The Nuthouse

I talked to Kash today and he is definitely staying in Wichita. His wife, Jennifer, moved here recently and the two are looking for some good real estate. In fact, he was contacted about a job that would allow him to remain in professional baseball and live here. I told him I wouldn’t say what it was until he officially got the job, but it’s one that’s perfect for him.

Tomorrow I’m going to do my best to post the transcript of the interview I had with Kash a couple days ago, shortly after the news came out that he wouldn’t be coming back to the Wingnuts next season. He had a lot of interesting things to say about why he thinks he was let go, his personality and his managing style, and his possible future plans.

Just for a little self-promotion, since I’m so good at that, I want it known that I had the news about Kash being let go before it was released to the public. The official press release came before I could get it officially confirmed by general manager Josh Robertson, but I had the scoop.

And I’m not saying this is huge, major news. But I don’t get the scoop very often. I actually called Kash to talk about something completely unrelated, but it was related in the sense that it basically forced him to all but tell me he wasn’t going to be back as manager. Next time, though, I’ll do my best to get it confirmed (which Kash wouldn’t do) before the press release.

The speculation can now begin as to who will be the next manager. The obvious choice would be Kevin Hooper, who won the American Association batting title this season and aspires to be a major league manager someday. The only question is whether independent ball is a good starting point for someone looking to eventually break into the big leagues. I actually discussed that with Kash, who had some thoughtful comments on the subject.

If Hooper still wants to play, being the manager would allow the Wingnuts to transfer a lot of his salary and use the cap room saved by that to bring in some better players. It’s an option, but Hooper has a big decision because I don’t know how often an independent league manager has the opportunity to move into affiliated ball in the same capacity.