The Dodgers have hired Hall of Famer Greg Maddux and 19-year big league veteran Raul Ibañez as Special Assistants to the Dodgers President of Baseball Operations Andrew Friedman and the team’s Baseball Operations Department.
In their roles, Maddux and Ibañez will assist in all aspects of baseball operations, including scouting, player development and working with the club’s players, both at the major and minor league levels.
Maddux, 49, pitched in 23 big league seasons with the Cubs (1986-92, 2004-06), Braves (1993-2003), Dodgers (2006, ’08) and Padres (2007-08), compiling a 355-227 record with a 3.16 ERA in 744 games (740 starts). The four-time National League Cy Young Award winner, eight-time All-Star and 18-time Gold Glover retired with the eighth-most wins in MLB history and was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 2014, his first year on the ballot, with 97.2% of the vote.
Following his playing career, Maddux joined the Cubs’ front office in 2010 as an assistant to general manager Jim Hendry before spending four seasons in the Rangers’ organization (2012-15), where his brother Mike was the pitching coach, as a Special Assistant to General Manager Jon Daniels. He also served as the pitching coach for Team USA during the 2013 World Baseball Classic.
Ibañez, 43, will gain his first front-office experience following a 19-year big league career with the Mariners (1996-2000, 2004-08, ‘13), Royals (2001-03, ‘14), Phillies (2009-11), Yankees (2012) and Angels (2014). The 2009 All-Star posted a .272 career batting average with 305 home runs and 1,207 RBI in 2,161 games, while making five postseason appearances during the course of his career. The left-handing hitting outfielder/first baseman was originally selected by the Mariners in the 36th round of the 1992 First-Year Player Draft out of Miami-Dade College.
(Article courtesy of Dodgers PR Department)
I believe this is a very positive addition to the staff. Having Greg Maddux on the field with the vast number of pitchers that the Dodgers have will be invaluable. Simply teaching the youngsters the difference between pitching and throwing will be helpful. How to setup the batters. Pitch placement rather than throwing it by them. He is not going to help Kershaw (but he could be a good sounding board), but he could be great for the AAA pitchers, and especially the young bullpen pitchers. Urias, De Leon, DeJong, Stripling, Cotton, Lee, Montas…How often do you get a chance to learn from a HOF 4 time CY winner. Koufax and Maddux on the field at the same time. Any young pitcher that doesn’t soak that up should be moved.
Raul Ibanez can certainly help the youngsters. He is the epitome of perseverance. 36th round draft choice with a 19 year ML career at 1B/OF. Could Cody Bellinger learn from a Raul Ibanez?
Their primary role is going to be scouting and player development. How can LAD go wrong with this.
Is this going to be your home AC? I’ve missed reading your comments. I agree with all you just said.
Fred, I like it here. There is less bickering, more baseball. I miss dueling with Mark and others at the other site, and I know Scott has it up and running again, and I do visit it. I will undoubtedly post there soon enough, but with it being tax season, my days are pretty long as it is.
First order of business, make Ibanez the hitting guru for Pederson. Cannot think of a better guy for Pederson to learn from, not only mechanics but approach to hitting. Kershaw is great, but think how much tougher he would be if he could throw a change-up like Maddux along with his fastball, slider, and curve.
This might sound crazy but when Bonds signed on as Miami’s full time hitting coach I was thinking that he would be better suited as a special assistant and wouldn’t it be nice if Maddux and Bonds were special assistants with the Dodgers.
Maddux will help the Dodgers pitching. I don’t know that much about Ibanez.
I still laugh when I think of some kid pitcher working in the back fields of Camelback and have Maddux and Sandy enter the area… Later on the phone he blurts out, Mom n Dad you wont believe it!!!
It looks like FO will be more populated than the Rosters.
They may have to DFA some suits. But it’s great to see baseball guys coming in!