At the time of announcing the mutual separation with Don Mattingly as manager, Los Angeles Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman didn’t rule out any of the coaches being retained for the 2016 season.
However, Friedman added the coaches’ contracts expired at season’s end, and they were free to seek employment with other teams.
Davey Lopes was the first to latch on elsewhere, joining Dusty Baker’s Washington Nationals staff as first base coach.
There’s since been a mass exodus with Ron Roenicke returning to the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, Mark McGwire joining the San Diego Padres, and Lorenzo Bundy and Tim Wallach following Mattingly to Miami.
Roenicke will coach third base for the Angels, McGwire replaces Dodgers manager Dave Roberts as Padres bench coach, Bundy is the Marlins’ outfield/base running coach, and Wallach continues his role as Mattingly’s bench coach.
As for the Dodgers, they expect to add Bob Geren as bench coach, former Arizona Diamondbacks hitting coach Turner Ward in the same role, and former Seattle Mariners first base coach Chris Woodward.
It doesn’t appear Woodward joins the Dodgers as first base coach, which instead is a position Gabe Kapler will hold, per Jon Heyman of CBS Sports:
Gabe Kapler will be 1B coach for dodgers
— Jon Heyman (@JonHeymanCBS) December 7, 2015
Kapler joined the Dodgers organization last November as director of player development. Along with Roberts, he was a finalist for the club’s managerial vacancy.
Speaking after the Roberts’ introductory press conference last week, Friedman said he expected Kapler to remain with the organization but didn’t state what role Kapler would hold moving forward.
It was reported the Dodgers retained pitching coach Rick Honeycutt, however the club has not made the news official.
