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Angels Part Ways With Hitting Coaches Jeremy Reed, John Mallee, Third Base Coach Mike Gallego

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9:06pm: In addition to Reed and Mallee, Mike Gallego will not return to the Angels as third base coach next season, reports Sarah Valenzuela of the LA Times (Twitter link). Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register reports that Gallego will be reassigned within the organization (Twitter link).

6:57pm: Assistant hitting coach John Mallee is also being let go, the team informed reporters (including Sam Blum of the Athletic). Mallee got the job over the 2019-20 offseason, not long after a stint as the lead hitting coach in Philadelphia.

4:59pm: The Angels are parting ways with hitting coach Jeremy Reed, reports Jon Heyman of the New York Post (Twitter link). The club has yet to announce the news, but it seems they’ll soon search for a new hitting coach to work under manager Phil Nevin.

Reed, 41, has spent the past four seasons in the role. His hiring came within a few weeks of the tabbing of Brad Ausmus as manager, but the Halos have had a fair bit of managerial turnover in the few seasons since then. Ausmus lasted just one year on the job before Joe Maddon was hired going into the 2020 season. Maddon held the position for two-plus seasons but was dismissed in June, with Nevin tabbed as his replacement on an interim basis. Nevin signed a one-year deal and had the interim tag removed after the 2022 campaign wrapped up.

The Halos were a below-average offensive team over the past four seasons. Since the start of 2019, they rank 22nd in runs scored. They’re 21st in on-base percentage and 18th in slugging. This past season was a particular struggle, as the Halos mustered only a .297 OBP (one of five teams to reach base at a sub-.300 clip). The ranked 15th with a .390 slugging mark, but no MLB team struck out more often than the Angels’ 25.7% rate. Of the 11 Anaheim hitters to top 200 plate appearances, just four (Mike Trout, Shohei Ohtani, Taylor Ward and Luis Rengifo) posted a wRC+ better than the 100 league average.

As with any coach, Reed certainly can’t shoulder all the blame for the Halos’ subpar performance. Los Angeles has run out top-heavy rosters for the past few seasons, and this year’s group was no exception. The Angels lost Anthony Rendon and David Fletcher for extended stretches, leaving them to rely more than anticipated on players like Andrew Velazquez and Matt Duffy. The Halos also saw sharp regressions from Jared Walsh and Max Stassi, both of whom had seemed to break out earlier in Reed’s tenure as hitting coach.

That said, the Halos have also seen some highly-touted young players struggle at the big league level. Left fielder Jo Adell is the most prominent example, as the former top prospect has managed just a .215/.259/.356 line through his first 161 MLB games. Brandon Marsh had serviceable numbers overall but significant strikeout concerns that presumably contributed to the Halos’ willingness to deal him for catching prospect Logan O’Hoppe at this past trade deadline. Adell and O’Hoppe could both play key roles on next year’s team as the Angels try to snap an eight-year playoff drought.

Orioles Notes: Elias, Middle Infield, Mancini, Ynoa, Mallee

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Orioles GM Mike Elias addressed several topics in an interview on 105.7 The Fan radio tonight, with MASNsports.com’s Roch Kubatko (Twitter links) and MLB.com’s Joe Trezza (Twitter links) among the reporters who shared some highlights.  Elias noted that the Orioles’ winter shopping list includes pitching, veteran middle infield help, and a defensive shortstop.  Such a focus on the middle infield doesn’t necessarily indicate a change from the combination of shortstop Jonathan Villar and second baseman Hanser Alberto, though given Villar’s big $10.4MM projected arbitration salary has led to a lot of speculation that the O’s will look to trade or non-tender him.  While not mentioning any names, Elias said the club has to make “tough decisions” in regards to whether or not to tender contracts to all seven of their arb-eligible players.

In other general transactional news, Elias again stated that his front office is open to listening on trade offers for any player as Baltimore continues its rebuild.  This includes Trey Mancini, though Elias said “we expect him to stay here,” noting that he hopes Mancini could be signed to a long-term contract.

More from Charm City…

  • Gabriel Ynoa re-signed with the Orioles the same day that he was outrighted off their 40-man roster last offseason, though another quick reunion doesn’t appear likely this winter, MASNsports.com’s Roch Kubatko writes.  It isn’t to say that Ynoa might not return on another minor league deal, but the righty will first see if he can land a Major League contract — possibly a tall order after a 2019 season that saw Ynoa post a 5.61 ERA, 2.58 K/BB rate, and 5.4 K/9 over 110 1/2 innings for Baltimore, while surrendering a whopping 29 home runs.  The O’s may also look for more accomplished pitching options before maybe circling back to Ynoa later in the offseason.
  • From that same piece, Kubatko also reports that the Orioles had John Mallee as a candidate to join the team’s coaching staff before Mallee accepted a position with the Angels as their new assistant hitting coach.  Mallee had some significant ties to the Orioles, as he and manager Brandon Hyde both worked together on the Cubs’ coaching staff under Joe Maddon, and Mallee was the Astros’ hitting coach in 2013-14 when Baltimore GM Mike Elias was working in Houston’s front office.

Angels To Hire John Mallee To Coaching Staff

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The Angels are indeed hiring John Mallee to their coaching staff as an assistant hitting coach, according to a tweet from Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register (link). Bruce Levine of WSCR-AM had previously reported that Mallee was in consideration for a position on Joe Maddon’s Los Angeles staff (link).

As Fletcher notes, the club has not announced the departure of any of their hitting coaches from the 2019 season, so the final staff makeup is still to be announced. At the least, they will be adding a very practiced hand in Mallee.

Mallee spent the majority of the last two seasons working under Gabe Kapler in Philadelphia before an offensive downturn saw him replaced in favor of Charlie Manuel. Before that, Mallee was Maddon’s hitting coach for the Cubs from 2014 through 2017, also serving as the chief hitting instructor on Bo Porter’s Houston staff in 2013 and 2014. The 50-year-old Mallee, a native of Chicago, enjoyed a brief minor league playing career in the early 1990s.

Jeremy Reed, Shawn Wooten, and Paul Sorrento worked as hitting instructors on the Angels staff of Brad Ausmus in 2019.

Quick Hits: Angels, Mallee, Padres, Cubs, Ross

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Hours after bringing Mickey Callaway into the fold as the club’s new pitching coach, it appears the Angels are interested in adding veteran hitting coach John Mallee to their staff, according to a tweet from Bruce Levine of WSCR-AM (link). Mallee was most recently a hitting coach with the Phillies before a team-wide slump saw him replaced by Charlie Manuel in mid-August of the 2019 season. Previously, the 50-year-old has worked as an MLB hitting coach with the Marlins, Astros, and Cubs, helping Joe Maddon’s Chicago outfit to their World Series title in 2016.

  • With the hiring of a new manager cleared from his offseason checklist, Padres GM AJ Preller now must turn to an even more urgent matter–the acquisition of more winning players to the team’s big league roster. As Kevin Acee notes in his piece for the San Diego Union-Tribune, the Padres still have a long way to go if they want to truly compete with teams like the Dodgers and Nationals. Interestingly, even one of Preller’s own players understands that his team, as currently constructed, might not stack up as a 2020 contender. “We’re not close yet,” one Padre told Acee. Readers should check out Acee’s article for his own assessment of where San Diego stands, though it is worth noting that the Padres could theoretically stand to improve in a few areas simply by shifting playing time allotments. San Diego’s tepid offense could be improved via a more full time-share for catcher Francisco Mejia, for one; Mejia’s rookie output (96 wRC+ in 244 PA) was much more encouraging than what the club has received from Austin Hedges in recent years (62 career wRC+), even if the value of Hedges’ sterling defense can’t be discounted.
  • One of the chief challenges faced by new Cubs skipper David Ross will be, in the opinion of Steve Greenberg of The Chicago Sun-Times, how the former catcher handles tough decisions regarding some of his old teammates and good friends (link). Namely, Greenberg identifies Jon Lester and Jason Heyward as two players with whom Ross has a particularly deep relationship, as the new manager was the former’s personal catcher in Chicago and the latter’s mentor dating back to his time in Atlanta. Ross will be faced with being in the unique position of having to take the ball from Lester if–as he did at certain points in 2019–the pitcher struggles late in ballgames. Heyward’s own tendency to enter long Chicago slumps–to say nothing of his big contract–could also force Ross to endure some tough conversations in 2020.

Phillies Replace Hitting Coach John Mallee With Charlie Manuel

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In a rather surprising turn, the Phillies have announced that hitting coach John Mallee has been “relieved … of his duties.” He’ll be replaced by none other than Charlie Manuel, the club’s grizzled former skipper. MLB.com’s Todd Zolecki first tweeted the news.

It’s a decidedly old-school turn for the uber-contemporary Phils. There are some echoes here of a move earlier this year by the division-rival Mets, who installed the 82-year-old Phil Regan as pitching coach and have seemingly benefited from the move. Manuel, 75, has remained a visible figure in the Phillies organization since finishing his time as the manager, but has not occupied a rigorous, everyday role. It seems likely he’ll only be asked to man his new post for the remainder of the present season.

There’s little question the Phillies are in need of a jolt. They’ve steadily slipped behind the Braves, Nats, and Mets since holding the NL East lead in mid-June. Now, the Philadelphia club is separated from postseason position by two games and multiple other teams.

Manuel has long been lauded for his hitting acumen, so he’ll be asked to help the club’s batters with their mechanics and approach. That’s certainly an area of need, given that the Phillies have collectively produced at a mediocre 90 wRC+ clip over the past thirty days. But it seems this move says as much about a need for veteran grit and gravitas as it does a desire to modify the organization’s batting tutelage. And it’s a clear sign that Phillies upper management is not pleased with the way the season has progressed after a winter chock full of big investments.

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