Phils add experience to coaching staff

That sizzle you hear may be the seat of Phillies manager Charlie Manuel. After yesterday's hirings of Art Howe, Davey Lopes, and Jimy Williams, general manager Pat Gillick sent the memo to the Phils' skipper. Now, he must deliver. This delivery may not even include Manuel getting a chance to take the team to the playoffs. This delivery may just include Manuel getting the Phillies out of April with a winning record. The fact that the coaching staff has been stocked with three former managers may mean a few things, of course. With Pat Gillick, we may never know. To the media it is one translation, and in his own mind, it is another. Remember, this is the same guy who said the Phillies would struggle to be contenders in 2007 and then proceeded to acquire Jeff Conine and Jamie Moyer to strengthen the team for the stretch run.

Nonetheless, the message given to us is this much: the coaching staff that was under Manuel for the past two seasons was insufficient and incompetent. With the new hirings came new and specific job titles. Davey Lopes will handle the 1st base coaching duties, baserunning, and outfield. Art Howe will handle the 3rd base coaching duties and the infield. Williams will be Manuel's main advisor on the bench and control spring training. It will be vital that Williams gets the team off to a good start in spring training. Last April, the Phillies were fundamentally incoherent and made mistakes by the bushels.

Meanwhile, Lopes will be an asset especially to centerfielder Shane Victorino. Victorino, despite having top-flight speed around the bases, is a poor basestealer. Lopes will work with him to try and get that better first step towards the base, so he can become a better asset atop the order. Last season it appeared that at many times Victorino was simply frozen at first base and that a weakness had been discovered in his game. Once the ball was hit in play though, Victorino went 1st to 3rd and 2nd to home better than anybody in the game. Nonetheless, Lopes will be a major help to Victorino, Jimmy Rollins, and the other speedburners in the lineup.

Howe replaces Bill Dancy as the 3rd base coach and infield instructor. Last season, to many's surprise, it was reported that Charlie Manuel did not conduct infield practice unless it got to an emergency stage. Infield practice may have occured 5-10 times throughout the entire season, if that. Howe has managed the Astros, Athletics, and most recently the Mets before taking a leave from the game and working as a part-time analyst and correspondent for MLB.com.

Combined, there are over 4300 games of managerial experience on this staff. For Charlie Manuel, that can either be a dream come true or a worst nightmare. Let's just hope that the Phillies don't experience another one of those April nightmares.