The Miami Marlins officially announced the hiring of Don Mattingly on Monday morning, making the 54 year old their 13th manager in franchise history, and eighth since 2010.
Marlins owner and CEO Jeffrey Loria and president David Samson spoke of the hire with great enthusiasm and hope it will end a string of failed managerial stints in South Beach.
Also discussed, though largely only in general terms, was Mattingly’s coaching staff, which may include Los Angeles Dodgers bench coach Tim Wallach. “We’ve been in conversations about the staff. I don’t know if it’s something I really want to get into at this point,” Mattingly said.
“We’ve talked about some guys, we think Tim Wallach is going to come with be to be the bench coach, and we have a number of guys who are coming back.” While Wallach would be a new addition to the Marlins organization, several others from the 2015 staff are likely to be retained.
I have pretty much talked or texted with every member of the staff. I don’t know if Michael wants to talk about the staff or not, but some of the guys coming back I’m comfortable with,” Mattingly said. “I think it’s important to the continuity of where we’re going.”
Wallach interviewed for managerial vacancies with the San Diego Padres and Washington Nationals, though as was the case in 2013 when he interviewed with the Detroit Tigers and Seattle Mariners, those organizations elected to go with a different candidate.
Wallach joined Mattingly’s Dodgers staff in 2011 as third base coach, and after the 2013 season was promoted to bench coach — a position he held over the last two years. It’s believed the 58-year-old Wallach is a candidate for the Dodgers managerial position, though not necessarily a leading one.
The contracts of the Dodgers coaching staff expired once the season ended. Of the group it’s only been reported thus far pitching coach Rick Honeycutt is in discussions to remain in Los Angeles.
