Nats Hire Herr, Shuffle Minor League Staff

The Washington Nationals announced adjustments to their minor league staff yesterday, adding former major league second baseman Tom Herr as the manager of their new Class A affiliate in Hagerstown and shuffling many of the other managerial assignments.

The assignments, many of which had trickled out over the past few weeks, appear cosmetic in nature, but with the Nationals' stated emphasis on building major league talent from within, there is new pressure on the minor league managers and coaches to produce.

Former major league catcher John Stearns, who served as the manager at Class AA Harrisburg last year -- his first with the organization -- will move up to manage Class AAA Columbus, where the Nationals relocated their top minor league franchise after a two-year stint in New Orleans. Stearns replaces former major league shortstop Tim Foli, who will move to the position of field coordinator, the top roving adviser who is in charge of instituting an organizational philosophy throughout the system.

Scott Little, a former manager in the Los Angeles Dodgers system who was Washington's field coordinator last season, will manage Class AA Harrisburg, a position that was originally offered to former major league third base coach Tony Beasley; Beasley chose to leave the organization. Little will be joined in Harrisburg by Tim Raines, a seven-time all-star outfielder, as a coach.

Herr, who played in three World Series for the St. Louis Cardinals during a 13-year major league career, had been the manager of the Lancaster, Pa., franchise in the independent Atlantic League, where he completed a two-year stint by managing the Barnstormers to the 2006 league championship.

Herr's appointment -- as well as the return of Randy Knorr to the managing job at Class A Potomac, the return of Bobby Henley to manage rookie ball in the Gulf Coast League and the addition of Darnell Coles as manager at short-season Class A Vermont -- means five of the six managers in the minor league system are former major league players.

Washington also scrapped its experiment -- brought on by finances and a late start last season -- to use multiple, part-time roving hitting instructors throughout the minor leagues, hiring Ralph Dickenson to coordinate hitting. Spin Williams returns as the pitching coordinator.