Terry Francona, Red Sox Promote DeMarlo Hale to Bench Coach
DeMarlo Hale will be Terry Francona’s new bench coach during the 2010, taking over for Brad Mills who became the Manager of the Houston Astros in October. Hale has served as the Red Sox 3rd base coach for the last 4 seasons. Hale has stayed under the radar despite having one of the toughest jobs in baseball in one of the toughest ballparks to play in all of baseball. Francona respected and appreciated Hale’s hard work at 3rd base for the last few seasons, so it was a tough switch to make for him: “It probably wasn’t fair to DeMarlo but that was a concern of mine. When you go four years and you never hear DeMarlo’s name, that’s about the biggest compliment you can give a guy. It’s the toughest market to be at third base and the toughest field and you never heard people talk about him so that was a huge compliment to him. Part of the reason, a big reason you never heard about him, was because he did such a good job. He will take that and do the same thing as a bench coach.”
As for Hale, he is honored to have the opportunity: “It is rewarding. I think the approach I’m taking is, it’s a very good opportunity. I appreciate Tito and the organization giving me that chance. I approach this as when you get opportunities, you make the best of it. I can’t look too far down the line. I’ve always taken that approach to do the job at hand right now. I don’t look too far into the future but I think this is a great opportunity for me – - no question.”
In related moves: Tim Bogar moves from 1st base coach to 3rd base coach; Ron Johnson will take over 1st base coaching duties (he has been Triple A Pawtucket’s Manager for the last 5 seasons); and Rob Leary is now the Major League coaching staff assistant.
Let’s hope the moves don’t hold the Red Sox back at all in 2010. The Red Sox will need to be at the top of their games in 2010 if they expect to make a spirited playoffs run.
