Out of the box thoughts…Larry Dierker as pitching coach?

Al Pedrique as first base coach?

Jeff Bagwell as bench coach?

Interesting ideas in the post, astrosws. Mills has so much experience and with so many different organizations that he must have a wide array of contacts with coaches, and I’m sure he found people at each of his stops that he thought would be good future hires if he ever got a manager job. It would be interesting to know which pitching coaches he has worked with in the past. All of the Red Sox pitching coach possibilities seem out of bounds right now…the current Red Sox pitching coach turned down a managing job to stay put and the Pirates hired the previous Red Sox pitching coach. The Red Sox pitching coach before that worked as the Astros pitching coach in 07, before leaving on his own accord. It’s too bad that the Astros didn’t hang on to Mike Maddux, who was pitching coach in Corpus for awhile, since he is now considered one of the best pitching coaches…doubtful that the Astros could lure him away from Nolan Ryan and the Rangers. Billy Hatcher still coaches with the Reds, and is someone who always seemed like he wanted to come back to the Astros. He used to be the Reds’ hitting coach…but I’m not sure if he still holds that position.

Wade Boggs at first or bench. Sorry, had some childhood memories flooding in.

If I was going offer a former player a coaching postion it would be Biggio. Then I would maybe see if Tom Glavin would be interested in a Pitching coach job

Another ex-Astros player who has a good coaching reputation is Billy Doran. He was a bench coach for the Royals, and was considered a managerial candidate a couple of years ago. Doran is now the base running and infield defense coordinator for the Reds’ minor league system. The Astros could use some help in coaching both infield defense and base running. Doran was a terrific defensive 2d baseman with the Astros. But he is from Cincinnati and lives there now…so he may like it where he is at.

He was a hitting coach for Boston from 2003-2006 while Mills was there, and he’s currently the hitting coach at AAA Round Rock. For what it’s worth, the Red Sox had the highest batting average in baseball in 2003, 2004 (tied w/ LAA), and 2005. Jackson’s contract was not renewed in 2006 after the Sox’s batting average fortunes took a sudden turn and were third from the bottom of the AL heap.

Assuming that is unrealistic and despite my not knowing much about other pitching coaches, It seems to me Burt Hooton earned a return engagement for his work at Round Rock.

of course we lose out on the awesome color commentary.

In another thread, clack posted about how Mills used some advance scouting on Holliday to help get Papelbon his first ever pickoff in Game 2 of the 2007 World Series. The advance scout who gave him that info? His name is Dana LeVangie. He’s a Boston lifer, but he was a catcher in the minors and spent 8 years as Boston’s bullpen catcher.

Another possible name, this time with Ed Wade connections, is Ramon Henderson. He was an infielder for the Phillies for 7 years, and was the bullpen coach for the Phillies during Ed Wade’s tenure there. He’s currently a coach with the Phillies Hi-A team.

Fun Fact: David Newhan is player-coaching for the Phillies’ AAA team now.

David Newhan may be happy to see Cecil Cooper gone. Newhan was cut in spring training and left with a parting shot at Cooper. Wade had promised Newhan that he would be given a shot at the utility infielder position, including an opportunity to show what he could do at shortstop. Cooper never allowed Newhan to play shortstop, and told the media something like, “I want someone who can play shortstop, not just stand there in the shortstop position.” When he left, Newhan said he was upset with Cooper’s pattern of criticizing players to the media without ever talking to the players, pointing out that this communications problem stretched back to 2008. Although it was a long shot that Newhan would be proficient in that role, he had spent his time on the side fields in spring training trying to practice shortstop, without knowing that Cooper had no intent of using him there in a spring game.

(Hat tip to AstrosCounty for the following)

Philadelphia Inquirer is reporting that the Astros have gotten permission to speak with the Phillies’ NY-Penn league batting coach, Bobby Meacham, for a position with the Astros major-league staff.

Meacham was a shortstop for the Yankees for a while in the 80’s. He’d later go on to be the Marlins’ third-base coach in 2006, the Padres first-base coach in 2007 (where Ed Wade was a scout at the time), and third-base coach for the 2008 Yankees.

He was a big Joe Girardi ally on the 2006 Marlins squad. Scuttlebutt is that Girardi relied on Meacham too much in 2008 when he was coaching the Yankees and it ticked off some of the other coaches (the name I see mentioned in particular is Tony Pena).

McTaggart tweets it:

Bobby Meacham named first-base coach and Al Pedrique as bench coach.

Pitching coach is still an open position.