From Quad Cities

The coaching staff of the Quad Cities River Bandits is set.

When the Quad-Cities River Bandits break spring training camp next April, Steve Dillard will almost feel like he’s coming home.

The Midwest League club and its parent organization, the St. Louis Cardinals, announced Tuesday that Dillard will return in 2009 to lead the club he managed to a 68-66 record last season.

“It’s good to be coming back. I’m looking forward to it,” Dillard said in a telephone interview from his offseason home in Saltillo, Miss.

“My wife and I enjoy the area, the league is a good one and Kirk (Goodman, the Bandits’ general manager) and the ownership and staff there have things moving in the right direction.”
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Dillard, who spent eight years in the major leagues as a player, has found that he enjoys working with players at the Class A level.

“I’m at a point in my career where it’s not all about trying to move up. I’ll leave that for the younger guys,” he said. “I just try to be a good influence on the players and do what I can to help them adapt to playing pro ball. Guys at this level learn and listen better than they might five or six years into a career.”

Dillard isn’t the only member of the coaching staff returning.

Hitting coach Joe Kruzel, pitching coach Ace Adams and trainer Brian Puchalski also have been reassigned by the Cardinals to the Quad-Cities staff for next season.

Also set is a stop on the Cardinal Caravan:

On Monday, the River Bandits and Cardinals jointly announced that the 2009 Cardinals Caravan will make its stop in the Quad Cities on Monday, January 19. The event will be held on the suite level at Modern Woodmen Park in Davenport, Iowa. Tickets for the event are $15 and come with an enhanced lunch as well as admission to the program.

Enhanced lunch? What the heck is that?