Rockies To Promote Darryl Scott To Pitching Coach
OCTOBER 26: Steve Foster is set to assume a similar role to the team’s now-vacant director of pitching position tweets Thomas Harding of MLB.com. Further coaching changes are also in the works, as the Rockies are parting ways with assistant hitting coach Jeff Salazar and Major League coach Tim Doherty.
OCTOBER 25: The Rockies are promoting bullpen coach Darryl Scott to pitching coach, reports Nick Groke of the Athletic. He’ll take the place of Steve Foster, who is stepping down to spend more time with his family. Groke adds that some in the organization hope Foster could still assume the director of pitching operations role that became available when Mark Wiley retired over the weekend.
Scott has spent the past two seasons leading the Colorado bullpen. He’d spent more than a decade prior in the organization in various capacities, serving as a minor league coach and as the club’s minor league pitching coordinator. The 53-year-old also briefly appeared in the majors as a player, pitching for the 1993 Angels.
Foster had been Colorado’s pitching coach for the past seven seasons, taking over the role during the 2014-15 offseason. Also a former big league hurler — he pitched for the Reds from 1991-93 — the 57-year-old Foster has been the pitching coach for Bud Black’s entire managerial tenure in Colorado so far.
Evaluating Rockies’ pitchers is challenging, given the high level of difficulty succeeding at Coors Field. The staff’s 4.91 ERA over Foster’s tenure is second-highest leaguewide, but park-adjusted metrics have pegged the pitching staff as closer to middle of the pack over the past few years. Players like Germán Márquez, Jon Gray and Kyle Freeland have all flashed impact potential at times, but only Márquez has settled in as a consistent top-of-the-rotation arm.
Regardless of whether Foster remains in the organization, it now seems Colorado will need to fill at least one vacancy on the coaching staff. Presumably, Black and general manager Bill Schmidt will now embark on a search for Scott’s replacement in the bullpen.
Coaching Notes: Rangers, Twins, Rockies, Jays, Phillies
Many teams are putting the finishing touches on their coaching staffs, though there are still some openings. Here are the latest moves:
- The Rangers announced that they have hired Julio Rangel as their new pitching coach. He’ll come over from the Giants organization, where he had served as the minor-league pitching coordinator. The 43-year-old Rangel also spent 11 years in the Indians system but has never previously worked at the MLB level as a player or coach.
- Rounding out their staff under new skipper Rocco Baldelli, the Twins announced the additions of third-base coach Tony Diaz and first-base coach Tommy Watkins. The 31-year-old Diaz comes over from the Rockies, while Watkins is moving up from a minor-league managerial role in the Minnesota system. Yesterday, the club finalized deals with its coaches dedicated to pitching.
- Also departing the Rockies will be hitting coach Duane Espy, the club announced. It’s not clear what the team’s plans are in this area. For the time being, at least, assistant hitting coach Jeff Salazar is evidently remaining in his role.
- The Blue Jays will hire Guillermo Martinez to become their new hitting coach, Shi Davidi of Sportsnet.ca reports. Martinez is just 34 years of age, but obviously made quite an impression in his first year as minor-league hitting coordinator in Toronto. He played professionally but never reached the majors. Previously, Martinez coached in the minors with the Jays and Cubs.
- To complete their staff, the Phillies announced, they’ll install Dave Lundquist as assistant pitching coach. He was most recently the organization’s Triple-A pitching coach, so this was a natural profession. The former big leaguer has worked his way up the chain in the Philadelphia organization since landing there in 2008.
Minor Moves: Coon, Salazar
We'll keep track of today's minor league moves in this post …
- The Rays have signed outfielders Brad Coon and Jeff Salazar to minor league contracts with invitations to Spring Training, according to Marc Topkin of the St. Petersburg Times. Coon, 29, has spent his career in the minors, while Salazar, 30, has had cups of coffee in the Majors with the Rockies, Diamondbacks and Pirates.
Rockies Sign Hulett, Macri, Salazar
The Rockies have signed Tug Hulett, Matt Macri and Jeff Salazar to minor league contracts, reports Thomas Harding of MLB.com. None of the three men played in the majors in 2010; Hulett and Salazar last saw major league action in 2009 with the Royals and Pirates, respectively, while Macri's last taste of the bigs was with Minnesota in 2008.
Macri (fifth round, 2004) and Salazar (eighth round, 2002) were both originally drafted by Colorado, while Hulett was originally selected by Texas in the 14th round of the 2004 draft.
Odds & Ends: Hairston, Brewers, Reds, Salazar
Some links for Friday…
- In an interview with 619 Sports out of San Diego, Scott Hairston said he found out he got traded back to the Padres by reading MLBTR. Cool!
- The Brewers will wait until next month before they consider making an offer to Mark Mulder, reports MLB.com's Adam McCalvy.
- John Fay of The Cincinnati Enquirer runs down the Reds' arbitration history.
- The Orioles have signed outfielder Jeff Salazar to a minor league deal with an invitation to Spring Training, reports Dan Connolly of The Baltimore Sun.
- The Brewers are still in touch with Mark Mulder and Doug Davis, according to Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
- The Yankees offered Jesus Montero straight up for Roy Halladay, according to Richard Griffin of the Toronto Star (Hat Tip: River Ave. Blues).
- The Rockies watched Derrick Turnbow throw today, according to Troy Renck of the Denver Post.
- The Nationals are still in the mix to sign Orlando Hudson, who hopes to sign soon (MLB.com's Bill Ladson reporting).
- Pete Caldera of NorthJersey.com hears of some mutual interest between the Yankees and Rocco Baldelli.
- The Rangers avoided arbitration with Brandon McCarthy, agreeing to a $1.32MM deal for 2010, according to Anthony Andro of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.
- Rangers GM Jon Daniels tells Richard Durrett of ESPNDallas that he'd like to add a catcher, but he's not about to rush. "We have some time," the GM said.
- Ryan Theriot tells Paul Sullivan of the Chicago Tribune that he'd like the Cubs to sign Ben Sheets.
- The Mets signed Jolbert Cabrera to a minor league deal, according to Ed Price of AOL FanHouse (via Twitter).
- Writing for FanGraphs, Patrick Newman explains what the Rangers can expect from new signing Colby Lewis.
- Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports tweeted last night that the Mets contacted Jerry Hairston Jr..
- ESPN.com's Buster Olney says some people within the Mets organization believe Omar Minaya will be fired the first time his club slumps badly.
- Olney also notes that Adam LaRoche will be up against a crop of free agent first basemen that could include Carlos Pena, Lance Berkman and Derrek Lee after the season.
- Troy Renck of the Denver Post says the Giants, Padres, Rangers and Mariners have all called about Yorvit Torrealba.
- The Pirates aren't close to agreeing to terms with Zach Duke on his 2010 salary, according to Dejan Kovacevic of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Duke made $2.2MM last year in his first season as an arbitration-eligible player.
- The Cardinals will watch Derrick Turnbow throw today, according to Rob Rains of the St. Louis Globe-Democrat.
- The Cards signed knuckleballer Charlie Zink to a minor league deal, according to Alex Speier of WEEI.com. After eight years in the Red Sox organization, the 30-year-old will try to break camp with St. Louis.
- Bill James tells Peter Abraham of the Boston Globe that he's curious to see how much better the Red Sox are on defense this season.