Righetti part of stunning shakeup
Longtime pitching coach as well as Gardner and Decker reassigned
Change was almost guaranteed for the Giants after a miserable 64-98 season, and on Saturday the first moves were announced.
The Giants have reassigned pitching coach Dave Righetti, bullpen coach Mark Gardner and assistant hitting coach Steve Decker.
ESPN.com, citing multiple reports, was reporting that bench coach Ron Wotus and hitting Hensley Meulens also were involved in the shakeup.
Righetti, 58, will now serve as a special assistant to general manager Bobby Evans. Gardner will be in a special assignment role to assist in pitching evaluations and Decker was given the role of special assistant, baseball operations.
The most shocking of the moves comes with the reassignment of Righetti, who had served as pitching coach of the Giants since 2000.
“His heartbeat is in uniform as
a coach, but he also loves this organization. He loves our players and our pitchers and wants to make an impact,” Evans said in a conference call. “He wants to be open to how that can look in a different role. I’m sure it’s still hard to imagine, even for us, Dave not in uniform. But there’s so much he could offer in this new role that I’m excited about it.”
Evans wasn’t clear on if the three coaches were
pushed into the new roles, but he made it known that the organization felt it was time for fresh voices within the coaching staff, specifically on the pitching side.
“Dave’s got a great mind for the game and he’s a tremendous leader. Made huge impact on our current staff as well as many staffs before and the opportunity to work closer is very much appreciated by me,” Evans said.
“But change for us in the clubhouse is really an opportunity to put a new voice with our pitching staff and try to keep pushing to the
heights that we aspire as an organization and club. Changes sometimes are needed for the sake of that new voice and that was a priority here.”
The new coaches are unlikely to come from within, as Evans pointed out that the club is looking primarily outside the organization for candidates.
The club did not say anything about Meulens or Wotus, although this newspaper reported earlier this week that former Giants outfielder Chili Davis had interviewed about joining manager Bruce Bochy’s staff. Davis is currently the
hitting coach for the Boston Red Sox.
Should Davis or any other hitting coach come on board, the reassignment of Decker will leave the door open for Meulens to remain on the staff.
“In all the years we’ve done this, we’ve tried to be open-minded,” Evans said. “We’ve made changes even in years we had success, but it does raise the level of attention. We always concentrate on making changes that will keep pushing our guys with coaches that will have different perspectives and find ways to get most out of our players.”