Phillies announce revamped coaching staff

Here's the Press Release. As I reported yesterday, Ryne Sandberg is on board, and Steve Henderson is the hitting coach. Have more for you later.


PHILLIES NAME NEW COACHES

The Phillies retained three coaches and promoted three others from their player development system, Manager Charlie Manuel and Senior Vice President & General Manager Ruben Amaro Jr. jointly announced today.

Mick Billmeyer, Rich Dubee and Juan Samuel have all been offered positions for the 2013 season. Steve Henderson, Rod Nichols and Ryne Sandberg were promoted from their roles in the Phillies player development system.

Billmeyer, 48, has been promoted to the role of catching coach. The longest tenured member of the Phillies coaching staff, Billmeyer served as the team’s bullpen coach for the past four years (2009-12) and prior to that as the major league catching instructor (2004-08).

Dubee, 54, has been retained as the pitching coach. The 2013 season will be Dubee’s 12th in the Phillies organization and ninth at his current position.

Samuel, 51, has been offered the position of first base coach and outfield/baserunning instructor. He has spent the last two years as the Phillies third base coach and outfield instructor.

Henderson, 61, will serve as the club’s hitting coach. A former major league outfielder of 12 years (1977-88), he has spent the last three seasons working in the Phillies minor league system as the hitting coordinator (2011-12) and, prior to that, the outfield/baserunning coordinator (2010). Before coming to the Phillies, Henderson was the hitting coach for the Tampa Bay Rays for four years (2006-09).

Nichols, 47, will fill the role of bullpen coach. He has worked in the Phillies minor league system since 2000 as a pitching coach for four different affiliates, including the last eight years at the triple-A level. Nichols pitched parts of seven seasons in the major leagues (1988-93, 1995).

Sandberg, 53, will be the Phillies’ new third base coach and infield instructor. Elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 2005, Sandberg managed in the minor leagues for the last six seasons (2007-12) for both the Chicago Cubs and the Phillies and posting an overall record of 439-409-1.

As previously announced, the Phillies elected to not renew the coaching contracts of Greg Gross, Pete Mackanin and Sam Perlozzo.