St. Louis Cardinals’ Mike Matheny makes minor changes in coaching staff – MLB News
The newly hired St. Louis Cardinals’ manager Mike Matheny made his first move after his appointment on Wednesday, November 16 by replacing Joe Pettini as the bench coach and bringing in Chris Maloney as first-base coach.
With the former manager La Russa gone, the Cardinals’ new manager kept hitting coach Mark McGwire unchanged coupled with Jose Oquendo the third-base coach, Dave Duncan as pitching coach and Derek Lilliquist as bull-pen coach.
While no big change of guards was expected, Mike Matheny followed the line La Russa had walked previously to help the Cardinals win the 2011 World Series title after coming from behind, beating the Texas Rangers by 4-3 in the best-of-seven series.
Likes of Duncan, Oquendo, McGwire and Mike Aldrete had made invaluable contribution to the race that the Cardinals had, making their way into the most eagerly-sought World Series games and ultimately the title.
"Just like our players, the Cardinals' organization places a high level of expectation on its coaches," Matheny said in the club's official release Wednesday. "I have great admiration for the work these men have done throughout their careers, and we will
continue to invest in the preparation, coaching and leadership necessary to build upon that success."
Aldrete has served as the coach of Seattle Mariners and Arizona Diamondbacks previously. This will be his first ever experience as the bench coach of the Cardinals. As for Pettini, he had remained the Cardinals’ bench coach for a decade.
Maloney is another addition in the team. Having remained manager of Triple-A Memphis, this will be his first assignment in a Major League staff.
The pitching coach, one of the familiar names and faces of the St. Louis Cardinals, Dave Duncan will be there for the 17th season in this capacity. All the changes that Matheny is currently doing to the coaching staff is to prepare the team for
upcoming Spring Training session and ultimately the regular season.
With the combination of senior and new staff, the Cardinals will be looking to repeat the kind of performance they put on display this season, winning the World Series for the 11th time.
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