Wednesday, October 24, 2012

T-Bones, manager come to terms on contract renewal

Tbonesbaseball.com

The Kansas City T-Bones have announced they have renewed the contract of manager Kenny Hook for the 2013 season. Per club policy, terms were not disclosed.

In his first year as manager, Hook guided the T-Bones to one of their best regular-season records in club history, 51-49, and had them in contention for postseason play until the final week of the season.

“Kenny brings an intense amount of energy to the field and dugout every night,” said General Manager Chris Browne. “We’re looking forward to the 2013 season with him in charge.”

Hook, who served as the T-Bones bench coach in 2011, became the club’s manager last spring when Tim Doherty, who had been the manager for two seasons, announced he was accepting a job with the Boston Red Sox as a coaching staff assistant.

“It’s fun to point to the success of back-to-back managers,” Adam Ehlert, T-Bones President, said. “Just like dozens of players who have moved to affiliated ball, Tim was able to parlay his tenure here into a Major League job. That allowed us to promote Kenny to manager last spring. I’m excited to see how Kenny will spend this winter building the team upon last season’s success.”

In spite of finishing the season above .500 for only the second time in franchise history, Hook and his new staff had several key personnel changes.

The 2012 opening day roster of 23 players included only five players from 2011. By season’s end, only eight players from opening day and two from 2011 were on the roster.

“I’m very thankful to John and Adam Ehlert and Chris Browne for showing right away that they wanted me back for next season,” said Hook, who’s a native of the Kansas City area and makes his off-season home here. “It’s gratifying to know they appreciated what I took on this year in short notice, and that they think I’m the right guy to lead the team to better things next season.”