 1999 Chicago White Sox.
Pitcher Edwin Walker, 26, is a newcomer to the Atlantic League. He started last year with Gary in the Northern League, where he was 3-0 with a 3.26 ERA in 16 relief appearances. He finished the season with the New York Yankees’ single A affiliate in Charleston, where he was 2-0 with a 0.78 ERA in 14 appearances.
York Daily Record scribe Jim Seip shared his thoughts on the trade that brought Herrera to the Revs and the signing of Walker on his Revs’ Inside Pitch blog.
• Kennard Jones, an outfielder who has played for the Newark Bears and York Revolution, married Tony Gwynn’s daughter Anisha last year. The couple will be featured on WE tv’s “Platinum Weddings” tonight at 9 p.m. San Diego Union-Tribune columnist Diane Bell has Anisha’s thoughts on letting a television crew film the wedding.
PaulHadsall.com 