Add Colborn to M's wish list of pitch coaches

 

By Bob Finnigan

Seattle Times staff reporter

 

While the Mariners are taking names in their search for new pitching and hitting coaches, it appears than the name of Bryan Price is on the list of at least two teams.

 

The former Seattle pitching coach, who resigned along with batting coach Don Baylor on Monday, has long been linked with his friend Bob Melvin, who went from managing here to managing Arizona, where both he and Price live.

 

But sources say the Marlins also have a significant interest in Price, in large part because Florida general manager Admin Beinfest respects his work from working with him in Seattle, where Beinfest was assistant farm director under Jim Beattie in the 1990s.

 

Heightening the musical coaches look of this, Mariners manager Mike Hargrove has high regard for Mark Wiley, the Marlins' pitching coach until they did not renew his contact at the end of the season. Wiley coached pitchers for Hargrove in Cleveland and Baltimore.

 

However, according to sources, another significant candidate is on the Seattle list ? Jim Colborn. Colborn, just released as Dodgers pitching coach, scouted the Pacific Rim for the Mariners after several years as pitching coach for the Orix Blue Wave in Japan.

 

Colborn, who played a large part in the signing of Ichiro and also saw the ability of Chris Snelling as a 16-year-old in Australia, earned great respect from Mariners officials, among them CEO Howard Lincoln. GM Bill Bavasi and scout Dan Evans are also familiar with Colborn because of their time together with the Los Angeles club.

 

In addition, the Mariners' list includes three candidates from within the organization: Jim Slaton, bullpen coach this past season; Pat Rice, the roving minor-league coach; and Rafael Chaves, the Tacoma pitching coach.

 

In the area of hitting coaches, the Mariners might not be that far ahead.

 

Widening the Florida connection, Bill Robinson, who most recently coached Marlins hitters to a league-leading .272 average in 2005, is on the Seattle list. Previously, Robinson was a long-time hitting coach with the Mets.

 

Another thought to be on the list is Don Long, the Everett native who was a candidate for Mariners hitting coach after the 2002 season, when Seattle hired Lamar Johnson as Melvin's first hitting coach.

 

Bavasi is also familiar with Long from his work in the Angels organization.

 

Bob Finnigan: 206-464-8276 or bfinnigan@seattletimes.com

We have to wait until new Manager is hired to see if he wants Wiley or someone else.

Now that the bitch (AJ) is gone, we should bring Rosey back.

Mariners want Robinson too it said there, I wonder if they want Dunlop also :mischief

Mariners want Robinson too it said there, I wonder if they want Dunlop also :mischief

 

nooooooooooo not Dunlop!!!

Now that the bitch (AJ) is gone, we should bring Rosey back.

Dontrelle and Josh listened to Rosey just as much as AJ did.

I'm going to miss all of those "Fire Bill Robinson" threads. :shifty

we should just make dunlop the manager

 

team was undefeated when he managed

Good news. They can have both Robinson and Wiley.

 

Yeah, bring back Rosey!

After the season's Dontrelle and Josh just had, I don't see why we wouldn't want to bring Wiley back.

 

Obviously, it's up to the new manager and Wiley may have a job by then.

permission to talk to other ballclubs = you are gone next year

we should just make dunlop the manager

 

team was undefeated when he managed

 

Dunlop is Jack incarnate. Every move he made was the same move Jck would have made. Wiley on the other hand was magic handling his relievers those two games.

After the season's Dontrelle and Josh just had, I don't see why we wouldn't want to bring Wiley back.

 

Obviously, it's up to the new manager and Wiley may have a job by then.

 

 

 

i agree.. i dont know why they dont want him back

 

other than the middle relief the staff did pretty well.. better than with rosey

permission to talk to other ballclubs = you are gone next year

 

Huh? Wiley, Robinson, etc. are on one-year contracts that end after the completion of the World Series. Soon we will have a new manager coming in who may want his own squad.

 

Loria/Beinfest giving these guys the option to explore new opportunities is a fair gesture, not any sort of attempt to push them out the door.