...An entirely new coaching staff will be around next season from the one that began the 2008 campaign. But for some, the coaches coming to Seattle are not new at all. The folks in Dallas know Don Wakamatsu well from his five-year stint as a Rangers coach.
It is all but certain that Wakamatsu's entire staff of pitching coaches will be coming out of Arlington as well. Dom Chiti was the bullpen coach for the Rangers (until being fired in August) and will be the new Mariners pitching coach once the holidays are over.
Last summer, Chiti was fired by a team with lousy pitching. So we're left with three possibilities:
1) The Rangers were right; Chiti isn't a very helpful coach, and deserved to be fired
2) The Rangers were wrong; Chiti is a helpful coach, and deserves a promotion
3) Wakamatsu thinks pitching coaches are irrelevant and Dom Chiti has a bitchin moustache
I don't know anything about Dom Chiti, so all I'll say is at least he's not Mel Stottlemyre, and anyone who can watch Josh Rupe and Jamey Wright warm up every other day without going wacko should be more than qualified to handle the whole Carlos Silva experience. New blood!
Also, Norm Charlton's surly air of antiquated disapproval is going away. I have organized a support group to help deal with the grief.