There is no way to describe it. It was something that you couldn’t put your finger on but immediately felt the instant you saw the team together for the first time back on Opening Day. No, it wasn’t the Dodgers, but rather their Advanced Single-A affiliate Rancho Cucamonga Quakes. You could feel right then – on April 9 2015 at historic Sam Lynn Ballpark in Bakersfield – that this team had an aura about it; a confidence about it; that it possessed that often talked about but seldom accurately defined ‘team chemistry’ thing. You knew… just felt that this team was different; was special.

At the helm was former MLB catcher and veteran California League manager Bill Haselman, who was promoted to the Quakes after a very successful first season with the Low Single-A Great Lakes Loons.

But Haselman was more than just a one-year, Low Single-A manager – a lot more. He spent two successful seasons as manager of the Inland Empire 66ers (Angels) in 2012 and 2013, leading the 2013 team a Cal League Championship title before joining the Dodgers organization in 2014. After his inaugural season with the Loons, Haselman was a late replacement for former Quakes manager P.J. Forbes who resigned suddenly last February for personal reasons.

Haselman was joined by hitting coach Mike Eylward, who was entering his second season with the Quakes after one season with the Loons, and pitching coach Bill Simas, who replaced former Dodgers right-hander Matt Herges, who was promoted to Double-A Tulsa as pitching coach after three seasons with Rancho. Also joining Haselman’s crew was assistant coach Rafael Ozuna, who was given the ambiguous title of “fourth coach” – a newly-created position on every level of the Dodgers farm system to be used for (among other things) translation for the many Spanish-speaking players. But what started out as an assembled group of relatively unknown coaches immediately became what is arguably the best coaching staff within the Dodgers’ minor league system.

You don’t have to be a rocket scientist (or even a baseball scout) to recognize the tremendous respect that the Quakes players have for their manager Bill Haselman. (Photo credit – Ron Cervenka)

Led by Haselman and his crew, the 2015 Quakes set out on a single mission: to win the prestigious California League Championship title – a monumental task when you consider the extremely talent-laden rosters of the defending Cal League Champion Lancaster JetHawks (Astros) and High Desert Mavericks (Rangers); not to mention the perennial Cal League North winning Visalia Rawhide (Diamondbacks) and the Quakes bitter rival San Jose Giants (Giants) – for obvious reasons.

Haselman was blessed to have an Opening Day rotation that included top Dodgers pitching prospect Jose De Leon, John Richy, Zack Bird and Jordan Hershiser and ended up getting Jharel Cotton, Scott Barlow, Chase De Jong, Trevor Oaks, Jeff Brigham, Luis De Paula, Matt Shelton and James Campbell after the season began. But as happens so very often and because it is the very reason for the minor leagues, many of these guys were promoted (or traded) as the season progressed, forcing Haselman and Simas to constantly shuffle their rotation around. Add to this the constant flow of rehabbing Dodgers coming through Rancho and you begin to realize that being a minor league manager or coach is no easy task.

Under Haselman tutelage, the Quakes took over first place in the highly competitive Cal League South Division one week into the 2015 season and never looked back, With his pitching staff and with the remarkable offensive prowess of Cody Bellinger, Paul Hoenecke, Joey Curletta, Tyler Ogle (among others), the Quakes won the league’s first half by a comfortable four-game margin, thereby guaranteeing themselves a berth and first-round bye in the coveted Cal League playoffs.

By now every Dodger fan knows that the Quakes won the Cal League Championship on Saturday night, sweeping the San Jose Giants in three games of the best-of-five series. They received outstanding starting pitching from relative newcomers Chase De Jong, Scott Barlow and Trevor Oaks and clutch hitting by Cody Bellinger (the Series MVP), Alex Verdugo, Jacob Scavuzzo, Paul Hoenecke and Joey Curletta – not to mention their outstanding bullpen that included Michael Johnson, Rob Rogers and Joshua Sborz. The bottom line is that it was a complete team effort with everyone contributing – all of it under the leadership of Bill Haselman and his great staff. It also happened to be the Quakes first-ever Cal League Championship since becoming a Dodgers affiliate in 2011.

The 2015 California League Champion Rancho Cucamonga Quakes.
(Photo courtesy of RCQuakes)

But there’s something else that every Dodger fan knows, too. Last week the Dodgers brass unceremoniously fired 10 minor league managers and/or coaches – including several who had been with the organization for several years and including those who led their respective teams into their respective playoffs this past season. Let go were Triple-A Oklahoma City Dodgers manager Damon Berryhill, his hitting coach and former Dodger Franklin Stubbs, Double-A Tulsa Drillers manager Razor Shines, Low Single-A Great Lakes Loons coaches Glenn Dishman, Angel Sanchez and Jay Gibbons, Pioneer Rookie League Ogden Raptors hitting coach Darryl Brinkley, Arizona Rookie League Dodgers manager Jack McDowell and minor League instructors Rick Rhoden and Erik Bedard.

Of these firings Berryhill’s is the most shocking, as he was voted the Pacific Coast League Manager of the Year only days earlier. And while the Dodgers gave no explanation for the terminations, most believe that it is the continuation to overall the entire organization, which began with the hiring of Andrew Friedman as the newly-created President of Baseball Operations and the firing of longtime general manager Ned Colletti and replacing him with A’s former assistant general manager Farhan Zaidi, and the subsequent firing of longtime drafting guru Logan White and Director of Player Development DeJon Watson, who were replaced by Billy Gasparino and Gabe Kapler respectively.

Speculation is that Berryhill may be replaced by Lorenzo Bundy, who was relieved of his duties as the Dodgers third base coach for the past season and a half and having previously been the manager of the Triple-A Albuquerque Isotopes. Bundy served as the Isotopes manager for three seasons and was “reassigned” as the Dodgers “outfield coordinator” – a newly created position that allows him to remain in the dugout during the games. Bundy lost his third base coaching job after frequent criticism for making poor decisions with Dodgers base runners. He was replaced by former Milwaukee Brewers manager Ron Roenicke, who was let go by the Brewers on May 3 and has done an outstanding job as the Dodgers new third base coach since his hiring on August 17.

But here again, was the Roenicke hiring a precursor to the firing of Dodgers manager Don Mattingly should he fail (for a third time) to bring home a World Series trophy? Some say no but many say yes.

There’s another wrinkle to all of this, a very good one that could make letting Haselman go a bit embarrassing for Friedman and company. Haselman was recently named as manager of the Glendale Desert Dogs for the upcoming (and prestigious) Arizona Fall League, which gets underway on Tuesday, October 13. The AFL has long been considered the premiere off-season league in minor league baseball and among its alumni are countless players who went on to enjoy outstanding major league careers – guys like Mike Piazza, Nomar Garciaparra, Shawn Green, Albert Pujols, Jimmy Rollins, Paul Konerko, Derek Lowe, Carl Crawford and many others. But here’s the kicker – there have also been quite a few former Arizona Fall League managers who went on to become major league managers including Mike Scioscia, Bob Melvin, Ron Washington, Matt Williams and some guy named Don Mattingly.

“It’s an honor, it’s really nice,” said Haselman upon learning of his AFL managerial selection. “I think it’s great that other organizations and stuff thought enough of me to do that. I’m excited to do it, I think it’s great.”

But whatever it is that Friedman and Zaidi are up to with the rash of minor league firings, they would be foolish… absolutely foolish to fire Quakes manager Bill Haselman or any of his coaches – especially when the champagne from their Cal League Championship win isn’t even dry yet.