Glenn Sherlock departs the Arizona Diamondbacks

Glenn Sherlock has been with the Arizona Diamondbacks, since before there were actual Arizona Diamondbacks. He joined the team as a minor-league instructor, all the way back in 1996. That wasn't his first gig as a coach either, having been a manager in the Yankees' farm system - he was Mariano Rivera's first professional manager, as part of the 1990 Rookie Gulf Coast League Yankees. Sherlock spent one winter in charge of the Canberra Bushrangers in the Australian Baseball League, and also coached future Diamondbacks' manager Bob Melvin when he was with the Yankees.

Sherlock's first duties here were as a catching coordinator, and he also helped scout the Expansion Draft which helped fill out Arizona's roster in November 1997. When that team began play in 1998, Sherlock moved to the big league club, becoming the bullpen/catching coach, and had been part of the staff at Chase Field for every one of the 19 seasons since. He outlasted nine Diamondbacks' managers (including the brief tenure of the often-forgotten Wally Backman!), something I'm sure very few coaches in the majors can match, mostly as the bullpen coach, but covering a range of positions as the need arose:

• 1996-1997 - Catching Coordinator
  
• 1998-2002 - Bullpen/Catching Coach
  
• 2003 - Bench Coach
  
• 2004 - First & Third Base Coach
  
• 2005-13 - Bullpen/Catching Coach
  
• 2014 - Third Base Coach
  
• 2015-16 - Bench Coach

It's hard to say what impact Sherlock has had over the years - he's been here for the best of times, including the World Series win, but also the worst of time, such as the 111-loss season which followed three years later. But his longevity surely tells you something; he was described in an article as "baseball's chameleon", an apt one since being able to adapt to and fit in on so many different benches is surely a talent in itself. He almost left the D-backs in 2014, when Matt Williams offered him a post with Washington, but opted to stay in the desert.

Interestingly, at that time he was asked to explain his long tenure, and said: "I think the reason is, if you look at all the managers we’ve had over the years, pretty much everyone has been promoted from within the organization. So they’re guys I’ve worked with, guys I have relationships with, guys I’ve coached with. And I’ve been blessed that they want to keep me on the staff." The arrival of Torey Lovullo as manager, a man without such a pre-existing connection to Sherlock, may perhaps be part of his decision to make a largely horizontal move across country, to become the third-base coach on the Mets.

Thank you, Glenn Sherlock, for your 21 years of service to the #Dbacks.

Best of luck in all your future endeavors. pic.twitter.com/sIW2WTPyuq

— Arizona Diamondbacks (@Dbacks) November 16, 2016

Absolutely no argument there.