On Mon, 26 Nov 2007 16:39:14 -0500, Jim999 <iwantnomail.RemoveThis@nowhere.com>
wrote:
>http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07329/836567-63.stm
>
>All six of Dave Littlefield's special assistants -- Pete Vuckovich,
>Jax Robertson, Jackie Bowen, Louie Eljaua, Jesse Flores and Roy Smith
>-- are staying on board. Littlefield's assistant, Doug Strange, was
>shifted to special assistant. Huntington has added two new faces,
>Chuck Tanner and Larry Corrigan, to those ranks.
>
>Seems like overkill...I don't know what these guys actually
>contribute.
Dunno what duties a special assistant to a GM might have in any
particular situation, it varies. Sometimes they're involved in
scouting, sometimes they're there to help the GM coordinate various
things ralted to baseball operations, sometimes they handle the nuts
and bolts of player contracts...basically it's a job where a GM puts
somebody with special knowledge about some particular aspect of the
operation, where he can provide input to the GM or whatever else the
GM assigns them to do.
A lot of times ex-players (like Vukovich for example, used to be minor
league pitching instructor) have duties during spring training being
on the field with their expertise and at the end of the day all the
coaches, the GM and the special assistants get together and make
decisions on players...and in the meantime they're learning the front
office half of baseball.
Corrigan was director of scouting for the Twins before he became an
assistant GM there. I'd imagine his duties with the Pirates will have
something to do with scouting.
>Same with "bench coach". I guess baseball is SO complicated that the
>manager needs somone to sit near him to make sure he doesn't miss
>something.
A lot of people wonder about this, because they already have a first
base coach, third base coach, pitching coach, hitting coach, etc. and
the bench coach obviously can't actually be coaching the bench players
because most of them are pitchers, who are usually out in the bullpen
with the bullpen coach.
What the bench coach does depends on the team/manager. For some teams
the bench coach also helps set up the day's practice and stretching
routines before a game. Other teams have a conditioning coach who does
that. The bench coach offers situational advice to the manager during
the game, and takes over the duties of the manager if the manager gets
run by the blues.
Beyond that he's a sounding board to the manager, someone the manager
can bounce something off of for a sanity check. Tie game, two out,
runners at second and third, number eight hitter at the plate.
MANAGER: "I'm thinking we pitch to this guy instead of walking him to
get to the pitcher, what do you think?"
BENCH COACH: "This guy's in an 0-23 slump and is only hitting .110 off
our pitcher for his entire career. If we get him out, they have their
pitcher leading off the next inning instead of the leadoff man."
MANAGER: "Yeah, and they already used their only decent pinch-hitter
two innings ago. Yeah, let's pitch to him."
Some managers tell their bench coach who they want in the lineup and
it's actually the bench coach who makes out the lineup card. Sometimes
the bench coach charts where pitched balls are hit, other times the
next day's starting pitcher does the pitching charts - depends on the
manager.
The bench coach might also set the defensive positioning for a play,
give signs to the players, etc. He's basically an assistant manager.
When his team's losing, of course, it's also his job to sit next to
the manager in the dugout and adopt the same pained expression the
manager has on his face.
JK
>> Stay informed about: What Exactly Do These Guys Do? 
FAQ
Profile
Private Messages
Log in
