January 9th, 2015 at 8:00 am 
by Ron Cervenka Although it had been unofficially reported back in November, the Dodgers confirmed on Thursday afternoon that they would be bringing back their entire major league coaching staff for the 2015 season.
Returning this season are:
- Don Mattingly – Manager (fifth season)
- Lorenzo Bundy – Third Base coach (second season)
- Chuck Crim – Bullpen Coach (third season)
- Rick Honeycutt – Pitching Coach (10th season)
- Davey Lopes – First Base Coach (fifth season)
- Mark McGwire – Hitting Coach (third season)
- Tim Wallach – Bench Coach (second season, fifth on staff)
- Ken Howell – Assistant Pitching Coach (third season, eighth on staff)
- John Valentin – Assistant Hitting Coach (third season)
- Steve Yeager – Catching Instructor (fourth season)
- Rob Flippo – Bullpen Catcher (14th season)
- Steve Cilladi – Bullpen Catcher (second season)
Mattingly enters his fifth season as the Dodgers’ manager after leading the club to a second consecutive NL West title and a 94-68 record in 2014. The Dodgers’ record has improved in each of Mattingly’s four seasons and his .547 winning percentage (354-293) as the Dodgers skipper ranks fourth in franchise history among managers with at least 500 games managed.
Although Mattingly sports an impressive 354-293 record after four seasons as the Dodgers skipper, it’s his 6-8 postseason record that has many Dodger fans upset. (Photo credit – Ron Cervenka)
Last year, under the tutelage of hitting coaches Mark McGwire and John Valentin, the Dodgers led the Majors with a .333 team on-base percentage and ranked among the NL leaders in batting average (.265 – 2nd), slugging percentage (.406 – 2nd), extra-base hits (474 – 3rd) and runs scored (718 – 2nd). The Dodgers also led the MLB with a .286 batting average with runners in scoring position (420 for 1469).
Dodger pitchers ranked fourth in the NL in 2014 with a 3.40 combined ERA, including a 3.20 mark by the starting rotation – second best in the MLB. The Dodgers also also established a new franchise record with a National League-best 1,373 strikeouts. Since Rick Honeycutt took the reins as pitching coach in 2006, the Dodgers have led the Majors with a 3.67 team ERA, a .247 opponents’ batting average and 11,209 strikeouts.
There had been some speculation that bench coach Tim Wallach would be called upon to fill one of several managerial positions that became available at the conclusion of the 2014 season but the extremely popular 57-year-old Huntington Beach native never got the call. Many feel that it is just a matter of time before Wallach becomes a major league manager, having managed the Dodgers Triple-A affiliate Albuquerque Isotopes to a franchise record 80 wins in 2009, for which he was named the 2009 Pacific Coast League Manager of the Year and received a promotion to the Dodgers as their third base coaching in 2010. Wallach was subsequently promoted to bench coach in 2014.
It’s a safe bet that Dodgers bench coach Tim Wallach will one day be managing in the big leagues – and probably sooner rather than later. (Photo credit – Jon SooHoo)
There were also rumors that because of the meltdown of the Dodgers bullpen late in the season and into the postseason that bullpen coach Chuck Crim’s job might be at risk, but the likable 53-year-old Van Nuys native survived an off-season cut and will return in 2015 for his third season with the team – much to the pleasure of his relief corps, who think very highly of Crim and his teaching skills.
Although there has been no official word on the status of the Dodgers medical, training and conditioning staffs, there has been nothing to suggest that there will be any changes. There has also been no official word on any coaching changes among the Dodgers minor league affiliate teams.
(The Dodgers PR Department contributed to the article)
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I thought there might be s coaching change or two. However I also think that with 94 wins in their hip pocket the management team felt the coaching group at gotten about all out of the roster that they could.
To get the extra 11/12 wins that Jimmy Rollins spoke of probably takes something extra itself and Friedman et al have been working on the something extra.
I think the coaching staff has one season to get that extra few games before any changes are made.
This is very good news – a great vote of confidence for the whole crew!
Figured you’d like the photo I used, Gail. 😉
I do for sure, thanks Ron! How long until Tim becomes a big-league manager, in your opinion?
There’s really no way of telling. If a manager is fired in-season, they are usually replaced by an interim manager, which is usually someone from within the organization. The main reason for this is because most highly sought-after coaches are under contract until the end of the season and shopping clubs are not permitted to even contact them without first receiving permission from that club.
Then, during the off-season, the search begins in earnest for a permanent replacement (or the interim manager is permanently appointed). This can get a bit awkward because most of the “readily available” managers are those who were fired during the season and that is generally not who you want to run your team – although every now and then a very good “fired” manager might be out there.
Teams looking for a new manager usually react very quickly to get one because simple logic suggests that the best available ones go first and fast.
There has been a rather unusual trend over the past several years. Where it was once almost a requirement to have prior MiLB managerial experience to become a MLB manager, this is no longer the case. Teams actively seek out well-qualified former players and coaches with no managerial or even coaching experience in the case of former players. The jury is still out on this one but there are a few brand new managers who have excelled right out of the chute (Brad Ausmus comes to mind).
With regards to Tim Wallach, he is just too good of a coach (and former MiLB manager) not to land a MLB managerial job and his name comes up every off-season. At some point is will happen and whoever gets him is going to get a good one, that’s for sure.
From a purely selfish standpoint, I’m glad that it (probably) won’t happen this year with the announcement that he is coming back for the 2015 season as the Dodgers bench coach and has probably already signed a contract. The only way he can go now is if a team in search of a manager requests permission to talk with him about a job. That being said, should that happen, there is no way that the Dodgers would interfere with Tim’s shot at becoming a MLB manager because that’s just bad business.
Not a real good answer but hopefully you get the gist of the situation.
It’s absolutely a great answer, Ron, and your explanation is thorough and enlightening…as usual! Thank you.