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Before we get to more of the Hall of Fame outrage later this afternoon, we've got a bit of news from Brian McTaggart to mull over. Former bench coach and new third base coach Eduardo Perez has left the Astros to "spend more time with his family." From Tags:
Eduardo Perez, who served last season as the Astros' bench coach and was set to be their third-base coach this season, will not return to the team in 2014. Perez told the Astros last week he was resigning to spend more time with his family.
Pat Listach, who was hired last year to coach first base, will move to third base. The Astros are interviewing for a first-base coach and have offered the job to Tarrik Brock, though nothing is final. He is the Marlins' Minor League outfielder and baserunning coordinator.
Perez has a lot of options, potentially. He was already looking for another job before accepting the move to third base. It doesn't sound like he got the opportunities then, but he's also been very good on ESPN before and could easily move back into broadcasting if he wants. Considering how long it took him to accept the reshuffled roles, I'm not shocked by this.
Meanwhile, Houston may be hiring a relative unknown in Brock. The former outfielder had a brief stint in the majors with the Cubs in 2000 and a brief stint as the third base coach for the Marlins in 2010. He's been offered the first base coaching job, with Pat Listach moving across the diamond to third base coach.
Note the date that Brock served as a Marlins big league coach, which fits with when Astros hitting coach John Mallee was there. Brock has been the Marlins MiLB outfield and baserunning coordinator for the past three seasons, so Mallee should have plenty of insight into him. He should also help the Astros in the baserunning department, as the team was pretty awful at efficiently stealing bases last season.
My biggest question in this will be how it affects Houston's use of the shift. We were told multiple times last season that Perez was the Astros' shift guru. Who takes over that role now? Listach, as middle infield coordinator? Will the Astros move away from shifting as much in 2014? I doubt that, so it'll be interesting to watch who takes over that job.
