Seattle Mariners manager Don Wakamatsu still has one opening to fill, but his coaching staff for 2009 has more in common with the skipper than friendship.
There’s also a strong connection with the Los Angeles Angels and the American League West Division, and that’s no coincidence. Wakamatsu hopes the Mariners can pattern at least part of their game after the aggressive-running, smart-hitting Angels, who’ve won the divison four of the past five years.
Wakamatsu coached with the Angels from 2000-2002, bench coach Ty Van Burkleo was their minor league hitting instructor for six years and first base coach Lee Tinsley was a roaving minor league instructor for the Angels in 2002. Pitching coach Rick Adair and bullpen coach John Wetteland don’t have ties to the Angels, but they’ve spent much of their careers with the Rangers and have a deep knowledge of the American League West.
The Mariners added another on Wednesday, hiring Bruce Hines as third-base coach. Hines, 52, has been an instructor with the Angels since 1985 and spent the past three years as their minor league field coordinator with an emphasis on outfield play, bunting and baserunning.
“The strongest team in our division is Anaheim, and there’s a reason for it,” Wakamatsu said. “You look at a team like Minnesota, which is known for throwing strikes and working quick from a pitching standpoint. Anaheim is known for their aggressive style of play and moving baserunners over. We want to be known for all of those things.
“We want to tighten things up and give these players an understanding of how to play baseball.”
Wakamatsu believes he has a staff of coaches whose upside is their energy, knowledge of the game and ability to connect with the players. That’s not always easy at the big-league level.
“One of the most important things to me is their ability to relate to players,” he said. “I’m adamant in that I want coaches to have the ability to get the best out of players in whatever manner.”
Besides his duties as third-base coach, Hines will handle infielders, with a particular focus on second baseman Jose Lopez, shortstop Yuniesky Betancourt and third baseman Adrian Beltre. Hines, who grew up in California and played with Wakamatsu at Arizona State, speaks fluent Spanish.
“Can this guy get to Betancourt? Can he get to Lopez? Can he get to some of the Spanish guys? Every time, it kept coming back to this being the guy we wanted,” Wakamatsu said. “He’s awfully good at infield instruction. He’s done it a lot of years.”
Hines, whose father Ben Hines was the Mariners’ hitting coach in 1984, didn’t know he was a candidate for the job until he got a text message recently from Van Burkleo saying, “Your name’s in the hat now.”
“I thought there was an outside shot here,” Hines said. “Don knows me as a baseball person and he knows what I bring, but he’s made a lot of contacts along the way. When I didn’t get a call the first week, I said, ‘No problem, they’ve probably found good people.’”
Wakamatsu said he had offered the job to someone else. When that didn’t come together, he turned to Hines.
“It’s a joyful thing that is magnified because it came out of nowhere for me,” Hines said.
Wakamatsu would like to get his hitting coach hired before the winter meetings begin Monday in Las Vegas. Jose Castro, promoted from the minor league system and finished this year as the Mariners’ hitting coach, was considered the frontrunner for the job. That may not be the case anymore.
“We’re whittling it down. “(GM Jack Zduriencik) and I are talking dally and trying to come up with the perfect fit,” Wakamatsu said.
Once they do, the staff can begin the challenge of getting the players to buy into a program designed to change the negative culture that developed during the 101-loss season this year.
“There’s an education process for us,” Wakamatsu said. “It’s getting to know what the players’ mindset is, what the issues were last year. We’ll try to build a trust factor. That goes back to this coaching staff, and the challenge is to attack it from every avenue. These guys will have the freedom to run their departments.”
Read Kirby Arnold’s blog on the Mariners at www.heraldnet.com
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