From today's Norwich Bulletin....

by beat writer Joe Perez:

"Steve Decker is a no-nonsense kind of guy.

The new Connecticut Defenders manager manages the game the way he played during his seven-year career in the big leagues.

Officially named the team’s skipper Wednesday, replacing Bien Figueroa, Decker said he can’t promise wins, but he can deliver excuse-free baseball, something that had been rampant at Dodd Stadium in recent years.

“One thing I’m really going to harp on to the Connecticut Defenders is our plan offensively, of what the park dictates we do,” Decker said by phone. “We used that field as a crutch. Hitters come up and say, ‘It’s not my fault; it’s the field’s fault.’ Well there’s no reason why you shouldn’t hit for a high average. You’re probably not going to hit for much power, but you’re still going to hit for high average.”

Decker already has his first change in mind: “The first thing that’s going to be done is we’re cutting that grass as short as possible. I’m going to try to bring in as much speed and aggressive base stealing as you’ve ever had there.”

With eight years in the parent San Francisco Giants farm system, Decker has been hands-on in cultivating much of the talent at the lower levels of the system. Decker spent four years as a coach with short-A Salem-Keizer before leading it to back-to-back Northwest League crowns in 2006 and 2007. He took over San Jose last year and guided the team to a league-best 85-55 record.

Now San Francisco’s golden boy of coaching talent will try to turn Connecticut, which hasn’t seen a winning record since 2002, into a contender. A large number of the players expected to make up the team’s roster will have worked under Decker.

“I think it will help a lot,” he said. “They know how they’re supposed to play and how they’re supposed to work and prepare to compete at (game time). My teams have all been character guys. We have good players and guys who are getting better and developing. The one thing you can control is how you go about your business, and that’s one thing that we try to do.”

If nothing else, the promotion of Decker to the helm of the Defenders’ ship is an indication by the Giants how much emphasis is being placed on developing players at the Double-A level.

“I think he is thought of very highly by the organization and will likely entrust him with some of the pride of the system, hopefully, I think speaks volumes,” Defenders General Manager Charlie Dowd said.

Connecticut, which finished 68-73, saw its entire coaching staff purged by San Francisco.

Filling the vacancies are pitching coach Ross Grimsley, who guided Single-A Augusta’s pitching staff to a 3.02 ERA and 18 shutouts a year ago; hitting instructor Garey Ingram, who joins the team from the Midwest League’s Great Lakes franchise; and Augusta’s trainer Eric Ortega takes over as the team’s trainer."

Check out Joe's blog for more Decker stuff. Interesting comments about how he sees the team for '09 and Dodd. Link is on the right.

Picture is of Ross Grimsley as the Norwich Navigators pitching coach in 2003. Welcome back Ross! My brother is is big Orioles fan so I lose the Red Sox guy in Steamer and pick up an O's guy.
Steamer's wife was a fixture at the park also.