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Hensley Meulens

Yankees Hire Hensley Meulens As Assistant Hitting Coach

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The Yankees are bringing a familiar face back to New York as the team’s new assistant hitting coach, as the club announced that Hensley Meulens has been hired for the job. (The Curacao Chronicle first reported Meulens’ appointment over the weekend). The position has been briefly filled by Eric Chavez earlier this winter, before Chavez left the Yankees to become the Mets’ chief hitting coach.

Meulens is no stranger to the Bronx, as he spent five of his seven MLB seasons playing with the Yankees (from 1989-93).  He was also one of the candidates interviewed for the last Yankees’ managerial vacancy, before the club hired Aaron Boone in December 2017.

After the Yankees parted ways with former hitting coaches Marcus Thames and P.J. Pilittere after the season, Yankees GM Brian Cashman said he planned to add a third hitting coach to the mix, a nod to the recent trend for larger and more specialized coaching staffs around baseball.  Dillon Lawson was promoted to the role of hitting coach and Casey Dykes was named assistant, and since neither Lawson or Dykes played pro ball, New York was reportedly focused on hiring a former Major League veteran to add some on-field experience to the staff.  Chavez fit the description, and Meulens brings both his playing experience as well as a lengthy coaching resume.

Meulens spent 10 seasons on the Giants’ coaching staff, serving as both the hitting coach and bench coach under Bruce Bochy.  Meulens also spent a single season as the Mets’ bench coach in 2020, and spent time as a coach in the minors in the Orioles and Pirates organizations from 2003-2008.

This resume has put Meulens on the radar for several managerial openings over the years, as he interviewed with not only the Yankees, but also the Twins, Reds, Mets, Red Sox and Giants over the years.  Given his long stint in San Francisco, there was some sense that Meulens could be Bochy’s heir apparent in the manager’s job, though he moved onto his bench coach role with the Mets after the Giants instead opted to hire Gabe Kapler as skipper.

Hensley Meulens Out As Mets’ Bench Coach

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The Mets will have a new bench coach in 2021, as the club informed Hensley Meulens that he will not return to their staff, according to Bob Nightengale of USA Today.

It was a short stint with the Mets for Meulens, a longtime San Francisco assistant who spent just one year with his new club. Before his hiring as a bench coach last offseason, the Mets and the Red Sox interviewed Meulens for their managerial positions. The Mets ultimately chose Carlos Beltran before quickly replacing him with Luis Rojas, though, while the Red Sox went with Ron Roenicke.

While Meulens’ time on Rojas’ staff didn’t work out, it shouldn’t be too long before the 53-year-old finds another job. Meulens, after all, is a well-respected, three-time World Series-winning assistant who speaks five languages. It’s unclear whom the Mets will tap to replace him.

Mets Reportedly Down To 3 Managerial Candidates

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It continues to look likely that the Mets’ next manager will come from within the organization. They’re deciding among a trio of in-house candidates – quality control coach Luis Rojas, bench coach Hensley Meulens and first base coach Tony DeFrancesco – for the position, Andy Martino of SNY tweets.

Rojas and DeFrancesco were also candidates for the Mets during their previous search for a manager this offseason. That concluded with the hiring of first-timer Carlos Beltran in November, but his reign came to an abrupt end when he stepped down last week over his role in the Astros’ 2017 sign-stealing scandal.

Like Beltran, neither Rojas nor Meulens has managed in the majors. The 38-year-old Rojas is the son of longtime skipper Felipe Alou, though, and has managed for the Mets at the High-A and Double-A levels. He’s coming off his first season on the team’s major league staff.

Meulens and DeFrancesco are new to their current positions in New York, though the former has a boatload of recent MLB experience as an assistant. The 53-year-old Meulens spent the previous decade as a key member of San Francisco’s staff under Bruce Bochy, coaching first base for eight years and serving as a bench coach for two.

DeFrancesco, 56, has been a Triple-A manager with multiple franchises, including the Mets from 2018-19. He was also the interim manager for the Astros in 2012.

Latest On Red Sox Managerial Search

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10:15 pm: The Red Sox have considered Mets’ bench coach Hensley Meulens for the position, reports Jon Heyman of MLB Network (via Twitter). It’s unclear if the sides have yet arranged for a formal interview. As Heyman points out, Meulens might find himself in consideration for the top job in New York as well.

8:45 pm: The Red Sox are one of three teams surprisingly on the hunt for a manager in January. Unlike the Astros and Mets, to whom some early names have been tied, Boston’s search for a skipper has been quiet the past few days.

It seems Boston may not name a replacement for Alex Cora any time soon. Speaking to reporters (including Chris Cotillo of MassLive), Red Sox CEO Sam Kennedy allowed that Boston could enter spring training without a manger in place. The Sox “would like” to have the position settled by then, Kennedy said, but it’s not a mandate. Indeed, as of Friday, the Red Sox had yet to reach out to other clubs to seek permission to interview external candidates (via Cotillo). Boston is vetting its internal candidates first, Kennedy explained (Twitter link), but the club plans to cast a wide net in its search.

If the Red Sox were to hire from within, bench coach Ron Roenicke seems a logical option. The former Brewers’ skipper has been Cora’s bench coach the past two seasons. He’s no doubt familiar with much of Boston’s current roster. (The 2018 Red Sox are themselves under investigation related to sign stealing allegations, of course, but there’s no reason to believe at this point that Roenicke will be implicated). Red Sox coaches, in fact, seem to believe Roenicke would be the frontrunner if Boston stays internal, notes Pete Abraham of the Boston Globe (Twitter link).

Former Red Sox third baseman Mike Lowell would have interest in the position, he tells Rob Bradford of WEEI, but only under a unique circumstance. Lowell’s interest would be conditional on his serving as a bridge to a Cora return in 2021. “I would love to (manage) if I knew it was just for a year and Cora was guaranteed to come back,” Lowell told Bradford. Of course, such a scenario seems far-fetched at the moment. Cora hasn’t yet been disciplined by Major League Baseball for his role in the respective sign stealing scandals, but a suspension is almost certainly forthcoming. Further, there’s no indication the organization would have interest in exploring such an arrangement.

The situation is no doubt a difficult and unexpected one for first-year chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom. The next steps for the Red Sox (and the Astros and Mets, as well) will be fascinating to follow. It seems Bloom and the rest of Boston’s front office are prepared to take their time sorting things out.

Mets Add Hensley Meulens, Tony DeFrancesco To Coaching Staff

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The Mets officially announced their coaching staff for the upcoming season, which included a few new faces in the mix.  Hensley Meulens will be the bench coach, confirming previous reports that Meulens was the favorite for the job.  Jeremy Hefner’s role as the new pitching coach was made official after news broke of his hiring two weeks ago, while Tony DeFrancesco will join the staff as first base coach.

Meulens has spent the last two seasons as the Giants bench coach, and the previous eight years as the club’s hitting coach.  That long stint in San Francisco included a brief period working with Mets manager Carlos Beltran, who played for the Giants over the last two months of the 2011 season.  The 52-year-old Meulens has long been considered as a potential manager himself, and was seen as a potential heir apparent to Bruce Bochy, though Meulens wasn’t hired after being interviewed by the Giants this fall.  Meulens also reportedly came close to joining the Marlins’ coaching staff this offseason, though he will now work in New York for the second time in his professional career — Meulens’ first five seasons as a player were spent with the Yankees from 1989-1993.

DeFrancesco has managed the Mets’ Triple-A affiliate for the last two seasons, and also interviewed for the big league managerial job before Beltran was hired.  DeFrancesco has spent the majority of his 28 seasons as a coach and manager at the minor league level, though he also worked as the Athletics’ third base coach in 2008 and briefly served as the Astros’ interim manager in 2012.

Beyond the new hires and Jeremy Accardo’s promotion from pitching strategist to assistant pitching coach, the rest of New York’s staff will return to their roles from the 2019 season.  The returning group includes hitting coach Chili Davis, assistant hitting coach Tom Slater, third base coach Gary DiSarcina, quality control coach Luis Rojas, and bullpen coach Ricky Bones.

Hensley Meulens “Strong Frontrunner” To Be Mets’ Bench Coach

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Hensley Meulens is a “strong frontrunner” to become the next bench coach for the New York Mets, though the team is not confirming any new hire decisions at this time, tweets Andy Martino of the SNY Network. Jennifer Mercedes of La Vida Baseball (via Twitter) is hearing that the Mets and their newly-hired manager Carlos Beltran are ready to tab Meulens in the role now. This level of scuttlebutt often leads to an announcement from the team, though Martino suggests nothing official is imminent.

Meulens has made the rounds the past couple of seasons as a new manager candidate, and he would come to New York highly-regarded after a defining career on the coaching staff of the San Francisco Giants. He spent the past two seasons in the same role he’ll potentially man in New York, serving as bench coach to Bruce Bochy. He was Bochy’s hitting coach from 2010 to 2017, during which time the Giants won three championships. Beltran, of course, crossed paths with Meulens during his short stint in a Giants uniform in the 2011 season.

The Marlins reportedly offered Meulens a role on Don Mattingly’s staff, with whom Meulens was a teammate for parts of five seasons from 1989 to 1993 as a player with the New York Yankees. Meulens was also in conversation with the Giants about their open managerial position before being informed recently that he was no longer in the running.

Joey Cora, Fredi Gonzalez, Jerry Narron, and Terry Collins have also been named at various times as potential candidates to assume the role of Beltran’s right-hand man. Meulens has less managerial experience than some of the other candidates listed, though he did manage the Netherlands in the World Baseball Classic in 2013 and 2017. Along with his many years under the leadership of Bochy, Meulens would presumably provide plenty of insight and guidance for the Mets’ rookie skipper.

Mets Interview Hensley Meulens For Bench Coach Position

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Former Giants assistant Hensley Meulens has a job with the Marlins if he wants it, but the division-rival Mets could prevent that union from coming to fruition. The Mets have interviewed Meulens for their vacant bench coach position, Dan Martin and Ken Davidoff of the New York Post report.

The 52-year-old Meulens, a former professional outfielder who spent most of his career in New York as a Yankee, is coming off a decade-long run as a coach with the Giants. Meulens is well-regarded for his time in San Francisco, where he was most recently its bench coach, and has drawn managerial consideration from at least a couple teams over the past few years. The Giants interviewed Meulens this fall to succeed departed manager Bruce Bochy before selecting Gabe Kapler for the role.

If the Mets end up hiring the multilingual Meulens, he’ll provide first-time manager Carlos Beltran with an experienced right-hand man. Meulens joins Joey Cora, Fredi Gonzalez and Jerry Narron as reported candidates in the running for the position. Should the Mets choose Cora, Gonzalez, Narron or someone else, Meulens figures to wind up in Miami in a role that hasn’t been announced to this point. Meulens has already signed a letter of intent to join the Marlins’ staff, but he still has the option to go elsewhere.

Latest On Hensley Meulens

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WEDNESDAY: Heyman offers further clarification on the subject, via Twitter. Meulens had inked a letter of intent but not a full contract with the Marlins. The Miami club has allowed Meulens to pursue bench coach positions elsewhere. Whether or not he remains a candidate to land with the Fish remains to be seen.

TUESDAY: Meulens still hasn’t signed a contract with the Marlins, and while it’s possible he will, he could accept a bench coach job elsewhere instead, Heyman tweets.

MONDAY: Longtime Giants coach Hensley Meulens has accepted a position on the Marlins’ coaching staff, MLB Network’s Jon Heyman reported yesterday (Twitter link). He’ll join new bench coach and “offensive coordinator” James Rowson, recently hired away from the Twins, as another fairly high-profile coaching addition to the Miami staff. Exactly what role Meulens will fill in Miami isn’t yet clear, though SiriusXM’s Craig Mish suggested last week that Meulens could become the club’s hitting coach if hired.

Meulens, 52, has spent the past decade on the Giants’ coaching staff under the recently retired Bruce Bochy. He’s been bench coach for the past two year but previously served as the club’s hitting coach and was also responsible for outfield defense and positioning instruction. Meulens was the Giants’ hitting coach for each of their three World Series titles in 2010, 2012 and 2014.

Beyond his experience on the Giants’ MLB staff, Meulens has spent five seasons as a minor league hitting coach and served as the manager for Team Netherlands in both the 2013 and 2017 World Baseball Classics. Able to speak five languages, the Curacao native has frequently been mentioned as a possible managerial candidate at the MLB level and has interviewed for positions in each of the past few offseasons (including with the Giants last month).

Meulens, nicknamed “Bam Bam,” enjoyed a seven-year Major League career and also played professionally in Korea, Japan and Mexico before retiring in the early 2000s. He spent 1989-93 seasons with the Yankees, meaning he and and recently extended Miami skipper Don Mattingly have a longstanding relationship dating back to their playing days.

The Giants have still yet to name a new manager — they did name a GM over the weekend — but will now be on the lookout for a new bench coach (at the very least) whenever the successor to Bruce Bochy is ultimately appointed.

Marlins Offer Coaching Position To Hensley Meulens

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Nov. 4: The Marlins have made Meulens a formal offer to join their 2020 staff, MLB.com’s Jon Morosi tweets. Meulens, however, has received interest from multiple clubs since being eliminated from the Giants’ managerial search, per Morosi, so it seems he could yet have a decision on his hands.

Nov. 1: The Marlins are in talks with current Giants bench coach Hensley Meulens about a role on their staff in 2020, Jon Heyman of MLB Network tweets. Meulens has been told he’s not a finalist in San Francisco’s search for a new manager, per the report, and it seems there’s now a chance the organization will lose him entirely. SiriusXM’s Craig Mish adds that Meulens would likely step into the role of hitting coach if the two sides do work out a deal. He’d pair with bench coach and “offensive coordinator” James Rowson, recently hired away from the Twins, to work on reshaping the organization’s approach at the plate.

Meulens, 52, has spent the past decade on the Giants’ coaching staff under the recently retired Bruce Bochy. He’s been bench coach for the past couple of seasons but previously served as the club’s hitting coach and is also responsible for outfield defense and positioning instruction. Meulens was the Giants’ hitting coach for each of their three World Series titles in 2010, 2012 and 2014. He also has five years of experience as a minor league hitting coach and served as the manager for Team Netherlands in both the 2013 and 2017 World Baseball Classics.

A native of Willemstad, Curacao, Meulens would bring an important bilingual presence to a Marlins club that has a number of key players from Venezuela, Colombia, the Dominican Republic and Cuba both on the big league roster and rising through a rapidly improving farm system. Meulens played parts of seven seasons in the Majors — teaming with recently extended Marlins manager Don Mattingly as a Yankee from 1989-93 — and also played professionally in Japan (1994-96), Korea (2000) and Mexico (2001-02).

Latest On Giants’ Managerial Search

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The Giants have identified at least seven serious candidates in their search for departed manager Bruce Bochy’s successor. Regardless of who ultimately gets the job, it appears it’ll be president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi making the call. Giants ownership is putting “the entirety of this decision” in Zaidi’s hands, Andrew Baggarly of The Athletic writes (subscription link). That isn’t the case for every team with a managerial opening, as we’ve seen with the Phillies.

As for those in the running for San Francisco’s job, Athletics quality control coach Mark Kotsay may be the favorite. One source told Baggarly it’ll be a surprise if the Giants don’t select Kotsay, a longtime major league outfielder who played in Oakland (2004-07) when Zaidi was in its front office. Kotsay, like the vast majority of candidates on the Giants’ radar, has never managed in the majors.

While Kotsay may be the front-runner for the Giants, the club’s still keeping its options open. The Giants have told a pair of their assistants, bench coach Hensley Meulens and third base coach Ron Wotus, that they remain under consideration to take over for Bochy, according to Baggarly. They’re the only in-house candidates so far for San Francisco, which Baggarly reports is not close to making a hire.

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