PressBox: Trembley's Staff: Old, New, Borrowed, Blue

Trembley's Staff: Old, New, Borrowed, Blue
By Pete Kerzel

Orioles manager Dave Trembley approached construction of a coaching staff in much the same manner a blushing bride prepares for her wedding.

Something old? Third base coach Juan Samuel and hitting coach Terry Crowley were holdovers from the group of coaches Trembley inherited when he took over the club from Sam Perlozzo last June 18.

Something new? Ex-Oriole John Shelby arrived to coach first base after spending 10 years in a similar capacity with the Pittsburgh Pirates and Los Angeles Dodgers. Pitching coach Rick Kranitz, cut loose by the Florida Marlins, also made his way to Baltimore.

Former Oriole John Shelby is coaching first base after doing the same for the Pittsburgh Pirates and Los Angeles Dodgers.
(Mitch Stringer/PressBox)

Something borrowed? Kranitz and bullpen coach Alan Dunn, who joined the Orioles after Trembley was named manager, knew Trembley from his time in the Chicago Cubs system.

Something blue? Well, that was the primary uniform hue new bench coach Dave Jauss wore when he served in the same role with the Dodgers under Grady Little the past two seasons.

“They’re a very good group,” Trembley said. “They’re very good at what they do, and they each have something special to offer. But they also function as a team, and that’s what we’re trying to do here.”

That Trembley was even allowed to choose his own coaching staff is a departure for a rebuilding Orioles team, whose management may finally have figured out that saddling a skipper with his predecessor’s coaches wasn’t the best way to foster effective communication and teamwork.

“Everybody wants the opportunity to choose their own staff instead of having it chosen for them,” said Shelby, who joined the Orioles in 1981 and spent the first seven of his 11 big league seasons in Baltimore. “When you choose your own staff, you know these guys are on your side. Nobody’s trying to get your job. Everybody wants to work together to make it work.”

Dunn, the first hire by the new manager, worked with Trembley for eight years in outposts like Single-A Peoria, Rockford and Daytona and Double-A West Tennessee. He isn’t surprised that Trembley’s style -- combining respect for the game, intuitive knowledge and a taskmaster’s mentality -- have followed his old friend to the majors.

“He’s a very conscientious person, and he wants to do it right,” Dunn said. “He won’t leave any stone unturned to make sure it’s done right. He allows people to do their jobs and expects things to be done the right way, and I think that’s a very positive characteristic to have as a manager.”

Kranitz navigated a quick learning curve on an impressionable staff. But rather than putting his stamp on every Orioles pitcher -- something at which predecessor Leo Mazzone failed -- Kranitz adapts his style to maximize a hurler’s strengths and overcome his weaknesses.

“Not everybody's the same. I can't ask Daniel Cabrera to pitch like Jamie Walker or Jeremy Guthrie to pitch like Chad Bradford,” Kranitz said.

Jauss, who spent 10 years as a Red Sox scout, major league coach and administrator and worked during 1995 as the Orioles’ minor league field coordinator, came to his role as Trembley’s new bench coach by accident. He got three hours’ warning that Little would resign to pave the way for Joe Torre’s move to Los Angeles. A few days earlier, Jauss had heard that there remained an opening on Trembley’s staff.

An e-mail exchange between Jauss and Trembley -- who knew of each other without knowing each other from years in the bushes -- set the final hire in motion.

“Whatever strengths, whatever things the manager feels he should do, he does. And whatever he feels should be delegated, it's my responsibility to take care of that,” Jauss said. “What happens is, we think about the same things, but not the same way. If you watch the game long enough, if you manage the game enough years at whatever level, you are thinking about the same things. … We all come at it differently, so that is a key”

With 14 years over two stints as an Orioles coach, Crowley is the greybeard on the staff. Samuel is in his second season. No one else has been with the club a full year.

Dunn said Trembley’s gregarious nature and hard-nosed work ethic eased the transition for the entire staff.

“Back in Double-A in 1998 and 1999, we had to learn each other, and immediately it was a mutual respect for each other,” Dunn said. “He let me do my job as a pitching coach, and we were able to be on the same page with one another. That hasn’t changed. He’s still the same.”

So is a fundamental love for baseball -- and the knowledge that coaches are being paid to do something they love.

“When my wife was an ICU nurse, I was worried about managing a game in the Florida State League, and she was taking care of people who had knives in the backs of their heads and gunshot wounds,” Jauss said. “We have to have fun with this position, this job we have. I say that I go to the yard; I don't go to work. My wife goes to work raising three boys. People I pass, tarring roads in 95-degree weather -- they go to work. It's a blessing to do what you enjoy doing for your profession.”

Issue 3.22: May 28, 2008