Sources: Blue Jays nearing agreement with Don Mattingly for bench coach position
TORONTO — The Toronto Blue Jays are nearing an settlement with Don Mattingly, the longtime New York Yankees star and former supervisor of the Los Angeles Dodgers and Miami Marlins, to be their subsequent bench coach, based on two trade sources.
Joel Sherman and Jon Heyman of the New York Post first reported discussions had been underway, which if accomplished would give supervisor John Schneider an skilled hand together with a six-time all-star and former AL MVP pedigree to attract upon whereas working the membership.
The extremely revered and well-liked Casey Candaele was promoted from triple-A Buffalo to fill in as Schneider’s bench coach after the July firing of supervisor Charlie Montoyo. How a possible Mattingly hiring would impression his standing wasn’t instantly clear.
Mattingly, 61, and the Marlins parted methods following this season after seven years collectively, which included a post-season berth in the course of the pandemic-shortened marketing campaign of 2020. He managed the Dodgers for 5 years beforehand, establishing himself as a steadying presence beloved by most gamers for his mellow and easy-going nature.
His background as a deeply admired {and professional} hitter over a 14-year profession spent totally with the Yankees, when he batted .307/.358/.471 in 1,785 video games actually performed into that, and he’ll be an essential been-there, done-that useful resource for a nonetheless largely younger lineup.
Discussing his future with Sherman and Heyman on their “The Show” podcast, Mattingly mentioned, “I do feel like I need to be in the game. I still feel good physically, mentally, all those things, but you want to be valued in the sense that I want to use my talents. I feel like I see things, I can help players, I want players to get better, I want the game to be great and I want to be part of a winning situation.”
Adding somebody with such a skillset to the teaching workers gave the impression to be a Blue Jays’ precedence this winter, as in addition they interviewed Alex Cintron for the bench coach job earlier than he returned to the Houston Astros as hitting coach, based on Chandler Rome of the Houston Chronicle.
