Ventura Finalizes Coaching Staff

With the dust settled from Ozzie Guillen’s departure and his coaching staff having chosen their sides, new manager Robin Ventura’s entourage has taken shape.

Leftovers from the Ozzie era are pitching coach Don Cooper, who received a four-year extension upon Ozzie’s departure, first-base coach Harold Baines, bullpen coach Juan Nieves and assistant hitting coach Mike Gellinger.

Ventura’s right-hand man will be Philadelphia Phillies Double-A manager Mark Parent, who was named “Best Manager Prospect” by Baseball America. He takes over as bench coach where Joey Cora served under Ozzie.

The team’s new third-base coach is Joe McEwing, who managed Triple-A Charlotte this past season. McEwing replaces Jeff Cox in the new regime.

Jeff Manto will be the new hitting coach, taking over  the most challenging job in the organization from Greg Walker. The success of Adam Dunn, Alex Rios, Gordon Beckham and Brent Morel will be used to gauge how Manto is doing. That’s like getting in a street fight with Taylor Swift (Morel), Zack GalifanIcan’tspellhislastname (Dunn), Justin Bieber (Beckham) and the pre-courage scarecrow from Wizard of Oz (Rios).

Godspeed, Jeff.