Again, as has been reported by many sources, the Mariners today filled out the remainder of their coaching staff. The one name that comes as no surprise at all is Carl Willis, who will indeed return as the team's pitching coach. The rest of the names are more surprising, at least in that you probably didn't expect them, because you probably didn't think about them at all.
The new hitting coach is Chris Chambliss, who's had several stints as a hitting coach and most recently managed in AAA. Chambliss was also the first overall selection in the 1970 draft, taken 19 picks in front of someone named Pete LaCock. Pretty glad we didn't get that guy.
The new bullpen coach is Jaime Navarro, who's spent the last few years as a pitching coach within the system. Even though Navarro had some good years in the bigs, what I remember most is how bad he was towards the end. Over his final 575.1 innings, Navarro posted an ERA of 6.32, and so even though it isn't true, when people ask me who I think is the worst pitcher in Major League history, Navarro's is always the first name that comes to mind.
The new bench coach is Robby Thompson, who comes over from the Indians' front office. Thompson was a second baseman for the Giants for 11 years, and if you plug in your SEGA and play a few games of World Series Baseball '94 you'll find that Thompson is one of two guys who is an inexplicable home run machine, along with Leo Gomez.
Mike Brumley's back as the first base coach. As first base coach, he'll have a direct view over to the third base coach, which will remind Brumley of how he was a complete disaster as a third base coach.
And finally, Jeff Datz is the new third base coach. Whether or not Datz is a good man for the job is less relevant than the fact that Datz was a coach with the Indians while Eric Wedge was a manager with the Indians, and damned if managers don't like surrounding themselves with familiar faces when they can.