The York Revolution named John Halama the team’s next pitching coach on Wednesday morning.

Click here to read the full story.

Halama stats: Drafted by the Astros in the 23rd round in 1994, Halama went on to pitch for the Houston Astros, Seattle Mariners, Oakland Athletics, Tampa Bay Rays, Boston Red Sox, Washington Nationals and Baltimore Orioles. His best big league season came in 2000 when he totaled 14 wins for the Mariners. In six seasons in the Atlantic League, the 6-foot, 5-inch left-hander went 41-29 with a 3.43 ERA in 93 career starts in six seasons. He earned an affiliated contract out of the Atlantic League three years in a row from 2008 to 2010. Last year, he finished fourth in the league in ERA (3.09), fifth in wins (13) and tenth in strikeouts (113). Click here to read about all of his career highlights.

Below are some quotes from conversations I had Tuesday night with related sources:

John Halama

John Halama, new Revs’ pitching coach:

—“It’s not that I can’t physically do it (play anymore). I just thought it was time to move on.”

—“Guys have always asked me questions. ‘What are you seeing while you’re out there pitching?’ I’ll give them my best opinon depending on what they’re asking for. It’s something I’ve been somewhat doing for awhile but without the pitching coach label on me. It’s one of those things where I want to be a part of the game. I really enjoy it. I think I can help out. It’s going to be a tough transition. The good thing about it is having Mason there. He’s been a pitching coach forever.”

—(On his ulimate goals in coaching) “I haven’t thought that far. I haven’t done my one year yet. I know that me personally I’ve always been a person that’s been open-minded. I never try to close every door because you never know when you might need to open it in the future.”

—(On player procurement) “I don’t know anything about that stuff. There’s a lot that I have to learn. It’s not like being at organized ball and making a call to the farm director and tell him that I need an arm. We don’t have that luxury in this league. You have your ten, eleven, twelve pitchers and you have to make due with everything and hopefully they don’t get hurt in that sense. It will be a learning experience. I’m gonna have to learn that, too, and talk to ‘Mace’ about that and find out if there’s anything.”

—(On losing to Long Island in Atlantic League Championship Series) “It is what it is. We played a great series. It was just one of those things where Long Island beat us. They beat us on a squeeze play and we wound up losing the game. They just did us better by one game. On paper we were the better team overall. When you’re playing in a championship series every little mistake adds up.”

Andrew Ball

Andrew Ball, Revs’ baseball operations manager:

—“I think pretty early on Mace (Revs’ pitching Mark Mason) liked him as the top candiate and I agreed with him. (Halama) is comfortable with Atlantic League. He knows the hitters and has ties to guys in Major League Baseball.”

—“We probably had conversations with 10 to 12 people (about the pitching coach job) but it was varying levels of interest. We seriously considered three to five of them.”

—“(Lancaster manager) Butch (Hobson) was pretty high on him. I think he told somebody if (Barnstormers’ pitching coach) Marty (Janzen) wasn’t there, he would’ve loved to have John in Lancaster. He thinks John is going to be an excellent pitching coach and Etch’ (former Revs’ manager Andy Etchebarren) thinks the same thing.”

Butch Hobson

Lancaster manager Butch Hobson:

—“It’s a desire he’s (John’s) had. He’s always one of those guys talking to starting pitchers in the dugout. John is always communicating and is always talking about reading a hitters’ swing in certain situations. He’s a very smart man. He’s going to be great pitching coach.”

— “He’s a class act. He’s a hard worker. He’s a no-nonsense guy.”

—“He’ll do everything he can to make sure every pitcher that he works with has an opportunity to get back (to affiliated/big league ball). He’s been in the (Atlantic) League as a pitcher and got signed to go back (to affiliated ball).”

— “If Marty Janzen wasn’t my pitching coach I’d love to have John Halama. Marty has been with me for three years now.”

—“That last game in Long Island he came in and pitched the sixth and seventh (innings) for us. We were down 4-2. I gathered my guys and told them this is the last time this guy (Halama) is going to pitch, lets go out and try to win this game for him. I think that was a good time for him to go out there and help us win that ballgame. It didn’t turn out that way, obviously. But he did a heck of a job.”

Mark Mason

Revs‘ manager Mark Mason:

—“First of all he brings a lot of knowledge and experience to the coaching staff. As a player he’s been to the highest level in baseball. He knows the (Atlantic League) and he has a great personality, which will allow him to be a really good coach because he knows how to interact with people. For me it was a really good fit for us and a good fit for him as far as trying to get his coaching career off the ground and to get it started.”

—“For me it wasn’t so much about coaching experience. He’s a guy that’s been around a long time. He has a lot of value in a lot of ways. John the person, for me, he has the perfect demeanor to be able to be a coach and be able to interact with the guys. He’s going to coach a lot of guys that have different styles of pitching than him. He’s very versatile as far as being able to talk to guys and see what makes them successful.”

—“I’m not asking John to be part of a player procurment at this point. Obviously if he has guys that he recommends we’re all about that. His focus will be to work with the players he brings in to camp. Just work with guys that are there. His job as a pitching coach is not player procurement. Player procurement is our job. We’re going to try and give him the best talent to work with. He’ll be able to work with anybody we bring in.”

—“He always knows he has me to go to to bounce some ideas off of. But I really want him to be able to say this is his pitching staff and work with those guys the best way he sees fit. I’m going to give him the reigns to that. If we need to talk about things then we’ll do that. I don’t want him to feel in any way confined because I was the pitching coach here the last three years.”

As the Atlantic League’s 2012 regular season nears an end, there were plenty of noteworthy items happening across nearly all eight ball clubs this past week. And none of it involved Roger Clemens. Thanks to a double-header-palooza Saturday, several attendance marks were set league-wide. Hall of Famer Brooks Robinson also made an appearance in York to honor Revs’ manager Andy Etchebarren. And Butch Hobson’s club in Lancaster is nearing the league’s all-time win mark. So, before we get to the transactions, here are some newsworthy items:

Ducks

Ducks: In a ceremony Sept. 11 outside Bethpage Ballpark in Long Island, retired New York City Fire Officer and Long Island 9/11 Memorial President Ken Dolan dedicated a steel beam from the World Trade Center to Frank Boulton and the Long Island Ducks in recognition of their long-time support and friendship of the organization. The piece of steel will be placed on the ballpark plaza in front of the flag poles.

Attendance: The Atlantic League recently announced that three split double-headers in Long Island, Lancaster and York last Saturday along with a regularly scheduled doubleheader in Bridgeport has earned the league a new one-day attendance record of 36,979 breaking the old record of 30,257 for 5 games featuring a split double-header in Long Island on September 17, 2006. Saturday’s attendance for the double-headers was led by Long Island with 12,388 while Lancaster drew 11,189 and York totaled 10,622. Bridgeport rounded out the day with 2,780 for the new league total.

The league said the new daily total swelled the 2012 attendance to an all- time record of 2,257,334 easily besting the previous high-water mark for the league set in 2008 at 2,208,734 with 28 dates remaining.

One of many fans signs a large “Thank You” card for Andy Etchebarren on Sunday. John A. Pavoncello photo.

Etch: The York Revolution honored skipper Andy Etchebarren, who is retiring at the end of the year, prior to Sunday’s game. After Hall of Famer Brooks Robinson chatted about Etch’s success, the team honored Etch’ with a plaque that will be hung in the stadium concourse. The Revs are also retiring Etch’s No. 8 Revs’ jersey – the first game-worn Revs’ jersey number to be retired. It’s the third jersey number to be retired by the club, joining No. 42 (Jackie Robinson) and No. 5 (Brooks Robinson). Speaking of Brooks and Etch, check out the recent article from the Baltimore Sun discussing the iconic 1966 World Series photograph, with quotes from several O’s players that day, including Robinson and Etch.

Butch Hobson

Hobson: Since Etch and Lancaster manager Butch Hobson, both good friends, are competing against each other presumably for the final time (Etch’ is retiring at the end the season) when the playoffs start next week, I just wanted to point out a recent (and fantastic) article from Lancaster reporter Mike Gross on Hobson and his success to this point. Hobson’s club is nearing the league’s all-time win mark – they need just two more wins in the final six regular season games to set the new record. Hobson also makes quite a declarative statement in the article regarding his championship aspirations.

State College update: A few months ago Opening Day Partners’ chairman Peter Kirk sent a letter to State College Spikes officials expressing interest in bringing the club into the Atlantic League. Well, it appears that won’t be happening, at least not any time soon. The Spikes’ Player Development Contract with the Pittsburgh Pirates expired after this season. The Pirates and Spikes, part of the short-season New York Penn League, have been struggling to reach a new deal since then. News broke late Sunday that the Spikes have apparently reached a PDC with the St. Louis Cardinals for the next two seasons. The Centre Daily Times first reported the news.

Now on to the transactions….

Several clubs were very active in the last seven days mainly thanks to the Sept. 17 deadline for Atlantic League clubs to sign players that have yet to be involved in previous transactions with their clubs this season. A total of 10 players and five Atlantic League teams were involved in transactions last week. Seven of those players were acquired via trades. One is a former big leaguer.

RHP Mike Ness

BRIDGEPORT BLUEFISH: Acquired RHP Mike Ness from New Jersey Jackals (Can-Am League)

Ness, 24, joins the Bluefish during his third season of pro ball. The right-hander split time earlier this season between Can-Am clubs Newark and New Jersey. In 20 combined starts, he posted an 11-3 record with a 3.15 ERA and 97 strikeouts over the course of 143 innings pitched. The New Jersey native is just two years removed from playing at NCAA Division I Duke University, where he went a combined 9-9 with a 4.58 ERA in 85 appearances (10 starts) during his four years there. The Houston Astros drafted Ness in the 33rd round in 2010. The 6-foot-4 righty spent all of the 2011 season at High Class A Lancaster, putting up a 4-6 record and 5.98 ERA in 42 games (one start).

RHP Steve Fox

CAMDEN RIVERSHARKS: Acquired RHP Steve Fox from New Jersey Jackals (Can-Am League) in exchange for a player to be named later, acquired RHP Adrian Martin and RHP Jon Velasquez from Rockland Boulders (Can-Am League) in exchange for 2 players to be named later; traded RHP Leo Rosales to Long Island to complete the previous trade for OF Reid Gorecki

Fox comes over to Camden after posting a 13-3 record and 3.57 ERA in 20 starts for New Jersey this season. He also pitched in one playoff game for the Jackals, holding Quebec to three runs on seven hits in 5.2 innings of work. Fox, 26, is in just his fourth pro season – spending three of those in indy ball. He spent all of the 2010 season in the Boston Red Sox minor leagues, pitching mostly at Low Class A Lowell, where he went 4-2 with a 4.96 ERA in 16 relief appearances.

Martin, 28, might another big upgrade for Camden – “upgrade” referring to Camden’s roster next year if he stays on board seeing as how the ‘Sharks are out of playoff contention in 2012. The 6-foot-1 right-hander collected a 6-3 record and 1.26 ERA with 19 saves in 46 relief appearances for Rockland this season. The former Long Island Ducks’ pitcher and longtime Toronto Blue Jays’ prospect has been in Rockland for the past two seasons. He topped out at Class AAA Las Vegas (Jays) in 2009.

Velasquez, 26, is a former Philadelphia Phillies prospect who has also spent his time playing in Rockland since 2011. Signed by the Phils’ as an undrafted free agent in 2009, Velasquez mostly played at High Class A Clearwater the next two seasons, collecting a 3.25 ERA there in 58 combined games (18 starts). The right-handed starter had a 4.95 ERA and 6-7 record this season for Rockland, striking out 85 and walking 60 in 129 innings.

In 34 appearances for the ‘Sharks this season, Rosales put up a 1.52 ERA.

LHP Matt Way

LONG ISLAND DUCKS: Acquired LHP Matt Way from the Laredo Lemurs (American Association) in exchange for future considerations; acquired RHP Leo Rosales from Camden to complete the previous trade for OF Reid Gorecki; signed RHP Chris Flinn

Way, 25, comes to the Atlantic League for the first time in his short career. Once considered a big-time Phillies’ prospect, Way was cut by the Phils in March mainly thanks to injury issues he battled during his three years in the organization. His 2010 season was cut short due to back inflammation and he subsequently missed all of the 2011 season. Just three years removed from playing college ball at Washington State University, the Alaska native had a 10-7 record and 3.98 ERA in 20 starts and one relief appearance for Laredo this season.

Rosales is a former big leaguer who joined the ‘Sharks in early July. The 31-year-old reliever is a former 20th round draft pick of the San Diego Padres in 2003 who later reached the majors with the Arizona Diamondbacks in 2008. In all, Rosales has 76 games of big league experience under his belt, with a career 5-2 record and 5.01 ERA in the majors, having last pitched there with the D’Backs in 2010. It’s unclear where he played, if at all, in 2011. In 34 appearances for the ‘Sharks this season, Rosales put up a 1.52 ERA.

Flinn had returned to the Ducks in early July for the second year in a row after putting together a 1.59 ERA in four games with the Ducks in 2011. But Long Island released the right-hander in the third week of August after he had an 0-4 record and 13.20 ERA over seven games (three starts).

OF Rian Kiniry

SOMERSET PATRIOTS: Released OF Rian Kiniry

Kiniry, 25, is a former Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim prospect who came to York earlier this season after hitting .142 in 60 games at Class AA Arkansas. But the Revs shipped him to Somerset a short time later after he batted 2-for-11 (.182) with an RBI in three games in a Revs’ uniform. He hit just .233 with five RBIs and 11 runs scored in 46 games for the Patriots.

RHP Mike Benacka

YORK REVOLUTION: Acquired RHP Mike Benacka from Laredo Lemurs (American Association) in exchange for a player to be named later

Benacka succeeded as Laredo’s closer this year by posting a 2-2 record, 2.39 ERA and 12 saves in 43 appearances. The 6-foot-2 right-hander struck out 92 and walked 35 in 52.2 innings of work. He played college ball at Lindenwood (MO) University before joining the independent Frontier League’s River City ball club in 2007. He would be picked up the next year after starting off the season with River City by going 3-0 with a 0.35 ERA in 22 appearances. The Oakland Athletics picked him up that year and assigned him to High Class A Stockton. Benacka, 30, reached Class AAA Sacramento in 2009 and would accumulate 54 games there through 2011, posting a career 6-4 record and 3.84 ERA there.

Gaetti

In the coaching realm, Gaetti has coached the Houston Astros Class AAA New Orleans Zephyrs team for three seasons and Tampa Bay’s Class AAA affiliate Durham Bulls for two seasons. More recently, he served as the Astros full-time hitting coach from 2004 to 2006.

But of all his accomplishments, Gaetti has one daunting challenge ahead of him.

As the new manager for the Sugar Land (Tex.) Skeeters, Gaetti will have the task of learning how to put together a roster for the first time ever in the independent Atlantic League.

“What’s different in this league is finding guys. If you’ve managed, you’ve managed. But acquiring players and keeping players and keeping them healthy, it’s just different,” Lancaster Barnstormers manager Butch Hobson said Thursday before a game against the York Revolution.

The Skeeters recently named Gaetti its first manager of the franchise. Earlier this season, Gaetti spent a week with the Barnstormers to check out the Atlantic League.

“He was at games at the ballpark. He got to see the kids work. He got in there and worked with the hitters a little bit. He was in the dugout with me and asked questions,” Hobson said.

Gary Gaetti’s career speaks for itself. He played for six different teams: the Minnesota Twins (1981-90), California Angels (1991-93), Kansas City Royals (1993-95), St. Louis Cardinals (1996-98), Chicago Cubs (1998-99), and Boston Red Sox (2000). A two-time All-Star infielder (1988-89), Gaetti won four Rawlings Gold Glove Awards (1986-89) and earned a spot on The Sporting News’ Silver Slugger Team (1995).

Gaetti isn’t completely new to the league, though. His son, Joe, played 116 games for the Barnstormers in 2010.

To ease his transition into the Atlantic League as a manager, Hobson said the league has asked him to help Gaetti in putting together his 2012 roster this off-season.

“We talked a lot about that when he was here,” Hobson said. “From what I gather, I’m gonna help him do that. And I’ve done that before with (York Revolution manager Andy) Etchebarren and I’ve helped (Southern Maryland Blue Crabs manager Patrick) Osborn.”