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Farming

CHICAGO -- The Chicago White Sox announced their on-field player development staff for the 2007 season, which includes managerial changes at all levels of the Sox farm system.
Marc Bombard, who spent the 2005-06 seasons as first base coach with the Philadelphia Phillies, enters his 23rd season as a minor-league manager with Class AAA Charlotte. He was named Minor League Manager of the Year by USA Today in 2002, and his 1,556 victories are the most among all active minor-league managers.

Rafael Santana has been named manager at Class AA Birmingham after going 66-72 in his managerial debut with Class A Winston-Salem in 2006. He also served as first base coach for the White Sox in 2003-04.

Tim Blackwell, who served as the pitching coach for the San Diego Surf Dawgs of the independent Golden Baseball League in 2006, will take over as manager at Winston-Salem. He has posted a 693-771 (.473) record over 12 seasons as a minor-league manager and played 10 years in the majors with Boston (1974-75), Philadelphia (1976-77), the Cubs (1978-81) and Montreal (1977, 1982-83).

Chris Jones has been named manager at Class A Kannapolis following two seasons as manager of the Newark Bears in the independent Northern League. He played nine major-league seasons with Cincinnati (1991), Houston (1992), Colorado (1993-94), the Mets (1995-96), San Diego (1997), Arizona (1998), San Francisco (1998) and Milwaukee (2000).

Chris Cron, who served as manager at Birmingham last season, moves to Advanced Rookie Great Falls, and Omer Munoz, who spent the 2006 season as manager of Kannapolis, will serve in the same capacity at Advanced Rookie Bristol.

In other changes to the player development staff, Wes Clements has been named hitting coach at Winston-Salem, while Larry Owens (pitching coach) and Andy Tomberlin (hitting) were added to Kannapolis' staff. Robert Sasser (Great Falls) and Jerry Hairston (Bristol) will serve as hitting coach at their respective affiliates.

Chicago White Sox 2007 Player Development Staff Assignments