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Mariners Promote Eric Young Jr., Louis Boyd To Major League Coaching Staff

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The Mariners announced their full 2025 coaching staff today. Most of the names are either holdovers from 2024 or were previously reported, though there were a couple of new names. Eric Young Jr. has been promoted to first base coach with Louis Boyd promoted to major league field coordinator.

Those two additions are part of a larger shuffle. Kristopher Negrón was the first base coach, but he will move over to third base coach. Last year’s third base coach Manny Acta will transition to bench coach. Brant Brown was the bench coach and offensive coordinator going into 2024 but he was fired back in May. Director of hitting strategy Jarret DeHart and assistant hitting coach Tommy Joseph expanded their roles to compensate for Brown’s departure, though DeHart was fired in August and Joseph recently hired away by the Orioles. Boyd is taking the role that Carson Vitale had last year, though it was reported this week that the Marlins are hiring him away. Adam Jude of the Seattle Times (X link) relayed the shuffling prior to the official announcement.

Young was with the M’s last year, working in the system as baserunning coordinator. He will continue working on baserunning but now gets promoted to the first base coach position in the big leagues, though it’s not his first time in that job at the MLB level. He was the Nationals’ first base coach for the 2022 and 2023 seasons. Prior to coaching, he played in the majors from 2009 to 2018.

Boyd gets a major league coaching job for the first time. He has been in the Mariners’ organization for the past six seasons, working in the minors. Most recently, he was the minor league field coordinator for the past two seasons.

Acta has been on Seattle’s staff for many years, but has shifted around to various roles. He was third base coach in 2016 and 2017, then became the bench coach for a couple of years. He went back to the third base job from 2020 to 2024 but now returns back to the bench coach gig once again. He has worked as a coach or manager in the majors since 2006, working for the Expos, Mets, Nationals and Cleveland prior to coming to Seattle.

Negrón played in the majors from 2012 to 2019 before transitioning into coaching. The M’s hired him as the assistant to the director of player development in 2020 and he served as manager at Triple-A Tacoma in 2021. He then got promoted to first base coach at the big league level for the 2022 season.

Mariners Finalize Coaching Staff

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The Mariners announced their coaching staff for the 2024 season. Most significantly, they added Brant Brown as bench coach and offensive coordinator. Seattle also hired Tommy Joseph as an assistant hitting coach and converted co-hitting coach Tony Arnerich to bullpen coach.

It was reported last month that Brown would be joining Seattle’s staff in some capacity. It wasn’t initially clear what role he would hold. Brown had worked as hitting coach for the Marlins a season ago. He left Skip Schumaker’s staff for the promotion in Seattle.

Brown had spent some time as a hitting coach with the Dodgers before joining Miami. Prior to his stint in Los Angeles, he’d been with Seattle as a minor league hitting coordinator. He returns to the Mariners, where he had worked from 2012-16, as Scott Servais’ top assistant.

With Brown stepping in as the lead hitting voice, Arnerich makes the transition to the relief corps. Seattle lost last year’s bullpen coach, Stephen Vogt, who took over as Guardians manager. It’s a bit of an odd transition for Arnerich to move from the offense to the pitching staff, but Seattle clearly wanted to keep him around in some capacity.

Jarret DeHart, who had been a co-hitting coach with Arnerich last season, remains in that role and holds the additional title of director of hitting strategy. They’re joined by Joseph, who has his first MLB coaching job.

The 32-year-old played two seasons in the big leagues, working as the Phillies primary first baseman between 2016-17. He hit .247/.297/.460 in Philadelphia. Joseph also spent a year in Korea and played parts of four Triple-A campaigns. He retired as a player after the 2020 season and immediately jumped into coaching. Joseph worked with the Mets for two years and spent ’23 as hitting coach for the Giants’ High-A affiliate.

As with DeHart, much of the 2023 staff returns. Pete Woodworth is back as pitching coach. Kristopher Negrón and Manny Acta will coach first and third base, respectively. Perry Hill is at infield coach. Trent Blank is the director of pitching strategy, while Carson Vitale is serving as field coordinator.

AL Notes: Verdugo, Astros, Mariners

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With the Red Sox front office seeing change at the top following the firing of chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom, it’s hard to predict what sort of direction Boston might go in this offseason before they find a replacement for Bloom at the top of the club’s hierarchy. Still, there are some clues, most notably comments by team president and CEO Sam Kennedy that indicate the club hopes to sign some of their younger players to long-term extensions, with the likes of right-hander Brayan Bello, first baseman Triston Casas, and outfielders Jarren Duran and Wilyer Abreu earning particular mention.

While Duran had experience in the infield during his time in the minors, both he and Abreu are exclusively outfielders at the big league level. Between Boston’s apparent belief in both youngsters, the emergence of top prospect Ceddanne Rafaela as perhaps the club’s best defender in center field, and the presence of Masataka Yoshida on a long-term deal, it’s becoming increasingly difficult to see where outfielder Alex Verdugo fits in for the Red Sox. As noted by Jen McCaffrey of The Athletic, however, Verdugo spoke glowingly of the organization on the final day of the regular season.

“Hopefully I stay here with the Red Sox,” Verdugo said, “I love this organization. I have made it clear to them.” At the same time, Verdugo acknowledged the uncertainty of his position headed into the offseason before saying, “You just have to work hard… If it’s not this team, there’s 29 other teams.”

A free agent after the 2024 campaign, Verdugo would be an interesting trade candidate if dangled by the Red Sox this offseason. Verdugo finished the 2023 campaign on a rough note, slashing just .225/.268/.367 in the second half. Prior to that, however, he was a borderline All Star with a .290/.360/.457 slash line that was in line with the very best performances of his career. Taken together, it makes for a roughly league average production (98 wRC+) in 142 games this year. Verdugo also contributed positively with the glove, registering +1 Outs Above Average after posting -5 marks in each of the previous two seasons. That combination of solid defense in right field and a league average or better lefty bat should be intriguing to outfield-needy clubs, particularly given a fairly soft free agent class at the position.

More from the American League…

  • The Astros are set to begin their postseason push tomorrow with a five-game set against the Twins in the ALDS, but GM Dana Brown is already making plans for what comes next when the team’s season concludes. As noted by MLB.com’s Brian McTaggart, Brown, who joined the Astros as GM back in January, has made clear that promotions are inbound for other members of the club’s front office, saying that he’s “found out they have a lot of good people here.” Brown noted that “at least six” promotions are expected within the front office. While the specific personnel and role changes being discussed aren’t yet clear, it’s sensible for the Astros to promote from within as front offices around baseball begin asking their fellow organizations for permission to interview club employees for positions in their own organization. As previously mentioned, the Red Sox are looking for a new head of their baseball operations department, while the Mets could look to replace GM Billy Eppler in the near future after he stepped down from his role as David Stearns’s second in command yesterday.
  • With managerial vacancies in Anaheim, San Francisco, Cleveland, and Queens already announced, plenty of clubs are already making changes in the dugout this offseason. MLBNetwork’s Jon Morosi suggests that the Mariners could see several members of their coaching staff get significant attention for the open positions, listing bullpen coach Stephen Vogt, first base coach Kristopher Negron, and third base coach Manny Acta all as Seattle coaches who could be under consideration for one or more of the current vacancies. Acta is the only one of the three with previous managerial experience at the big league level; in addition to three years with the Nationals from 2007-2009, he stands as Cleveland’s most recent manager besides Terry Francona, who retired from managing following the 2023 campaign.

Mariners Place Paul Sewald On Injured List, Select Penn Murfee

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The Mariners announced that they have selected Penn Murfee from Triple-A Tacoma to join the big league club, with fellow righty Paul Sewald heading to the injured list. No designation for Sewald’s IL placement was given, but Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times relays that Sewald is going on the Covid IL. Seattle had already placed Luis Torrens and Mitch Haniger on the Covid list, who will now be joined by Sewald. Furthermore, manager Scott Servais and third base coach Manny Acta have both tested positive and will have to step away from the team, also per Divish.

Sewald pitched for the Mets from 2017 through 2020 but had a tremendous breakout campaign with the M’s last year. In 64 2/3 innings, he logged an ERA of 3.06, notching 11 saves, with an incredible 39.4% strikeout rate against a 9.1% walk rate. He’s pitched 3 2/3 scoreless innings so far this year and will surely be a loss for the team’s bullpen as long as he’s out.

As for Murfee, he was a 33rd round selection of the Mariners in 2018. He split his time last year between Double-A and Triple-A, throwing 78 2/3 innings in 26 games, 14 of them starts. His 4.23 ERA and 10.2% walk rate weren’t especially impressive, but he did rack up strikeouts at an excellent 28.2% clip. He’s thrown eight scoreless innings in Triple-A so far this year. He’ll make his MLB debut as soon as he gets the call to take the hill.

On the coaching side of things, Divish relays that the plan, at least for tonight, is for first base coach Kristopher Negron to take over for Servais as acting manager. Hitting coach Tony Arnerich will take over as third base coach, with minor league coach Zach Vincej taking the first base box. Minor league coaches CJ Gillman and Dan Wilson will be in uniform in the dugout. (Twitter links)

Mariners Announce 2022 Coaching Staff

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The Mariners on Monday announced a series of departures and promotions as they set their coaching staff for the 2022 season. Manager Scott Servais was already known to be returning after agreeing to a multi-year extension on Sept. 1, but there will be some changes on his staff.

Tony Arnerich, who has spent the past two seasons as the team’s minor league field coordinator and catching coordinator, will be one of two co-hitting coaches on next year’s club. Also being promoted to the role of hitting coach and to the broader title of director of hitting strategy is Jarret DeHart, who was an assistant hitting coach in each of the past two seasons.

Seattle is also adding longtime director of player development Andy McKay to the Major League coaching staff, where he’ll be in uniform and serve as a Major League coach and senior director of baseball development. It’ll be his first year on the coaching staff but his seventh in the organization.

A more recognizable name for many fans is likely Kristopher Negron, who retired as a player just two years ago but will now be the Mariners’ first base coach. Negron worked as an assistant to McKay in 2020, his first year with the team, and won Triple-A Manager of the Year honors this past season in guiding the Mariners’ Triple-A affiliate to a league championship.

Beyond this quartet, the Mariners will also welcome back pitching coach Pete Woodworth, third base coach Manny Acta, bullpen coach Trent Blank, infield coach Perry Hill and Major League field coordinator Carson Vitale.

Notably absent from the list of returnees are now-former hitting coach Tim Laker and now-former bench coach Jared Sandberg. Laker, the Mariners announced, declined an offer to return to the team in 2022, which prompted the promotions for DeHart and Arnerich. Sandberg, meanwhile, was not asked back.

Sandberg’s departure from the coaching staff leaves the Mariners without a bench coach, but it doesn’t appear that they’ll make a hire in that regard. The Mariners announced today’s staff as their finalized staff for the 2022 season and, asked specifically by MLB.com’s Daniel Kramer about the lack of a bench coach (Twitter link), president of baseball operations confirmed that the collection of coaches announced today will “provide [Servais] with a variety of voices he trusts.”

“Our mantra here is ’Doesn’t Matter, Get Better’ and our coaches embodied that in 2021,” Servais said in a statement within today’s press release. “Each and every day they assisted in helping our players improve and that hard work showed up on the field. Between the returning staff and the coaches we’ve been able to add from our player development group, every person on this staff has had a hand in helping our players succeed in their careers, and I’m looking forward to seeing more of that success in 2022.”

Mariners Add Kristopher Negron To Player Development Staff

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The Mariners announced Tuesday that they’ve hired recently retired infielder/outfielder Kristopher Negron as an assistant to director of player development Andy McKay. In his new role, the 33-year-old Negron will assist “in all aspects of player development, including on-field instruction and mentoring minor league players on what it means to be a great teammate,” per the Mariners’ release.

“I’ve had the unique perspective of watching Kris play in high school, competing against him in junior college, and then having him be part of the Mariner family the past few years,” said McKay in a statement announcing the hiring. “During these 15 years, whether it was in high school or the Major Leagues, Kris has earned an unparalleled level of respect from his coaches, teammates, fans and members of the media. We couldn’t be more excited to bring Kris into player development where he will immediately begin to impact our people and our process both on and off the field. This is a great day for the Mariners.”

Negron played in parts of six Major League seasons, including 2018-19 stints with the Mariners. Dating back to his 2012 debut with the Reds, he’s seen time in Cincinnati, Arizona, Seattle and Los Angeles and appeared in 170 Major League games. He also played in parts of 10 Triple-A seasons (14 minor league seasons overall) and appeared at every position on the diamond outside of catcher.

Minor MLB Transactions: 11/13/19

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The latest minor transactions from around baseball…

  • Utilityman Kristopher Negron has retired, as he announced on Twitter on Tuesday. A seventh-round pick of the Red Sox in 2006, the 33-year-old Negron walked away from the game after appearing in the majors in parts of six seasons from 2012-19 with the Reds, Diamondbacks, Mariners and Dodgers. He divided his final season between the Seattle and Los Angeles organizations. Overall, Negron batted .221/.291/.336 with nine home runs across a 416-plate appearance span in the majors. He was more successful at the Triple-A level, where he collected 3,291 PA and hit .256/.323/.403 with 76 homers.
  • The Padres have signed Mexican left-hander/outfielder Zayed Salinas for $800K, Eric Longenhagen of FanGraphs tweets. The 16-year-old Salinas offers a three-pitch mix – an 87 to 90 mph fastball, a curveball and a changeup – and ranks as FanGraphs’ top prospect from Mexico in 2019, Longenhagen notes. Salinas could turn into a “contact-oriented” center fielder if he doesn’t pan out as a pitcher, per FanGraphs’ scouting report.

Cardinals Acquire Zac Rosscup

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The Cardinals have acquired lefty Zac Rosscup from the Dodgers, per a club announcement. He had been designated for assignment recently.

Cash considerations are going to Los Angeles in return. Rosscup will begin his tenure with his new organization on optional assignment at Triple-A.

Rosscup, 31, has already appeared with three other clubs this season. He owns a 5.16 ERA in 83 2/3 career innings at the game’s highest level, averaging a healthy 12.2 K/9 but also an ugly 5.9 BB/9. The free passes have been a particular issue this season.

In other moves from the Dodgers, utilityman Kike Hernandez is going on the 10-day injured list with a sprained hand. The club optioned down righty Jaime Schultz while activating just-acquired infielder Kristopher Negron and calling up righty reliever Josh Sborz.

Dodgers Acquire Kristopher Negron

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The Dodgers have announced the acquisition of utilityman Kristopher Negron from the Mariners in exchange for minor league infielder Daniel Castro.

Originally acquired from the D’Backs last August, Negron has appeared in 27 total games for Seattle, including nine outings this season.  The 33-year-old has a career .216/.289/.328 slash line over 357 career MLB plate appearances in parts of six seasons, though his ability with the bat is much less important to the Dodgers than the versatility that Negron brings in the field.

Negron has started multiple games at every position on the diamond except pitcher and catcher over his career, making him a fit for a Dodger roster that just lost Enrique Hernandez to the injured list.  With both Hernandez and Chris Taylor injured, L.A. was in need of a short-term backup behind Corey Seager at shortstop.

Castro joined the Dodgers on a minor league contract over the offseason, and has hit .241/.304/.295 over 185 Triple-A plate appearances this year.  Castro is another player who can play all over the field, with extensive experience as a shortstop and second baseman, plus some time as a right fielder and third baseman.  He is a veteran of 98 big league games with the Braves and Rockies from 2016-18, with a .505 OPS over 286 PA in the Show.

Mariners Designate Mac Williamson For Assignment

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The Mariners announced Tuesday that outfielder Mac Williamson has been designated for assignment. His roster spot will go to utilityman Kristopher Negron, whose contract has been selected from Triple-A Tacoma. Seattle also recalled right-hander Erik Swanson from Tacoma to fill a vacant spot on its active roster.

Williamson, 28, was once viewed as a potential long-term option with the Giants but has yet to replicate his solid Triple-A production at the MLB level. Seattle gave him a slightly longer look than San Francisco did in 2019, but his results with both clubs were poor. In a combined 144 trips to the plate this year, Williamson has slashed an underwhelming .156/.250/.258 while striking out at a 30.6 percent pace. He does have some pop in his bat, evidenced by a lifetime .266/.344/.488 line in parts of five Triple-A seasons.

Williamson is out of minor league options, so any club that acquires him would have to carry him on its MLB roster. The Mariners will have a week to trade him, release him or attempt to pass him through outright waivers. If they go the latter route and he clears, Williamson could still elect free agency due to the fact that he’s already been outrighted off a 40-man roster once in his career.

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