The Seattle Mariners continue to interview candidates for their five vacant coaching positions, and it may not be anytime soon before they’re filled.
“We don’t have a timeframe,” manager John McLaren said Wednesday. “We’re putting a good staff together and it’ll take some time.”
He wouldn’t mention names of those he is considering, although several with Mariners connections — and a working history with McLaren — already have surfaced.
Former M’s pitcher Norm Charlton, a special-assignment minor league pitching coach for three years, is considered the favorite to become bullpen coach.
Lee Elia, who was on the Mariners and Tampa Bay Devil Rays coaching staffs with McLaren, has been mentioned as bench coach.
Sam Perlozzo, the former M’s third-base coach who waved Ken Griffey Jr. around to score the winning run on Edgar Martinez’s double in Game 5 of the 1995 playoffs against the Yankees, also is a candidate. Perlozzo most recently managed the Baltimore Orioles.
Former M’s pitcher Chris Bosio is being considered for the pitching coach job. He retired from pitching in 1996 and became a coach in the M’s minor league system, then was the Devil Rays’ pitching coach in 2003. He’s currently pitching coach at Lawrence University in Appleton, Wis.
Both Jay Buhner and Edgar Martinez, two former Mariners who’ve dropped in at spring training as guest coaches the past few years, are both involved in family and business ventures and aren’t yet interested in full-time coaching jobs.
McLaren said he and the Mariners will take their time in assembling his staff.
“It’s an ongoing process and we’re still working through it,” he said. “There’s a lot at stake here and I want to get the right mix.”
Last week, the Mariners announced that pitching coach Rafael Chaves, third-base coach Carlos Garcia, bench coach Mike Goff, bullpen coach Jim Slaton and first-base coach Gary Thurman wouldn’t return. Only hitting coach Jeff Pentland is being retained.
Healthy offseason: The Mariners go into the offseason with just two players recovering from surgery and no major medical procedures scheduled.
Relief pitchers Arthur Rhodes and Chris Reitsma are recovering from elbow surgery that took place during last season. Neither is guaranteed to return next year.
Rhodes, who made $1 million but was injured all season, is a free agent. The Mariners aren’t expected to pick up the $2.7 million contract option on Reitsma, who made $2.5 million in 2007.
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