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#Dbacks name Glenn Sherlock bench coach, Andy Green third base coach, Mark Grace asst hitting coach & Henry Blanco coach/bullpen catcher
— Arizona Diamondbacks (@Dbacks) October 16, 2014
Mike Harkey, Dave McKay, Mel Stottlemyre Jr. and Turner Ward will all return to their 2014 coaching positions. #Dbacks
— Arizona Diamondbacks (@Dbacks) October 16, 2014
It's a mixed bag as far as I'm concerned. Sherlock continues his lengthy tenure with the Diamondbacks, being one of the very few people, in any capacity, to have worked with the team continuously since the debut season of 1998, through multiple managers, GMs, and ownership groups. I suspect that, after the global apocalypse, as well as the cockroaches surviving, Sherlock will still be clocking in every day at Chase Field. He was the bench coach previously, in 2003, so this marks a return to the role for him. Good to see Green, a candidate for the manager's job, get promoted. Some speculation this could open the door for Robbie Hammock to move up to manage Double-A.
We covered the Gracy promotion when word of that was first announced. Blanco's role still seems somewhat ill-defined, but it appears he will be taking over from Mark Reed in the bullpen - perhaps with an eye on eventually becoming a pitching coach? Reed has been down there since taking over from long-time incumbent Jeff Motuzas, who had to give up due to health issues. [Random factoid: did you realize Mike Fetters was on staff as a "quality assurance coach," whatever that is? He's listed as such on the team page, though that is currently undergoing a revamp. Reed's page says, "We're sorry, this staff bio is being updated. Please check back later."]
Of the returnees, most are no surprise, particularly McKay, about whom new manager Chip Hale had some very warm words to say during his introductory press conference. The one which shocked me is retaining Mike Harkey as pitching coach: I think most on the SnakePit were unimpressed with him, and there's no denying our hurlers were significantly less effective this year. Now, part of the may be the injuries, but it almost became a site meme that a Harkey trip to the pitcher's mound was followed by a home-run or similar disaster. I certainly wasn't satisfied, but it appears, despite the increase in staff ERA, there was something deemed worth retaining.