Blue Jays vice president of baseball operations Ben Cherington and Brewers assistant general manager Matt Arnold will get second interviews this week for the Pirates’ GM vacancy, per Jon Heyman of MLB Network and reporter Robert Murray. Cherington and Arnold are reportedly two of three finalists to take over in Pittsburgh. Pirates assistant GM Kevan Graves seems to be competing with them, as Rob Biertempfel of The Athletic tweets that he also appears likely to receive another interview. Meanwhile, even though the Pirates technically don’t have a GM right now, they’re also carrying on their search for a manager. Twins bench coach Derek Shelton has been particularly impressive to the club thus far, Heyman relays.
More staff news from around baseball…
- Cubs first base coach Will Venable has been popular in managerial searches in recent weeks. The Cubs discussed their job with Venable prior to their David Ross hiring, and he also sat down with the Giants in regards to their position before they selected Gabe Kapler. Now that Venable’s not going to land a managerial job this offseason (unless Pittsburgh pursues him), the former major league outfielder will stay where he is. He’ll be one of the Cubs’ base coaches in 2020, Bruce Levine of 670 The Score tweets. The Cubs have at least one opening for those positions, as third base coach Brian Butterfield left to take the same role with the Angels.
- The Mets are closing in on a deal to retain hitting coach Chili Davis, Jon Heyman of MLB Network tweets. The former big league slugger is fresh off his first year with the Mets, whose offense made strides on his watch. Davis helped the club to the majors’ 13th-most runs and its seventh-highest wRC+ (104).
- The Tigers have hired Josh Paul as their quality control coach, the team announced. Paul served as the the Angels’ bench coach over the previous three years, but the Halos fired him after this season. The 44-year-old Paul was previously a major league catcher and then a well-regarded assistant in the Yankees organization.
- Nationals assistant hitting coach Joe Dillon is a legitimate candidate to become the Phillies’ hitting coach, Heyman suggests. Dillon has been working under Nats hitting coach Kevin Long, who’s a favorite of new Phillies manager Joe Girardi, as Heyman points out. Long was the Yankees’ hitting coach for part of Girardi’s tenure as their manager. Dillon, meanwhile, is an ex-major league infielder/outfielder who has two years’ experience as a coach at the game’s highest level.
- Scott Coolbaugh is the White Sox’s new assistant hitting coach, the club announced. Coolbaugh was the Orioles’ hitting coach from 2015-18 and the Dodgers’ Triple-A hitting coach this season. He’ll team with White Sox new HC Frank Menechino in his new role.
Scott is the best. Good luck Scott
Great Scott!
This is a good sign by the White Sox, as was that of new hitting coach Frank Menechino.
Free agent 1B Jose Abreu figures to be the next domino to fall the White Sox way in what figures to be a very busy offseason for GM Rick Hahn and owner Jerry Reinsdorf. Don’t stop now boys! The AL Central beckons in 2020 with a great offseason.
The Twins just won it with a combination of a few slick off season signings and the easy wins against the dumpster fires in KC and Detroit.
Part that got me happiest reading about him elsewhere was how his teams knew how to draw walks. That’s partially having a good eye, but it’s more coaching than anything, and it’s something the White Sox desperately need.
Wow this is heavy
I hope Espada gets the Pirates job
Me too, although it’s hard to imagine what a field manager can do over the long haul under an owner that stresses profit margins and stinginess where personnel are concerned
I know right? If the Pirates are going to emulate the Rays low budget model then they need to hire some people out of the Tampa Bay office who know how to do that. Do the Rays have any staff left that can be poached?
If Ben doesnt get the job then the jays lost out. He more talented than. The picture paints
You can have him. Really think it’s a bad idea for pirates.
Which means they’ll hire him.
What is a Quality Control Coach?
To make sure the Tigers only trade away Quality players and receive bums in return.
Not sure, but there wasn’t much quality requiring control in Detroit last season.
I read that the position was supposed to communicate to all levels to ensure the Tigers were teaching a certain way throughout their whole system. That can’t be what he will do because the Tigers don’t teach fundamentals.
Davis did a great job with the Mets’ young hitters. It would be wise to retain him for at least three years and allow the players to continue to grow with him as he locks into their strengths, weaknesses and tendencies.
The Phils might as well deploy Charlie Manuel as their hitting coach again this season. Just having ole Charlie in the dugout makes them better, in my opinion.
That being said I’m not opposed to Dillon coming over from the WS chapms. You would have to think he at least contributed to some degree to the success of Juan Soto and the resurgence of vets like Howie Kendrick & Ryan Zimmerman.
Could be totally wrong. Don’t know the guy. But Ben looks like he’s a total d**k – conceited ahole who has nothing about which to back it up.