Lachemann Will Handle the Entire Team This Time

So just who is Marcel Lachemann?

Until Tuesday, he was the Florida Marlins’ pitching coach, known around the major leagues as a diligent, knowledgeable, compassionate handler of pitchers.

He also was the Angels’ pitching coach for 10 seasons from 1983-92, overseeing the standout 1986 staff that helped the club come within one out of reaching the World Series.

Lachemann said Tuesday he wasn’t looking to become a manager, but he jumped at the opportunity to return to the Angels. This will be his first full-time managing job.

“A situation like this was one in a million,” said Lachemann, 52, who was the Angels’ interim manager for four games in 1992. “If I was going to manage, this was it.”

He leaves behind his brother, Rene, manager of the Marlins; they become the first brothers to manage at the same time in the major leagues since the 1870s.

When Lachemann arrives at Anaheim Stadium on Thursday for his first day on the job, he will be faced with the task of jump-starting the faltering Angel staff.

“It’s going to take time,” he said. “There are no quick fixes in this business. Sometimes you try things and they don’t work, so you do something else. It takes patience.”

Pitcher Kirk McCaskill of the Chicago White Sox, an Angel from 1982-91, believes his old club found the right man.

“I think he’s going to be a very good manager,” said McCaskill, a 17-game winner for the 1986 team. “He’s one of the most consistent, organized people I know.

“Guys who have played for him all respect him. He is always up front. He’s been honest with every pitcher he’s ever had and I think everybody respects him for that. He’s into every pitch. He’s very compassionate.

“(But) managing is very difficult no matter where you are, no matter who you are.”

Angel starter Chuck Finley knows Lachemann only as a pitching coach but said it isn’t difficult to imagine how he might fare in his new job.

“He probably will be a good manager,” Finley said. “From my personal standpoint, he has a lot of self-determination in seeing that a job is done right. He demands 100%. If you can’t give him 100% physically or whatever, then you give him all you can. I don’t think he’s going to let players dog it.

“He also gives people the flexibility to do their thing.

“He was in the organization for a long time. I knew he was down in Florida with his brother. I thought he was going to be content to do that for a while.”

Said designated hitter Chili Davis: “I didn’t get to know ‘Lach’ that well. He wasn’t involved with the position players. He was always with his guys.”

Come Thursday that will change.