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If you were expecting a hot news day this morning, boy were you right! Or not. Mostly not at all. But the White Sox did do something interesting/newsworthy today in announcing some changes to the coaching staff for the 2013 season, one expected and the other a bit more of a surprise.
Like most people were predicting, the Sox replaced the absence created by Juan Nieves leaving to become the new pitching coach for the Boston Red Sox by promoting Bobby Thigpen to be the bullpen coach. Thigpen had been the pitching coach for Winston-Salem and Birmingham over the past four years and is most famous for his 57 save season for the White Sox in 1990, the second most in one season ever.
The more surprising move was the announcement that Daryl Boston would be taking over as the first base coach with Harold Baines becoming an assistant hitting coach to Jeff Manto. Boston has spent the past dozen years being the White Sox minor league outfield coordinator. Boston was the 7th overall pick in the 1981 draft when the Sox chose him.
I kind of like the idea of a Baines/Manto double team when it comes to hitting coach duties, though it will take a while to get used to not seeing Harold quietly clapping over at first base like he has been over the last seven years. The rest of the staff is set to remain the same.