St. Louis Cardinals get new hitting coach – MLB News
The St. Louis Cardinals have named John Mabry as the replacement for the hitting coach Mark McGwire: The latter is expected to be announced as the Los Angeles Dodgers hitting coach in the next few days.
Mabry was serving as the assistant coach under McGwire for the St. Louis Cardinals in 2012. With the vacated position to be filled by Mabry now, the Cardinals’ have effectively put an end to the potential rumour mills that could stem from the departure of
McGwire.
Not only that, the Cardinals have decided to extend offers to first-base coach Chris Maloney, third-base coach Jose Oquendo, pitching coach Derek Lilliquist and bench coach Mike Aldrete. All of them are to work with the manager Mike Matheny in the upcoming
season.
With the staff at the disposal of Mike Matheny, the Cardinals have a combination of multitalented coaches, capable of transforming the team into a resilient and winning side.
"I could not have been more impressed by the way these coaches went about their business last season, and I am excited by the opportunities and challenges that lie ahead as we continue to grow as a team," Matheny said.
General manager John Mozeliak was all praise for the contribution of the coaches. Understandably so, given the fact that the club successfully sped their way into the postseason games in two consecutive years.
"The contributions made by our coaches has helped to assure a winning culture throughout the Cardinals organization," general manager John Mozeliak said. "We are fortunate to be in a position to have such talented coaches within our organization who are
at the ready when opportunities at the big league level arise."
On the other hand, the new bullpen coach for the Cardinals will be Blaise Ilsley. For last five years, he had previously been serving as pitching coach at Triple-A Memphis. As for the new assistant coach, the club has yet to make a decision.
In effect, the vacant position of hitting coach has already been filled. That was the Cardinals’ part of strategy to avoid any problem at a time when the main focus is to get quality players from the long list of free agents.
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