Carminucci enjoying challenging road life

Three months after being officially hired as the Bangor Lumberjacks manager and then losing his job within a week when the team folded, Chris Carminucci is living out of an extra-large gym bag.

Life on the road is long, sometimes uncomfortable and challenging, but the man who was Bangor’s hitting coach last year is enjoying it and focusing on the positives.

“As far as being on the road, it’s not affecting me really,” the affable Carminucci said. “I’m thankful for having a job and I’d rather do this than anything else in the world.”

It was a good news/bad news scenario for the 30-year-old New York native, who lost a $25,000-a-year job with Bangor only to be offered a $20,000 job to manage Bangor’s replacement minor league baseball team for the independent Can-Am League. The catch? The team was a hastily-created, low-budget, travelling team which would play its 92-game league schedule entirely on the road.

For Carminucci, who says he is still owed wages from Lumberjacks owner Chip Hutchins, it was a no-brainer.

“I want to be in baseball and I want to manage. This is what I want to do,” he said.

Carminucci is doing it, shoestring budget, disadvantages, hot dog suppers, and all.

“I had about 18 to 25 players who wouldn’t report after we had a trade agreed on just because of the whole road team thing,” he said.

Not only is he managing, he’s been exceeding expectations.

The “Grays” became the first travel team to go .500 or better for a half or full season in either Can-Am or Northeast League (the NEL became the Canadian American Association of Professional Baseball this year) – and possibly independent league – history. They went 23-23 and finished seven games behind first half north division winner Quebec.

“From what I’ve been told, we’re the first road team to ever do that,” he said.

Now Carminucci is trying to overcome a dreadful 1-10 start to the second half by making wholesale changes on the roster and almost totally revamping the pitching staff.

“We just made a ton of changes in the last four or five days. We were exhausted after the last couple weeks, but I think bringing in new blood has helped a lot,” said Carminucci, whose Grays were 3-13 through Tuesday’s games.

Ah, the life of a manager-general manager-coach-assistant G.M. Their … uh, his work is never done.

“There’s a lot of stuff to do and a lot of headaches, but I love it. I love a challenge and I think if you put me in a situation where I had everything, I wouldn’t be comfortable, and I might not do as well,” he said. “I’ve learned a lot about front office duties and responsibilities, which I did some of in college, but the biggest thing for me is being the guy who the buck stops with.”

Having catcher Brad Hargreaves and first baseman-designated hitter Mark Burke – both former Lumberjacks – on the team as official/unofficial player-coaches has helped.

“Brad’s been a workhorse. Same with Burkey, and he’s basically got a broken hand, but he’s playing everyday anyway,” said Carminucci.

Speaking of challenges, Carminucci has had more than even he could have imagined this summer. Wife Laurie fell outside the Carminuccis’ house and broke her knee. The couple has had to hire a nurse for Laurie and a nanny for 2-year-old daughter Emma.

“She couldn’t travel and I couldn’t be around there either, so that was very frustrating,” he said. “She’s getting back on her feet and making a lot of progress.

“She’s been very supportive of all this and still is. She knew what this was going to be like. Well, except for the knee.”

The work put in by Carminucci and the Grays is not going unnoticed.

“I have been contacted by several teams,” Carminucci admitted. “But you know? If the league wants me to do this again, I’d do it in a heartbeat, even if I had other offers.

“The league could have gone with other guys, but they didn’t. They went with me, so I’m very loyal to these guys.”

So what’s Carminucci’s primary focus at the present time?

“The first thing we wanted right away is respect,” said Carminucci. “We’ve been able to beat some good teams and I think they know it’s not an automatic win against us.

“We wanted respect first and foremost, but a playoff spot is our primary goal, and I think we can do it.”

Andrew Neff can be reached at 990-8205, 1-800-310-8600 or at aneff@bangordailynews.net