Peoria Chiefs Announce 2009 Field Staff
Published on December 17, 2008 under Midwest League (MWL1)
Peoria Chiefs News Release
December 17, 2008
Chiefs Announce 2009 Field Staff
Manager Marty Pevey only newcomer to Peoria
PEORIA, IL- The Chicago Cubs and Peoria Chiefs have announced the 2009 Chiefs field staff, which includes three familiar faces. New manager Marty Pevey will be joined by pitching coach Rich Bombard, hitting coach Barbaro Garbey and athletic trainer Kelly Vanhove.
Pevey is a newcomer to the Chicago Cubs organization after spending 13 seasons with the Toronto Blue Jays as a coach and minor league manager. He began last season as the Blue Jays Major League third base coach but was let go along with the rest of John Gibbons' staff on June 20 when Cito Gaston took over. Pevey began his coaching career with Class A Advanced Dunedin as a hitting coach in 1996. He became a manager in 1997 with Rookie Level Medicine Hat. Pevey made the jump to Class A in 1998 when he led the Hagerstown Suns to the South Atlantic League semifinals and an 81-60 record.
He served as the Blue Jays bullpen coach in 1999 before returning to the minors to manage Dunedin for three straight seasons. In 2000, Pevey was named the Florida State League Manager of the Year with an 84-54 record. His 2001 team finished in second place with 71 wins, and his 2002 squad finished fourth. Pevey again won Manager of the Year in 2003, this time after leading the Double A New Haven Ravens to a 79-63 record and an Eastern League finals appearance.
Pevey made the jump to Triple A Syracuse in 2004 and managed the SkyChiefs for two seasons. After a 66-78 record in 2004, Pevey led the team to a fourth place finish in the International League in 2005 with a 71-73 record. He was rewarded with a promotion to the big league club in September 2005 to finish the year as the Blue Jays first base coach. Pevey returned to the Blue Jays as the first base coach for the 2006 and 2007 seasons before making the switch to third base coach in 2008. As a minor league manager, Pevey enters the 2008 season with a record of 541-510 (.515). Among the future Major Leaguers Pevey has managed in the minors are: Roy Halladay, Vernon Wells, Jayson Werth, Alex Rios, Reed Johnson, Ryan Freel, Cezar Izturis, Dustin McGowan, Gustavo Chacin, Mark Hendrickson, Chad Gaudin and Kelvim Escobar.
A 1979 graduate of Windsor Forest H.S. in Savannah, Georgia, Pevey was drafted out of Georgia Southern University in the 19th round of the 1982 draft by the Minnesota Twins. A catcher, he began his playing career with Rookie level Elizabethton in 1982 and hit .284. He was acquired by the St. Louis Cardinals in March 1983 and played five seasons in their system, reaching as high as Triple A Louisville in 1986 and 1987. Pevey was traded to the Montreal Expos in February 1988. He made his Major League debut with Montreal on May 16, 1989 and hit .220 with three RBI and a double in 13 games. He spent parts of the next six seasons at the Triple A level with Montreal, Toronto, Detroit and Seattle before retiring after the 1995 season. In 942 career minor league games, Pevey batted .286 with 42 home runs, 374 RBI and 140 doubles.
As a minor league catcher, Pevey caught the likes of Todd Worrell (84), Joe Magrane (85), Ken Hill (86-87), Jeff Fassero (87), Randy Johnson (88-89), Pat Hentgen (91) and Jamie Moyer (92). He also played alongside Kirby Puckett (82), Vince Coleman (83), Tom Pagnozzi (83), Larry Walker (89), Marquis Grisson (89), Carlos Delgado (91, 94) and Alex Rodriguez (95). Pevey played for current Cubs Field Coordinator Dave Bialas in 1985 with Class A Advanced St. Petersburg, and he also played for former Major League manager Jim Riggleman in 1984, 1986 and 1987. He was an All-Star in 1984 and 1985 and was named the American Association Championship Series MVP in 1988 as Indianapolis won their first of two straight Triple A titles.
Barbaro Garbey returns to the Chiefs as the hitting coach after two years in the same capacity with the Double A Tennessee Smokies. Last season, the Smokies hit .262 as a team while the 2007 squad hit .271. Garbey has worked with the likes of Sam Fuld, Jake Fox, Wellington Castillo and Kyle Reynolds during his two years with the Smokies. Prior to joining the Chiefs in 2006, Garbey coached youngsters at the Total Sports Facility in suburban Detroit. He has also worked in the Detroit Tigers organization as the hitting coach in West Michigan in 2003 and in Oneonta of the New York-Penn League in 2002.
Garbey, 41, made history in 1980 when he became the first player to ever leave the Cuban National team and come to the United States as one of 125,000 who left Cuba in the Mariel Boatlift. The infielder/outfielder signed with Detroit in 1980 and made his debut in April 1984. He played 110 games as a rookie that season getting time at first base, second base, third base, outfield and DH. Garbey batted .287 that season with five homers, 17 doubles and 52 RBI as the Tigers led the AL East from day one and won the World Series in five games over San Diego. Garbey spent the next season in Detroit under Hall of Fame Manager Sparky Anderson before he was traded to Oakland. In 1988 he played in 30 games for Texas before retiring.
The Garbey family has a long history of successful athletic accomplishments both in Cuba and the United States. He is half brother to Livan and Orlando Hernandez, who have combined to win four World Series in the last nine years. In 1978, Garbey was a member of the Cuban National Team that won the World Amateur Championships. His older brother Rolando won Cuba's first ever International Gold Medal in the light-middleweight boxing class at the 1967 Pan American Games and then won a Silver Medal in the 1968 Mexico City Olympics and a Bronze in the 1976 Montreal Olympics. His sister Marcia took 4th at the 1972 Munich Olympics in the long jump, which at the time was the highest ever finish for a Cuban woman in a track event.
Pitching coach Rich Bombard returns to the Chiefs for his second consecutive season and for the third time in four years. The 2008 Chiefs posted a 4.05 ERA under Bombard. Prior to returning to the Chiefs last season, he worked under Jody Davis with the Class A Advanced Daytona Cubs in 2007. He has worked with Garbey in Peoria before as part of Davis's staff in 2006 as the Chiefs claimed the First Half Western Division Championship.
The University of Florida grad has coached in the Tigers, Red Sox and Angels organizations, mostly with Double A and Triple A teams since 1991. He worked as a pitching coach in Double A Jacksonville with Detroit in 1998 before leaving to join the Red Sox system. He served as the pitching coach in Triple A Pawtucket of the International League from 1999 through the 2002 season working with such pitchers as Brian Rose, Tomo Ohka, John Wasdin, Paxton Crawford, Ramon Martinez and Bret Saberhagen. Bombard joined the Angels in 2003 and stayed in Triple A as the pitching coach for Salt Lake in the Pacific Coast League for two seasons. Bombard has coached in the 2000 and 2001 Triple A All-Star Games along with the 1999 Futures Game.
A 1982 10th round pick by the Houston Astros, Bombard pitched two seasons at the University of Florida leading the Gators to two regular-season SEC titles and back-to-back NCAA Regional appearances. In 1981 he went 9-2 with a 5.49 ERA in 13 starts. In the SEC tournament he was the winning pitcher in the championship game to give the Gators their first title in school history. The following season, the right-hander went 11-6 with a 3.46 ERA and 11 complete games in 18 starts. In the '82 SEC Tournament Bombard tossed back to back complete game wins and set four Florida SEC Tournament records that still stand including a 10-inning win. Until 2005 he was the only pitcher in SEC Tournament history to win two consecutive Championship games. Bombard is among the top 10 on the Gators single season pitching list in four categories and top 10 on the career list in two categories.
Kelly Vanhove begins his second season as the Chiefs athletic trainer after beginning his career in 2007 with the Boise Hawks of the Short Season-A Northwest League. A graduate of South Dakota State University, Vanhove spent most of the past off-season in Mesa, AZ working at the Cubs complex. He worked the Instructional League as a strength coach and then helped out with various prospect camps and injury rehabs.
Midwest League Stories from December 17, 2008
- Chiefs Announce 2009 Field Staff, Cubs Caravan Information - Peoria Chiefs
- Peoria Chiefs Announce 2009 Field Staff - Peoria Chiefs
The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.
