After eight games on the road, there's obviously going to be a fair amount of ground to cover in the clubhouse. Today is no exception. Here's what various members of the Thunder had to say:

Pitching coach Tommy Phelps, on Manny Banuelos' mechanics, and how they've affected his control this season:

"He's just getting late with his separation and his rhythm's off. (We're) just trying to get his tempo a little quicker and get some rhythm in his delivery so he can be more natural and be like he used to be. Sometimes he gets real slow and deliberate, and it gets too mechanical and he can't let his natural ability take over."

On whether the problems mechanically are causing his command issues this season:

"I think so. ... Even last year, he didn't command the ball really well. He threw a lot of strikes, but there's a difference between commanding and throwing strikes. He's starting to get really good to the glove side of the plate, which is good for a pitcher. His arm side's getting better; a lot of times his ball will run off the plate, but he's getting better at commanding the fastball."

Phelps, on Pat Venditte's mental struggles and how a pitching coach deals with that side of the game:

"That's a part you deal with. It's not just mechanics, curveball, fastball; there's a lot of mental aspects that are a part of it. I think it's just him getting comfortable and realizing his stuff is good enough here to get hitters out, as it was at every other level."

"You support him and you give him positive feedback. Keep pushing him in the right direction, and when he starts having success, the confidence naturally comes right after that. It's just a matter of him getting out there and getting the opportunities and doing it over and over again. He's going to have success with his stuff, and he's a great competitor."

"Even when he was a struggling he was a hard worker. Now that he's having success, he's working hard or harder. His focus and his determination is second to none and he comes to work to get prepared every day to get himself better, and it shows in the way he's pitching."

The Trenton Thunder, the Double-A affiliate of the New York Yankees, announced on Wednesday that Tony Franklin will be back as Manager for his fifth consecutive season in Trenton.

Franklin will be joined in the dugout once again by pitching coach and former Major Leaguer Tommy Phelps. Julius Matos and Justin Pope will both make a return to Trenton in different organizational roles. Matos, who was a coach for Trenton in 2008 will serve as the Thunder Hitting Coach while former Trenton pitcher Pope will make his Double-A coaching debut. Athletic Trainer Tim Lentych will return for his fourth season and strength coach Kaz Manabe joins the Thunder after spending 2010 with Charleston (Low-A affiliate of the New York Yankees).

“We are thrilled to welcome Tony and his staff back to Trenton,” Thunder General Manager Will Smith said. “Since Tony arrived in Trenton four years ago, he has made many positive contributions on the field and in the community.”

Franklin guided the Thunder to back-to-back Eastern League Championships in 2007 and 2008. Last season under Franklin the Thunder finished with the the best record in the Eastern League (83-59) and another Eastern League Championship Series appearance.

The 2008 Eastern League Championship was Franklin’s third title as manager. In 1993, he led South Bend (Single-A affiliate of the Chicago White Sox) to the Midwest League Championship. Prior to his time in Trenton, Franklin spent most of the last 11 years as the Minor League Infield Instructor for the San Diego Padres. His managerial career began with the White Sox organization as the manager for Geneva (NY) of the New York-Penn League in 1982.

Franklin spent four seasons in Geneva, making the playoffs in 1985. After one season with Wytheville (Appalachian League), he guided the White Sox affiliate in the Florida State League, the Sarasota White Sox, to a playoff appearance in 1989. Franklin spent two years as the skipper of the Birmingham Barons of the Southern League, including 81 wins in 1991 and a berth in the Championship Series.

While in Birmingham, Franklin was the manager of former Heisman Trophy winner Bo Jackson. Before Trenton, his last managerial stint came with Las Vegas in 2000. Franklin filled in for Duane Espy and guided the Stars to a 43-50 mark.

Franklin was honored by San Diego in 1997 with the Jack Krol Award for Outstanding Minor League Instruction in the Padres’ organization. He and his wife, Haiba, have three children Derrick, Wayne and Shelby.

Tommy Phelps will embark on his third season as the pitching coach for the Thunder. Phelps pitched for the Florida Marlins in 2003 and 2004. During 2003, he went 3-2 with a 4.00 ERA in 27 games (seven starts) for Florida. He was part of a Marlins team that won the World Series over the Yankees. He pitched in 29 games for Milwaukee in 2005. He went 7-4 with a 4.45 ERA in 2006 with Columbus (Triple-A affiliate of the New York Yankees). Phelps was originally an 8^th round pick by Montreal in the 1992 draft.

Julius Matos makes a return to Trenton as the 2011 Thunder hitting coach, replacing Frank Menechino. Matos made his coaching debut in 2008 with the Thunder and has spent the past two seasons as the hitting coach for the Tampa Yankees (Single-A affiliate of the New York Yankees). Originally selected by the Indians in the 16th round of the 1994 draft, Matos played parts of 13 seasons for the Cleveland, Arizona, San Diego, Kansas City, Toronto and Montreral organizations. Matos played 104 games at the major league level with the Padres (2002) and Royals (2003) and batted a combined .244 with four home runs and four doubles.

Justin Pope begins his first season as a coach with Trenton after spending 2010 in the same capacity with the Staten Island Yankees (Short Season-A affiliate of the New York Yankees). Pope played parts of three seasons with Trenton ('05-'07) and currently holds the franchise record in career saves (58). A first-round draft pick by St. Louis in 2001, Pope played for eight seasons in the minor leagues and was acquired by the Yankees in 2003 as part of a trade that sent Sterling Hitchcock to St. Louis.

Tim Lentych returns to Trenton for his fourth season as the Athletic Trainer. The 2009 Eastern League Athletic Trainer of the Year spent the prior three seasons as the trainer for the Charleston RiverDogs (Low-A affiliate of the New York Yankees). In 2004, he began his stint with the Yankees organization as the trainer for the Staten Island Yankees. Lentych received his B.S. from Ball State University in 2002, and his M.S. from the University of Tennessee in 2004. He has completed internships in athletic training with the Baltimore Orioles in 2001, and the Tennessee Smokies (former Double-A affiliate of the St. Louis Cardinals) in 2003.

Kaz Manabe joins the Thunder as the Strength and Conditioning Coach, after spending the previous two season with Charleston. A native of Japan, Manabe graduated from Hiroshima University and earned his Master degree in Kinesiology from California State University, Northridge.

TRENTON — For the fifth season in a row, Tony Franklin will manage the Thunder.
Reached at his home in Los Angeles, Calif., the manager was happy to remain in the Yankees’ organization, even if it meant not moving upward, something he has repeatedly expressed his desire to do.

“I’m happy to be coming back,” he said. “I really enjoy being there. I’ve said it before: Working in Trenton and living there for four years, this being my fifth, it’s not a bad deal. It’s not bad.
“Some people may look at it as being stagnant and whatnot, but I don’t look at it that way.”

Just because he’s happy to be coming back, however, doesn’t mean he didn’t look elsewhere.
After the season ended, he told Senior Vice President of Baseball Operations Mark Newman and farm director Pat Roessler that he was continuing to try to find an open job in the big leagues, and that he would be sending his resume to clubs with vacancies.

“I sent out some resumes and made some contacts, and nothing happened,” he explained. “That’s baseball, and I understand that’s how baseball goes. I’m just fortunate enough that I’ve got a place to come back to. Some guys may not have a place to come back to.”

Also returning to the Thunder for 2011 is Tommy Phelps, the team’s pitching coach for the last two seasons.

When it came to his pitching coach, Franklin couldn’t lavish enough praise.

“I cannot tell you and say enough good adjectives about Tommy Phelps,” he said. “What a guy. One of the nicest men I’ve known in baseball, one of the nicest men I’ve known, period.”

Oh, and he can coach a little, too.

Under Phelps, Trenton pitchers have fanned 2,235 hitters over two seasons and have accrued a combined ERA of 3.60.

“Very knowledgeable. Does everything he can to get the pitchers to be better pitchers, and gets the most out of them,” Franklin continued.

Taking the place of hitting coach Frank Menechino, who has taken a role with the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees, is Julius Matos, who filled the same role with the club in 2008.

He was High-A Tampa’s hitting coach for the last two seasons, and has a history with Franklin that dates back to when both were members of the Padres organization.

“Julius has been there before with me. He’s been on a championship team, so he certainly knows what it takes to, on a daily basis, prepare to play the game.”

Rounding out the 2011 field staff is Justin Pope, who pitched for the Thunder in parts of four seasons. He spent last season getting his feet wet as a coach with the Staten Island Yankees, the organization’s Short-Season affiliate.

“He’s out there trying to earn his spurs, like the majority of us have done who have been in this industry and coaching for a while,” Franklin said, referring to Pope.

“What I think he’s going to bring, and what I think the most important element of any coach, is character. ... I’m very excited about him being on our staff.”

Tim Lentych returns for his third season as the team’s trainer, and Kaz Manabe joins the staff as the strength and conditioning coach.

Manabe spent the last two seasons in the same role with the Charleston RiverDogs, the Yankees’ Low-A affiliate.

Today is the first day of the MLB Draft, which begins at 7:00 p.m. on the MLB Network. The first round and the compensation round will be televised. I wrote this story for today's Trentonian about the conflicting strategies of the Yankees and Phillies. Both World Series participants have done well over the last few years of the draft, but their approaches recently couldn't be more different.

Additionally, over the last several days covering the Thunder, I've collected brief interviews with a few players and coaches detailing what they remember from the day they got drafted. Below are clips from those conversations with (from top down) Tommy Phelps, Brandon Laird, Josh Schmidt, Lance Pendleton and Ryan Pope.

Here are some pictures I took the other day while watching Thunder starter Hector Noesi -- who will start on Thursday against Erie -- throw a bullpen session. As you can see by his expression in the background, pitching coach Tommy Phelps is clearly happy with what he sees.

Pictures are as follows: Top Row - Jeremy Bleich, David Phelps. Second Row - Tommy Phelps and Cory Arbiso; Jesus Montero and Eduardo Nunez. Third Row - Ryan Pope, Grant Duff.

As the post says, I was at Media Day from 1 p.m until about 3 p.m. While there, I spoke with Lance Pendleton, Wilkin De La Rosa, Josh Schmidt, Tommy Phelps and Tony Franklin. Look in tomorrow's The Trentonian for a story about Pendleton and De La Rosa, and their transitions from starters to relievers.

I'm going to get started on that now, but to tide you over, here's a picture of the entire team. I think it sets a record for most people blinking in one shot. Enjoy.

Today, starting at 1 p.m., I'll be joining my colleagues at Waterfront Park for Media Day. For those of you who don't know, this is the day when the team makes the players and coaching staff available to reporters (and photographers/videographers) for a couple of hours before their inaugural batting practice and workout.

Normally, I'd be very hectic knowing I had only a couple of hours to round up and interview all the team's top players. This year, however, because I spent a few days down in Tampa for spring training, a good portion of my work is already done. I've already spoken with Brandon Laird, Austin Romine, David Adams, D.J. Mitchell, Jeremy Bleich, Christian Garcia, Damon Sublett and Tony Franklin (though I probably will speak to him again).

That means today I can focus on filling out my notebook by interviewing (the elusive) David Phelps, Tommy Phelps, Dan Brewer, Austin Krum, Kevin Smith, Josh Schmidt and the rest of the Thunder.

Of course, as you've seen so far on this blog, this year The Trentonian is expanding its coverage of the Thunder with videos and pictures (well, we've always taken pictures, but I'm new at it) on this blog and on the paper's Web site.

Check the blog this afternoon for full coverage, and be sure to pick up a copy of The Trentonian tomorrow for stories from the day that was. Additionally, remember to check newsstands on Thursday (Opening Day) for The Trentonian's special Thunder section. You don't want to miss it.

By spending the morning in minor league camp before heading over to George M. Steinbrenner Field for the Yankees vs. Future Yankees game, I was able to get confirmation on 16 of the 24 available spots on the Thunder's Opening Day roster. After speaking with Tony Franklin, Tommy Phelps and a few of the players, here's what I have so far:

C - Austin Romine
2B - David Adams
3B - Brandon Laird
OF - Edwar Gonzalez
OF - Dan Brewer
OF - Damon Sublett
OF - Austin Krum
SP - Christian Garcia (Will start on Opening Day, per Phelps)
SP - Ryan Pope
SP - Jeremy Bleich
SP - David Phelps
SP - D.J. Mitchell
RP - Wilkin De La Rosa
RP - Lance Pendleton
RP - Josh Schmidt
RP - Cory Arbiso

That's 7 position players and 9 pitchers. Given those numbers, here is what I believe the rest of the team will look like:

C - Jose Gil
1B - Kevin Smith
SS - Walter Ibarra
IF - Luis Nunez
RP - Pat Venditte
RP - Grant Duff
RP - Phil Bartleski
RP - Adam Olbrychowski

Of course, there are some surprises here. Pendleton and De La Rosa in the bullpen is an interesting way to turn seven starters into five. Additionally, it gives them a host of guys who can eat up innings should one of the starters get knocked around, or, as happened so often last year, rain necessitates a doubleheader.

The fact that Schmidt is back in Double-A is positively shocking news. He did nothing but dominate last season, and was fantastic in the Venezuelan Winter League. What more can he do to earn a trip to Scranton?

Additionally, Matt Cusick, last year's second baseman for part of the season, will start in Scranton. Cusick called the promotion "a curveball."

That's all for now, but check back later for tonight's Web chat to wrap up my stay in Tampa.