PEDRO G. BRICEÑO
Carlos José Lugo is still not surprised, after being appointed general manager of Tigres del Licey, a franchise that he thought would go in another direction in search of his successor Junior Noboa in that position.
Not even a meeting he had with Domingo Pichardo, the president of Licey Athletic Club, at the beginning of the week did not present any suspicion that in the end he will be the most considered person who will hold the position.
“I was really surprised when they gave me the information, not even when I spoke to the team president I noticed no signs that at the end of the meeting it was to spread the news that he would consider me for the position,” Lugo told Listin Diary yesterday, at hours after his appointment as feline leader was announced, a decision that culminated in several weeks of interviews with baseball-related people.
Lugo understands that, in the end, the Licey executive committee noticed the work he has done in the club’s operations in recent years and decided that he is the most suitable person to hold the important executive position.
Carlos José, a native of San Pedro de Macorís, who has shone as a sports analyst on various shows in the Tigres operations team and more recently as a scout for Marlin, doesn’t think much of it when he says this Friday’s achievement is the biggest. achievement in your professional career.
Ah, it is also a challenge that he assumes like any of the ones he has had in his long career, in which he has all gone through the front door.
After his appointment, two hugs and greetings that made his skin crawl were those of his 19-year-old son, Carlos Adolfo, and his father, Adolfo, who was the helmsman who advised him to pursue a career. successful.
“My son observed all my steps here in Operations since childhood, he witnessed my dedication to offer everything I know at any time of the team,” said the new manager by phone.
Manage and strengthen operations
After his appointment, Carlos José will start shuffling the name to find the manager the team will have for the 2021-22 tournament.
Also, in the next few days he expects to travel to training, with the main mission, in addition to having direct contact with members of the franchise.
He is also preparing to strengthen his operations department and hopes to interview a few baseball men to attract him to the team.
Among the first jobs to materialize are the efficiency of the general list of the team and the observation of team members.
Marlins permit
Lugo, after receiving the news, immediately contacted his boss at Marlins, the organization he works for and gave his consent, in addition to the fact that the above executives saw positive and the fact that he became general manager of a team with so much mysticism and history like the Licey team.
“The first thing I did was call Hadi Raad, director of research, and he told me that there were no problems, even when he provided the information to the staff,” Lugo added.
Assuming this position, he made it clear that his work in the club’s broadcast booth is embedded.
The President’s remarks
President Pichardo said that several candidates had been evaluated and, finally, the board of directors agreed and decided unanimously that the person who had to meet all the requirements and the profile of the manager we were looking for, we have within team “, said President Pichardo in the preamble of the announcement.
“I think it is the perfect opportunity for this new manager to develop all his qualities and all his faculties, it is more than known that he is a great connoisseur of baseball; It is more than known that he is an individual who leads and knows baseball from all angles and all its aspects; who knows our team from the bottom up; he knows what our strengths are and he knows our weaknesses very well and, as we know his virtues, we are sure that these weaknesses will turn them into strengths ”, Pichardo meditated about Lugo.
He indicated that the departed manager Junior Noboa was really excellent, that he gave the team many triumphs and whose shoe is difficult to fill, because the board took the time to decide his replacement.
History and trajectory of Lugo
Carlos José Lugo is currently a scout for the Dominican Republic Miami Marlins, as he holds since 2019. He is also an asset of the Licey from 2006-2007 as a transmission chain analyst; since 2013 in the Baseball Operations team. Since leaving Noboa, he has been one of the first to be considered for the position.
The appointment of Lugo Sánchez is rather a promotion to the Glorious Club, as he has been a member of the baseball operations staff since February 2013, where he made significant contributions, among other things, to the management of next-generation statistics (Sabermetrics) and Baseball Analytics, a subject in which he is one of the greatest exponents in the country.
The new manager of Licey joined the club in 2006 as a commentator for the transmission channels, which, with a break, worked until last season. Lugo was born in Santo Domingo on May 8, 1969, but declared in San Pedro de Macorís, where he maintains his official residence.
He has extensive experience in media baseball. In 1987, the new blue manager began as a commentator on a network in eastern Macorís and continued to broadcast major leagues. At the Winter Ball he began his career as a commentator for the Stars in 1996 and ten years later joined the Licey team in the same role, in addition to working for two years in the Dominican Prospect League.
He was part of the first winter baseball broadcast for the United States on Fox Sports World in Spanish. In 2004-05 he was hired for the same job by ESPN, an international network that broadcast MLB games for the United States, two versions of the “Future Stars Game” and the first two versions of the World Baseball Classic (2006 and 2009); as well as for BaseballProspectus. He has written numerous essays and articles on Sabermetrics.
He has a degree in information systems engineering, with a master’s degree in administration from the Autonomous University of Santo Domingo. He worked as an information technology officer for Scotiabanck de Santo Domingo, a position he left to join the Tigres. (Photo: Carlos José Lugo (center) receives a jacket as a protocol for appointing directors. From left, Rafael Úbeda, President Domingo Pichardo, Lugo, Miguel Ángel Fernández and Jaime Alsina).