Royals closing in on announcement of Mike Matheny’s coaching staff
The Kansas City Royals haven’t finalized their coaching staff, but it seems certain to remain similar under new manager Mike Matheny as it did under retired manager Ned Yost.
An announcement on the Royals coaching staff could come by the end of this week.
That will likely include the return of quality control/catching coach Pedro Grifol, and he could move into the vacated bench coach job left open by Dale Sveum, who will move from the major-league staff into another role in the organization.
General manager Dayton Moore declined to confirm the makeup of the staff during the MLB general mangers’ meetings in Scottsdale, Arizona, but he indicated that members of last year’s staff would likely have roles within the organization regardless if they remain on the major-league staff.
Grifol had been a candidate for the San Francisco Giants managerial opening as well as the Royals’ job prior to Matheny’s hiring. Last offseason, Grifol also interviewed for the Baltimore Orioles managerial job.
Grifol got to know Matheny while he worked as an adviser for the club this past season, and Grifol expressed respect for Matheny as a leader and manager when the Royals hired him as manager.
The two have spoken at length since Matheny was hired. Grifol’s familiarity and relationships with the current major and minor league players as well as his understanding of analytics make him a likely candidate for the bench coach job.
Grifol had two interviews with the Giants during their recently concluded managerial search. The Giants hired former Philadelphia Phillies manager Gabe Kapler, who’d had a previous working relationship with Giants president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi. Kapler worked as the Dodgers’ director of player development from 2014-17 under Zaidi.
Grifol joined the Royals organization in 2013. He’d previously worked for the Seattle Mariners in several capacities including as a scout, minor league manager, farm director and a brief stint on the major league coaching staff.
Upon joining the Royals in 2013, Grifol served as a hitting coach for the rookie ball affiliate. The Royals elevated him to a special assignment coach for the major-league staff in late May and hitting coach in late July. He became catching coach in 2014 and added quality control coach to his title in 2018.
Bullpen coach Vance Wilson, who was also a candidate for the Royals managerial job, could also be a candidate for the bench coach job.
Pitching coach Cal Eldred seemed to acknowledge he’ll return, in an interview with MLB.com. Matheny and Eldred were teammates with the Milwaukee Brewers and St. Louis Cardinals. Eldred also served as an assistant to the general manager for the Cardinals during Matheny’s tenure as manager (2013-15).
“Mike, myself, along with the rest of our baseball operations staff are currently discussing the roles for our major league coaching staff and certainly considering everybody internally, as we always do,” Moore said. “We’re getting close to possibly announcing some things.”
This story was originally published November 13, 2019 at 2:43 PM with the headline "Royals closing in on announcement of Mike Matheny’s coaching staff."
