This offseason has brought quite a lot of coaching turnover, yet we’ve not heard anything regarding Red Sox pitching guru Brian Bannister. That’s not only by design, but is included in his contract with the club, Evan Drellich of NBC Sports Boston writes in an interesting look at a key figure in the Boston organization. It seems the Red Sox will continue to enjoy Bannister’s services for some time, even if other organizations might have loftier positions to offer.
Here are some of the latest coaching decisions from around the game …
- The Blue Jays have rounded out their coaching staff under new skipper Charlie Montoyo. Former Double-A manager John Schneider is heading up to the big club, though his precise role isn’t yet clear. Other recent hires include Mark Budzinski as first base coach and Shelley Duncan as field coordinator, as Robert Murray of The Athletic reported (Twitter links). The former comes from the Indians’ staff, while the latter had been managing on the Diamondbacks’ farm.
- Tim Laker has been announced as the new hitting coach of the Mariners. He had been in an assistant’s role with the Diamondbacks for the past two seasons. A former MLB backstop, Laker will be tasked with stepping into the shoes of the legendary Edgar Martinez, who shifted to a broader role as organizational hitting advisor.
- The Dodgers have decided to bring on Robert Van Scoyoc as their new hitting coach, according to Pedro Moura of The Athletic (via Twitter). He is also coming from the D-Backs organization. This’ll be Van Scoyoc’s first stint on a MLB staff, and it comes at just 32 years of age. He’s best known for helping to re-launch J.D. Martinez into stardom as a private hitting coach.
- Needless to say, the Diamondbacks have some holes to fill in this area. Eric Hinske will be part of the picture, as he is set to join the team as the assistant hitting coach, per Patrick Mooney of The Athletic (via Twitter). He will work alongside recently hired hitting coach Darnell Coles. Hinske recently held the top hitting coach slot with the Angels and Cubs.
- In another hitting move, the assistant job of the Pirates will be handled by Jacob Cruz. The 45-year-old was most recently the minor-league hitting coordinator of the Cubs and previously worked in the Diamondbacks organization. A former big-league outfielder, Cruz is slated to pair with new hitting coach Rick Eckstein.
What happened to the rumors in MLBTR? There use to be tons of rumors.
learned something new in first article about your team:
“Typically, clubs grant permission to their staffers to interview for superior titles and jobs elsewhere. But Bosox and Bannister put unusual language in contract: They could deny requests for all but highest level jobs, such as general manager.”
Looks like your pitching coach is here to stay.
Rumors are easy to post…..they are just that. Give me updates on trades in the making. They’ll be coming very soon.
Trade Camargo, Riley, Pache, Wright, Allard for Haniger and Diaz
Camargo is proven MLB player with 20 HRs and 80 RBIs while missing a month, cheap long deal, good D
M’s get 3b,SS,CF, possible TOR guy, and another possible SP of future for them to set their eyes on 2020 with some more trades
Braves then sign Arenado next offseason and a good 8th inning arm
Braves hold on to most of their pitching prospects for 2019 roatation
ATL starting lineup 2020
1. Inciarte (assuming rebound season)
2. Acuna
3. Freeman
4. Arenado
5. Haniger
6. Albies
7. Swanson
8. Contrares?
Unstoppable 2-5 are all posible top 15 in MLB at 2020
Let prospects develop and see who is best for rotation
8th inning arm (referenced above)
Diaz
for late innings
Looks good for the M’s as in 2021 they should have:
White at first, Riley at 3rd, Camargo at 2nd, and then either trade for a SS prospect or sign an established one.
An outfield of Smith, Pache and Rodriguez(probably wouldn’t be ready until mid season).
Rotation of Gonzalez, Wright, Sheffield, Gilbert and Allard. With Sam Carlson and whoever comes back in a Segura trade as depth.
And the one thing they do have in their system is relievers. A catcher would be needed to be added but I am intrigued by their prospect Cal Raleigh.
Also they have Kyle Lewis, Braden Bishop and Josh Stowers who look like they will be quality MLB outfielders while they wait for Rodriguez to develop who by far has the most potential of those 4.
You’re gonna trade for Diaz, Haniger, and Arenado in an off-season when none of those players’ teams want to trade them? I dunno, man.
I believe he means sign Arenado next off season. And Dipoto said he would move Diaz and Haniger if he got blown away, and based off the Paxton deal, the suggested package for Diaz and Haniger seems like one to blow him away.
Sign Arenado in next years off-season not trade
Trade fir haniger and Diaz this offseason
Heard Tim Laker has already been working with Ryon Healy. And since the big thing with Laker is launch angle, should work well with Healy, who decided hitting the ball hard on the ground was his only job.
M’s fans: Sickles has Sheffield rated as their #1 prospect, Don TW as your #6 prospect and Erick Swanson as your #10. Does that make you feel any better about the trade IF you were previously disappointed with the haul?
It’s crazy because the system was so deep last year that none of them were ranking in our top 30 aside from Sheff who was our #1 after Torres and Andular were called up.
No, it just shows how poor the M’s system was.
Every outlet I’ve seen has Don TW rated below Swanson and outside the top 10. But yeah, they have one of the worst if not the worst farm system so it isn’t surprising at all.
I also saw Swanson in the low 20s for NY on mlb.com the night the trade was announced, for the record.
What’s up with the “writers” on this site constantly messing up the Cubs hitting coach situation? I’ve seen more than one article about them saying the Cubs are looking for a replacement for Chili Davis still (which they aren’t, they already hired Anthony Iapoce to replace Chili) and now this article says that Hinske recently held the “top hitting coach spot” with the Cubs when he was just Assistant the one year he wasn’t the 1st Base coach. Weird.
Look, in the Cubs dugout, Joe-Joe opens up a bottle of wine…..they cup a doobee in their palms…..sometimes Hinske coaches 1B, sometimes 3B, sometimes he washes Theo’s underwear…..Iapoce, being new, calls for the pizza (Sicilian only please)……Hickey says “Ya know, boys, when Joe Joe was in Tampa, making minimum wage, he was dumb but cute….now that he gets those millions, he’s just dumb….and too wasted to realize how dumb he is”……
Hickey is no longer with the team. Pay attention, bob (with a small “b”).
Djones with the buzzkill moment. You must be a riot at parties….
Curious as to why retired players who are now coaching are only sometimes linked to their BR page? I find the BR links to be one of the best features of the site.
Could you imagine this site without it?
Hinske started as a great rumor 1st yrs in. glad he realized he can fair better as a coach
Van Scoyoc is another numbers guy, and with no coaching experience. What could possibly go wrong?
The article literally points out his background as a coach.
Come on man, that agenda of yours is making you miss basic things.
It also literally points out that he has only coached privately, never before for a professional team, and if you bothered to read anything about him but the snippet here, that his only previous job with a team was as a “hitting strategist.” So I guess your “agenda” is to tell others they’ve missed something basic when it’s you who have.
Sheesh. Get real already.
He used to run a fully fledged business specializing in hitting – “coaching” players. He’s worked with both the D’backs and Dodgers previously, as a hitting specialist – what else do you think he’d be coaching them on, chess and checkers?
He’s also credited with work as a hitting coach for a number of players individually – some pretty big players with great turnarounds.
Saying he is just another numbers guy is flat out ignorant. And even though you’ve consistently shown you’re quick to put Managements decisions down, this is jumping the gun and making you look silly.
Sort it out mate. If you do know who the guy is, and you still think he’s just a numbers guy, you’re more narrow minded than I thought.
You don’t think it’s even a potential issue that he’s never coached at any professional level? And do you really believe that being a consultant (where you choose your clients) is the same a coaching an entire roster? In your book, this isn’t worth even the slightest bit of consideration? It shall not even be brought up? Why is that?
I’ve heard of only two players he’s helped, Martinez and Taylor. Who are the others? And how did his work as a hitting strategist help in Arizona? Should be not be too difficult to document, if it’s true. Go ahead, make your case, I’m listening.
BTW, you added a key word to my point that I deliberately did not use, in order to make it easier to turn it against me. Not good. Please don’t do that again.
latimes.com/sports/dodgers/la-sp-dodgers-20181126-…
Is everybody is narrow-minded, if they don’t agree with you of course.
The WRONG Edgar Martinez is linked
Sacrilegious!
Someone tell me how a career .241 hitter (Jacob Cruz) is qualified enough to become an assistant of anything, let alone an assistant hitting instructor. That makes my head hurt.