Who the Coaches May Be
Forget Joe Girardi. Forget Bob Brenly. Forget Bruce Bochy.
Chris DeLuca is reporting in the Sun-Times that Lou Piniella will very likely be introduced as the new Cubs manager on Tuesday, and if so, here is how Lou's coaching staff might look in 2007:
Von Joshua (hitting)
Pat Listach (1st base)
John McLaren (bench)
Mike Quade (3rd base)
Larry Rothschild (pitching)
Matt Sinatro (bullpen)
At Piniella's most-recent stop (Tampa Bay), his coaching staff was initially John McLaren (bench), Chris Bosio (pitching), ex-Cub manager Lee Elia (hitting), Tom Foley (3rd base), ex-Cub OF Billy Hatcher (1st base), and Matt Sinatro (bullpen). Bosio (who had been a rotation starter for many years with the Mariners when Piniella managed there) quit after the 2003 season to return to Wisconsin so that he could spend more time with his family, and was replaced by Devil Rays minor league pitching coordinator Chuck Hernandez. Both Hatcher and Foley had worked for the Devil Rays prior to Piniella' taking the Tampa Bay job, so they have no connection with Piniella and are unlikely to work for him elsewhere. Elia had been a "coaching consultant" at Seattle the last year Lou was there, and is currently Sam Perlozzo's bench coach in Baltimore, although there are rumors that he will not return to the Orioles in 2007.
McLaren and Sinatro are just about locks to be part of Piniella's Cubs coaching staff, because both were also members of Lou's staff in Seattle and apparently they go wherever Lou goes. McLaren's last baseball gig was 3rd base coach for Team USA in the World Baseball Classic last Spring, so he probably would take just about any job right now. And Sinatro is apparently "between jobs," so figure he will be very interested, too.
Other coaches who served with Lou in Seattle at the end of his tenure there were John Moses (1st base), Dave Myers (3rd base), Gerald Perry (hitting), and Bryan Price (pitching), but they did not follow Lou to Tampa. Price remained the Mariners pitching coach even after Piniella left, so he would seem to have been more of an "Organizational Guy" than a "Lou Guy." Same goes for Myers (who worked for the Mariners in various capacities for 25 years) and Moses (who also remained in the Mariners' organization after Piniella left).
I think it's possible that Hendry might require (ask) Piniella to accept at least two (maybe three) "organization" guys on his staff, and Piniella has a history of doing that in his previous jobs. If that happens. Hendry might recommend Von Joshua (hitting) and either Mike Quade (3rd base) and/or Pat Listach (1st base) and/or possibly Alan Dunn (pitching). And then Piniella will probably be able to choose one or two more coaches (whatever spots are left) if he wishes, in addition to McLaren and Sinatro.
With Stan Williams now 70 years old, Piniella no longer has any one pitching coach following him around from job-to-job. (Ex-Dodger Williams served as Piniella's pitching coach a couple of times, for a while in Cincinnati, and then again in Seattle). But if Piniella is given the opportunity to name the pitching coach, keep in mind that Larry Rothschild served as Piniella's bullpen coach and then later as his pitching coach in Cincinnati.
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