Friendships in baseball can last forever and, a lot of times, they get people jobs.
That was the connection for the Seattle Mariners’ two newest hires, bench coach Ty Van Burkleo and first-base coach Lee Tinsley. Both are longtime friends with new manager Don Wakamatsu.
Van Burkleo, hitting coach with the Oakland A’s the past two years, will join the Mariners as Wakamatsu’s bench coach while Tinsley, a former Mariner who was first-base coach the past three years with the Arizona Diamondbacks, will be the first-base coach with the M’s.
Both Van Burkleo and Tinsley worked under Wakamatsu when he was the minor league coordinator with the Angels.
“Being around both these guys as long as I have, there’s not a player I’ve come in contact with who doesn’t respect these guys as people and quality instructors,” Wakamatsu said.
Van Burkleo, 46, worked with Wakamatsu as far back as 1997 in the Diamondbacks organization. Tinsley, 38, is a former outfielder who played with the Mariners in 1993 and 1997 during a five-year big-league career.
“Don and I think alike in a lot of ways,” Van Burkleo said. “But he said the other day that we don’t always have the same ideas and that’s one thing he likes about me, about this relationship. I can bounce things off him and get his brain working in a little different direction. It’s not going to be a situation where I agree with everything he says, but that doesn’t mean I’m right, either.”
Tinsley said his best Mariner memories are of former manager Lou Piniella and the fans in Seattle.
“You can’t talk about Seattle unless you talk about Lou Piniella during those times there,” he said. “The teams I was on, especially in ‘97, I remember being with a really good bunch of people. There was a family type atmosphere and the personnel in the clubhouse was outstanding. I have good memories of the people there and the fans, definitely.”
The Mariners still have four coaching jobs to fill, although Jose Castro is considered the frontrunner to return as hitting coach. Castro, who began this year as the Mariners’ minor league hitting coordinator, became hitting coach late in the season under former manager Jim Riggleman.
Wakamatsu said he planned to contact other teams this week for permission to speak with candidates for the openings at third-base coach, pitching coach and bullpen coach.
Besides Castro, who helped shortstop Yuniesky Betancourt bat .325 in the final two months of the season, none of the other coaches from 2008 is being considered.
“This first year, we’re trying to bring in a coaching staff that’s completely comfortable in changing the culture here,” Wakamatsu said.
Read Kirby Arnold’s blog on the Mariners at www.heraldnet.com
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