Coaching Changes Surprise Players

Players were not stunned by Manager Marcel Lachemann’s resignation, but Tuesday’s dismissal of third-base coach Rick Burleson, first-base coach Bobby Knoop and pitching coach Chuck Hernandez “was a bit of a shocker,” shortstop Gary DiSarcina said.

“Guys were more surprised about the coaching changes than the manager,” DiSarcina said. “That caught a lot of us off-guard . . . but if it’s in the best interest of the team, what can you say?”

Only four coaches were retained from Lachemann’s staff, bench coach Joe Maddon, who will move to first base, batting instructor Rod Carew, catching coach Bill Lachemann and bullpen catcher Mick Billmeyer.

Joe Coleman, in his second season as Angel special assignment scout, will take over as pitching coach, Eddie Rodriguez, former minor league field coordinator for the Angels, will be the third-base coach, and Mike Couchee, an Angel roving pitching instructor, will be the team’s bullpen coach.

Coleman, who played 15 major league seasons with seven teams and was a two-time, 20-game winner, was the Angels’ roving minor league pitching coach from 1984-87 and then as the big league club’s bullpen coach from 1988-90.

Burleson, Knoop and Hernandez will be paid for the remainder of their contracts, which run through the 1997 season, and all three will have the option of working for the organization in another capacity.

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Despite rumors that former Dodger Manager Tom Lasorda might be interested in the Angel job if it became available, Angel General Manager Bill Bavasi said Lasorda would not be on his list of candidates.

“Why?” Bavasi asked. “Because when I was a kid he told [Buzzie Bavasi, Bill’s father and former Dodger GM] to spank me, just on general principle. He thought it would make me a better kid.”

Bavasi said he plans to pare a “long list” of candidates to a “short list” over the next month or two, and he hopes to have a new manager in place by the mid-November general manager meetings. He would not rule out the possibility of Lachemann returning as the Angels’ pitching coach.

“There’s a chance, but it would depend on whether Marcel was comfortable with it,” Bavasi said. “It would also depend on whether he thought it was good for the organization.”

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In only his third season as Angel GM, Bavasi has already fired one manager (Buck Rodgers), hired one (Lachemann), and now he’ll have to hire another. “It’s agonizing,” he said of the process, “but there’s no pressure.”