Didier upbeat about 2009

YAKIMA — It’s safe to assume that Bob Didier’s 42nd season in professional baseball was not among his favorites.

One of the reasons for Didier’s duration in the game, after all, has been his competitiveness, and people who like to win as much as Didier usually aren’t happy when their team goes 28-48.

But that was last summer, when the Didier-managed Bears posted the Northwest League’s worst record. Didier will be back in Yakima next season, and in a recent interview sounded optimistic that changes within the Arizona Diamondbacks’ farm system might mean better players for him and the Bears.

“One encouraging thing is that with all these major league free agents, we (the Diamondbacks) will have more top draft picks,” he said by telephone from Tucson. “If we lose free agents, we’ll get No. 1 draft picks or sandwich picks between the first and second rounds, and hopefully we’ll pick up some players.

“They’re also talking about rebuilding the farm system down here. So I think everybody’s hoping for better years for both Missoula and us.”

The Osprey, Arizona’s Pioneer League affiliate, had an even worse season than the Bears. The league’s season is divided into two halves, and Missoula followed a 9-29 first half with a 12-25 second half for an overall mark of 21-54 that was the league’s worst by 12 games.

Yakima’s record was the NWL’s worst by four games, and most observers agree it would have been substantially worse had not Didier and pitching coach Dan Carlson squeezed more from their players’ potential than others might have.

The Bears were easily the league’s worst hitting team with a collective .219 average (Vancouver was second-worst at .234) and also had the NWL’s highest earned-run average at 4.60 with a league-leading 335 walks.

While Carlson will return in last year’s capacity, hitting coach Chris Briones has been replaced by Andy Abad.

When last season ended, Didier and Carlson went south to participate in the four-week Arizona Instructional League in which several Bears took part. Didier said shortstop David Cooper was Yakima’s top contribution.

Didier then traveled to Baton Rouge, La. to watch his son, Beau, take part in LSU’s fall baseball program. The Bellarmine Prep standout could well see varsity playing time next spring as a true freshman, Didier said.

“They’ll start up again in January,” he said. “As for us, last summer was one of those things. It was a rough time for both us and Missoula. Next year we’ll hopefully have a good draft and then we’ll have anywhere from six to nine guys who will come north with us from extended (spring training). And hopefully we’ll all have a good summer.”