Reds Bench Coach Brad Mills Retires
The Reds announced a handful of changes to Terry Francona’s staff. Most notably, bench coach Brad Mills has retired. Mills was one of two bench coaches this year, so the Reds could stick with Freddie Benavides (who also has the title of field coordinator) without making an outside hire.
Cincinnati has made three additions to the staff. Mike Napoli gets the title of assistant bench coach after spending this past season in a nebulous “staff assistant” role. The Reds have also promoted Willie Harris to third base coach and hired Bill Haselman as their catching coach.
Mills, 68, has enjoyed a longtime relationship with Francona. He worked on Francona’s staffs in Philadelphia, Boston and Cleveland going back to the 1990s. He spent most of that time as the bench coach. Mills got a two-plus year managerial run of his own with the Astros between 2010-12, though a rebuilding Houston team won only 38.4% of their games over his tenure. He had not been on an MLB staff for a few seasons before returning last offseason when Francona came out of retirement to take over in Cincinnati.
Harris spent this past season managing Cincinnati’s Low-A affiliate in Daytona. He’s back on a major league staff in the same position he held with the Cubs between 2020-24. Cincinnati’s previous third base coach, JR House, left to take the same position with the Diamondbacks last month. Haselman is a former MLB catcher whose coaching career began with Francona’s Red Sox in the mid-2000s. He has ample minor league managerial experience and was most recently on a big league staff with the Angels in 2023.
NL West Notes: Bogaerts, Haselman, Rockies
While Manny Machado‘s recovery from elbow surgery will cloud the Padres‘ infield picture for the start of the 2024 season, it is possible the Friars might explore moving Xander Bogaerts off of shortstop as soon as next year, The Athletic’s Dennis Lin writes. The public defensive metrics were pretty mixed on Bogaerts’ glovework last season, as he received +3 Outs Above Average, -4 Defensive Runs Saved, and an exactly even 0.0 UZR/150 over 1285 2/3 innings at shortstop. “Team officials have talked among themselves about the possibility of asking Bogaerts to move to the right side of the infield,” Lin writes, with perhaps even first base being an ideal destination from a defensive standpoint, setting up an infield of Bogaerts at first base, Jake Cronenworth at second base, Ha-Seong Kim at shortstop, and Machado at third base.
For his part, Bogaerts would prefer second base over first base if a position change did happen. When talking to Lin and other reporters last month, Bogaerts said “we’ll cross that bridge when we get there” in terms of changing his defensive role, and he had “no idea” if the Padres were going to broach the subject in the coming months. Depending on Machado’s injury rehab, Kim is expected to handle third base until Machado is ready to return to fielding duty, though naturally any of the Padres’ plans could be altered by upcoming offseason moves.
Some other items from around the NL West….
- Angels third base coach Bill Haselman “has been talked about” in regards to the Giants‘ managerial job, a source tells John Shea of the San Francisco Chronicle. Haselman played in parts of 13 MLB seasons from 1990-2003, and has five years of coaching experience on Major League staffs — as a bullpen coach and first base coach for the Red Sox in 2004-06, and as a catching instructor and third base coach in Anaheim over the last two seasons. Haselman also has a lot of experience as a minor league coach and manager in the Angels’ and Dodgers’ minor league systems, and his time with the Dodgers overlapped with Farhan Zaidi’s tenure as Los Angeles’ general manager from 2014-18. It remains to be seen if Haselman is more than a speculative candidate to be the Giants’ next skipper, though Zaidi (San Francisco’s president of baseball operations) appears to be expanding his search beyond internal candidates.
- The Rockies and Mariners discussed a trade last offseason that would’ve brought some pitching to Colorado, according to Patrick Saunders of the Denver Post. The specifics of the trade talks weren’t revealed, though it makes sense that the pitching-needy Rockies would’ve at least checked in with Seattle, given how rumors swirled last winter that the M’s were open to moving one of Marco Gonzales or Chris Flexen. Given how the Rox ended up signing Flexen as a free agent back in July, it is fair to wonder if he was perhaps the particular name under discussion. Purely speculatively, the Rockies also might’ve aimed higher in their pitching goals, perhaps dangling Brendan Rodgers to the Mariners (who needed second base help) as part of a trade package involving George Kirby or Logan Gilbert. Colorado had some degree of talks with the Marlins last offseason about a Rodgers-for-Edward Cabrera swap, and Saunders suggest that Rodgers “might be a trade candidate again” in the coming months. It would be something of a sell-low move for the Rockies at this point with Rodgers, as while he has two remaining years of arbitration control, he only played 46 games last season due to a dislocated shoulder.
Coaching Notes: Angels, Dodgers, Mets, Marlins
The Angels are hiring Bill Haselman to be their new third base coach, per general manager Perry Minasian (relayed by Sam Blum of The Athletic). Haselman appeared for the Rangers, Red Sox, Mariners and Tigers during a 13 year big league career. In 589 games, the catcher put together a .259/.311/.409 line with 47 total home runs. After retiring in 2003, Haselman went straight into coaching, working for the Red Sox as a first base coach and then bullpen coach. He took a break from baseball coaching but returned in 2010, taking a managerial job at one of the Texas Rangers’ minor league affiliates.
He continued working with minor league affiliates of the Angels and Dodgers over the next few years, making it up to Triple-A where he took charge of Oklahoma City between 2016-18. He joined the Angels major league staff at the beginning of the year, succeeding Jose Molina as catching coach. Now he’ll take over third base coach duties on Phil Nevin’s staff.
Here’s some other coaching news from around the big leagues:
- The Dodgers are promoting Aaron Bates to hitting coach, where he’ll work alongside Robert Van Scoyoc, president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman revealed (h/t Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic). Bates had a brief stint in the majors in 2009, getting four hits in five games for the Red Sox. He bounced around the minor leagues plenty, but retired after the 2014 season with the Dodgers. While he played just 11 games that year, it was an entrance into the Dodgers organization that Bates hasn’t left. He held a series of jobs at their minor league affiliates before joining the big league team as assistant hitting coach in 2019. His promotion comes on the back of the departure of Brant Brown, who’s joined the Marlins.
- The Mets have extended Glenn Sherlock’s contract through until 2024 as part of his shift from bench coach to catching instructor, according to Mike Puma of the New York Post. Sherlock played seven years in the minor leagues back in the 1980s, making it as high as Triple-A. He’s held coaching positions with the Yankees, Diamondbacks and Pirates. Sherlock initially joined the Mets in 2017, serving as their third base coach and catching instructor before departing for Pittsburgh in 2020. He returned at the start of this year as bench coach, but will make way for Eric Chavez in that position.
- New Marlins manager Skip Schumaker is bringing in former Cardinals hitting coach John Mabry into his team as assistant hitting coach, according to Craig Mish of the Miami Herald. Mabry spent eight years with the Cardinals as part of a 14 year big league career (that also included a stop at the Marlins) that ended in 2007. Mabry worked with the Cardinals between 2012-18 as a hitting coach, but left when then-manager Mike Matheny was fired. He’s since been working for the Royals. Schumaker and Mabry played together on the 2005 Cardinals team.
Coaching Notes: Dodgers, Yankees, Angels, Mets, Reds, Rangers
- The Mets were considering Dodgers first base coach Clayton McCullough for bench coach after he impressed in his managerial interview with New York, but a hiring doesn’t seem likely to come to fruition. Jon Heyman of the MLB Network tweets that New York brass doesn’t believe McCullough would leave Los Angeles for a coaching position elsewhere. Instead, it seems he’s lined up to return for a second season on Dave Roberts’ staff. Deesha Thosar of the New York Daily News reported yesterday that the Mets were looking into a potential “headline-grabbing hire” for bench coach.
- The Mets already made a notable coaching move this morning, tabbing longtime big league third baseman Eric Chávez as hitting coach. Chávez had accepted a position as one of two Yankees assistant hitting coaches just a few weeks ago, leaving the Bronx club with an unanticipated vacancy on staff. Lindsey Adler of the Athletic reports (on Twitter) that the Yankees do plan to replace Chávez this offseason. That aligns with general manager Brian Cashman’s stated wish to enter the season with three hitting instructors on staff. Dillon Lawson is slated to be the team’s lead hitting coach, with Casey Dykes lined up for an assistant role.
- Though the club has confirmed that Ray Montgomery will make the unusual transition from front office to bench coach on Joe Maddon’s staff, the Angels have not yet announced assignments for either former bench coach Mike Gallego (who will remain on the staff) or newcomers Phil Nevin, Benji Gil, and Bill Haselman (per Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register). This may be due to the club’s pursuit of Adam Eaton for its staff should he choose to retire — which, given that he remains an active member of the MLBPA, cannot be completed during the lockout.
- The Mets announced their full slate of minor league coaches Thursday, including new managers at all four affiliates: former Cubs farmhand Kevin Boles at Triple-A Syracuse; journeyman infielder Reid Brignac at Double-A Binghamton; former Expos, Red Sox, and (briefly) Mets shortstop Luis Rivera at High-A Brooklyn; and former Mets catching instructor Robbie Robinson at Low-A St. Lucie. A full list of Mets minor league coaches, compiled by SNY contributor Jacob Resnick, can be found here.
- The Reds have hired sixteen-year big-league veteran Juan Samuel as a minor league hitting instructor, per Jon Heyman of MLB Network, though his precise role has not yet been announced. Since retiring, the three-time All-Star has held a number of positions, including as a major league base coach and, briefly, as interim manager of the Orioles following the 2010 mid-season firing of Dave Trembley. In addition to his long and productive playing career, Samuel is remembered as the Mets’ return in the 1989 deal that sent Lenny Dykstra and Roger McDowell, cornerstones of the 1986 World Series champs, to the Phillies.
- The Rangers announced two members of their 2022 big-league coaching staff, including the promotion of former journeyman catcher, advanced scout, and so-called “coordinator of run prevention” Brett Hayes to bullpen coach and the hiring of former Jays farmhand and Dodgers minor league hitting instructor Seth Conner as assistant hitting coach. Both will join Chris Woodward’s staff for a season the Rangers hope will represent a major step forward in the rebuilding process following the club’s recent big-ticket signings of Corey Seager, Marcus Semien, and Jon Gray.