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Casey Candaele (left)—pictured here with outfielder Guillermo Heredia as Seattle Mariners first base coach in 2017—is the new manager of the Vancouver Canadians.

C's RecapThe Vancouver Canadians will have a former Montreal Expo leading the way. The parent club Toronto Blue Jays announced Thursday that Casey Candaele will be the manager for Monty’s Mounties in 2019.

Celebrating his 58th birthday January 12, Candaele completed his first year in the Toronto system as manager of the 2018 Dunedin Blue Jays where he led them to an above .500 finish at 69-68. Before that, he was first base coach of the Seattle Mariners in 2016 and 2017 where he appeared to enjoy his time there despite having to take one for the team in the first base coach’s box.

A free-agent signing by the Montreal Expos in 1982 from the University of Arizona, Candaele made his major league debut on June 5, 1986 at Olympic Stadium against Philadelphia. He collected his first big league hit by doubling off the Phillies Dave Rucker two days later.

Candaele retained his rookie eligibility in 1987 and clubbed his first major league home run against Rick Mahler July 19. The game-tying eighth-inning blast forced the game into extra innings where the host Expos prevailed over the Atlanta Braves. Candaele compiled 23 doubles and four triples to go along with a .272 batting average in 1987 and placed fourth in National League Rookie of the Year voting, won by San Diego Padres catcher Benito Santiago.

A tough start to the 1988 season saw the Expos trade Candaele to the Houston Astros for catcher Mark Bailey. He hit .172 with the Expos but did not fare any batter in the Lone Star State with a .161 batting average. Candaele would resurface with the Astros in 1990 and spend four seasons there. His first season was his best when he batted .286 with a career-high OPS of .761.

Candaele signed as a free-agent with the Cincinnati Reds and Los Angeles Dodgers but he would not get back to the bigs until he joined Cleveland where he played a total of 38 games over the 1996 and 1997 campaigns.

Baseball was in the blood for Candaele as his Vancouver-born mother Helen Callaghan was a player of great renown in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League where she was known as the Ted Williams of women’s baseball. She was among the 64 Canadian-born players inducted in the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame.

The assignment to Vancouver should prove interesting for Candaele as he returns to his late mother’s hometown and may get to re-live his Expos days should the C’s introduce an Expos-style throwback uniforms for a third year in a row. Candaele takes over for Dallas McPherson as he has been promoted to Lansing.

Vancouver Canadians Dallas McPherson Dallas McPherson is moving on to the Lansing Lugnuts after managing the C’s in 2018.

Joining Candaele on the C’s coaching staff is pitching coach Demetre Kokoris who looked after the pitchers at NCAA Division II Point Loma Nazarene University. The 35 year-old Kokoris tweeted about his new job just over a week ago so that was an early indicator long-time pitching coach Jim Czajkowski was not returning to Vancouver. Czajkowski will be the pitching coach for Dunedin instead.

jose_mayorga_running Jose Mayorga will move to the Dominican Summer League to take over as manager in 2019.

The other new addition to the coaching ranks is position coach Danny Canellas. The 23 year-old from Caracas, Venezuela first joined the Blue Jays organization as a free-agent signing October 9, 2017. His Baseball Reference page shows Canellas was a catcher in the Los Angeles Dodgers system in the Arizona League in 2014 and 2015. He also made two appearances as a pitcher in which he recorded three outs. Canellas was assigned to the Gulf Coast League, Lansing and Dunedin but never saw any playing time. He takes over for Jose Mayorga, who will get his first managing gig with the Dominican Summer League Blue Jays after spending the last two years in Vancouver.

Vancouver Canadians Aaron Mathews Aaron Mathews is the lone returnee to the C’s coaching staff in 2019.

The lone holdover from 2018 is hitting coach Aaron Mathews. The 36 year-old spent seven of his eight minor league seasons in the Blue Jays system, reaching Triple-A in 2009. He was drafted by Toronto in the 19th round in 2004 out of Oregon State University.

Vancouver Canadians Jim Czajkowski Jim Czajkowski will be overseeing the development of Dunedin Blue Jays pitcher in 2019.

C-Notes

C's NotesThe Vancouver Canadians are hosting their 9th Annual Hot Stove Luncheon on Friday, January 25 at the Fairmont Hotel Vancouver from 12:00-2:00 pm. Former Toronto Blue Jays manager Cito Gaston will headline the event that supports the Vancouver Canadians Baseball Foundation. CanadiansBaseball.com has

January 8, 2019 ” target=”_blank” rel=”noopener”>a primer on the 1992-1993 World Series-winning manager.

Joining Gaston will be former Blue Jays president Paul Beeston and current general manager Ross Atkins.

C-Tweets

cs-tweetIt’s been a busy off-season for those connected with the Vancouver Canadians. Among the top headlines were former C’s skipper John Schneider joining the Blue Jays coaching staff, the Giants claiming 2015-2017 leftyhander Travis Bergen in the Rule 5 draft and fireballer Nate Pearson lighting up the radar guns during the Arizona Fall League. The following is a collection of tweets made by former and current C’s or about them over the last few months.

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Published by Niall O'Donohoe

My name is Niall O’Donohoe and I am an avid follower of baseball. My blog beginnings began in 2007 with Batter’s Box under the alias #2JBrumfield. The blog formerly known as Niall On Baseball, C’s Plus Baseball strives to deliver plus coverage of the C’s through photos, observations and interviews of the players striving to make it to the major leagues. If you like what you see here, please spread the word about CsPlusBaseball.ca through your favourite social media platform. This blog began just before the C's championship season in 2017 and the goal is to deliver awesome content about Canada’s only affiliated professional minor league baseball club. Thanks a million for being here!