TORONTO — The Toronto Blue Jays are promoting Casey Candaele to manager of the triple-A Buffalo Bisons and bringing back Cesar Martin as manager of the double-A New Hampshire Fisher Cats, according to two industry sources.
Candaele, who joined the organization in 2018 as manager at single-A Dunedin, spent last summer overseeing minor-leaguers not assigned to the alternate training site in his role as field co-ordinator.
He’s expected to maintain those duties in 2021 along with managing the Bisons, where he replaces Ken Huckaby, who was fired late last September amid organization-wide staffing changes and cost-cutting layoffs.
Candaele, 60, managed at short-season-A Vancouver in 2019 while simultaneously serving as practice design/skill development co-ordinator, before transitioning into the field co-ordinator position.
Signed by the Montreal Expos as an undrafted free agent in 1982, the super-utility player appeared in 754 games over nine-big-league seasons, batting .250/.308/.332.
Martin, 41, had his debut as manager of New Hampshire pushed back by the pandemic, and gets another shot at it this year. He was promoted to the Fisher Cats after winning Florida State League manager of the year honours with Dunedin in 2019.
Signed by the Blue Jays in 1998, Martin advanced to short-season A ball before transitioning into coaching.
He spent a decade with the organization’s Dominican Summer League program before coming to North America as the hitting coach at the just eliminated rookie-ball Bluefield in 2014, becoming manager of the rookie-ball GCL Blue Jays in 2015-16, and low-A Lansing in 2017-18.
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