Dodgers Rumors: Could Yankees’ Kevin Long Join Mattingly In LA?
It seems at this point that Los Angeles Dodgers manager Don Mattingly will be back for at least the 2014 season with a contract extension likely, but not confirmed at this point.
Mattingly’s bench coach, Trey Hillman, was fired earlier this week, but the rest of the coaching staff including pitching coach Rick Honeycutt and base coaches Tim Wallach and Davey Lopes had their options picked up. With at least one spot open on Mattingly’s coaching staff, Mark Feinsand of the New York Daily News speculates a Yankees coach could join him on the west coast:
A source said that Kevin Long, the Bombers’ hitting coach since 2007, could be a candidate to join Mattingly’s coaching staff if the skipper gets an extension with the Dodgers.
Long took over for Mattingly as the hitting coach for the Yankees following the 2007 season, as Donnie Baseball took the same job with the Dodgers under former Yankees manager Joe Torre.
Dodger management doesn’t seem to be thrilled with some of Mattingly’s in-game strategy and would prefer to hire an experienced bench coach to help him with that. Yankees manager Joe Girardi re-signed with the Bronx Bombers, but Long had his three-year contract expire with the team after this season.
It isn’t known whether or not Long would be a candidate for the bench coach position, but given the Dodgers offensive woes at times, he could join the staff under current hitting coach Mark McGwire. Other bench coach candidates include Manny Acta and Wallach as the Dodgers said they won’t say much about Mattingly’s contract until after the World Series.
Getting an experienced bench coach next to Mattingly seems to be a high priority for management as he looks to be the Dodgers manager for the next couple of years.
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In case you missed it, here’s the Dodgers pool celebration, PLUS Yasiel Puig’s celebration dance off!
http://youtu.be/LknQOqL7uME