Howell to miss Spring Training due to health issues
Assistant pitching coach split assignments between Majors and Minors last season
GLENDALE, Ariz. -- Dodgers assistant pitching coach Ken Howell, beset in recent years by complications from diabetes, will miss Spring Training because of continuing health issues.
"Doing much better, thanks," Howell texted on Sunday.
Howell, 54, was the Dodgers' bullpen coach from 2008-12 until his health made the rigors of Major League travel difficult. Prior to that, he was the club's Triple-A pitching coach, capping seven years on Minor League staffs.
Chuck Crim took over as the Major League bullpen coach last year, with Howell reassigned to a less demanding split of assignments between the Major League and Minor League clubs.
Howell, who attended Tuskegee University and lives in Detroit, played seven Major League seasons, five with the Dodgers, and was traded to Baltimore in the 1988 Eddie Murray trade.