CHIP HALE – BENCH COACH
The Nats hit a home run bringing Chip Hale in to sit next to Dave Martinez.
Hale has two years of managerial experience under his belt. Although the Arizona Diamondbacks were unsuccessful under his tenure, the front office and injuries hampered his ability with bad trades and lack of talent. Think Shelby Miller. He had three solid seasons before as the manager of the D’Backs Triple-A team in Tucson.
With Oakland, Hale spent three seasons as a bench coach to Bob Melvin. He was a finalist for the Mets managing job in 2010 before Terry Collins won the job.
As a player, Hale was your typical utility bench guy that learned to coach. He spent eight seasons riding the pine with the Minnesota Twins and Los Angeles Dodgers.
Hale’s job is giving Martinez he best advice he can. As a former NL manager, he knows the right strategies to use. He can run a club if needed as Martinez figures getting tossed out of the occasional game. As with most of the new staff, he is in his early 50s. Between the years of minor-league training and bench coaching, he is a tremendous asset.