Still One Brother Remaining

When the season began, there were three Lachemann brothers working at the major league level. Rene was manager of the Florida Marlins, Marcel managed the Angels and Bill was the Angels’ bullpen coach.

Today, Bill Lachemann finds himself the only brother left with a job in baseball. Rene was fired in July just before the all-star break, and Marcel resigned Tuesday.

Bill Lachemann, 61, said he feels no awkwardness at remaining an Angel coach, despite Marcel’s decision. “They’ve gotten two strikes on the Lachemanns, but they won’t get the third one,” he said.

That doesn’t mean it has been an easy week, though Bill said Marcel looks better after getting out from under the stress of managing a last-place team that was considered a favorite to win the American League West.

“You know you’re hired to be fired. But when it happens, especially to your brother, it’s tough,” Lachemann said. “But I think they will both be back in baseball. They’ve been in the game a number of years, so I don’t think they were overwhelmed by their jobs or what happened.

“I don’t feel sorry for Marcel. I feel sorry for the players. They lost a dedicated individual who wanted to bring them a championship. But things didn’t work out.”

Like his younger brothers, Bill Lachemann has spent much of his life in baseball.

This marks his second season as the Angels’ bullpen coach, but he has been with the organization since 1985. Lachemann has managed Class-A teams in Quad City (Iowa) and Palm Springs. And before joining the Angels, Lachemann worked nine years in the San Francisco Giants organization.

Lachemann also played six sea Considering next spring the current core of Angels could be playing for their fourth manager in four years--assuming interim manager John McNamara won’t return--Lachemann was asked if the team could properly develop under such circumstances.

“The kids will be resilient; they’ll get through this,” Lachemann said. “The thing they were hurt by this year were high expectations, which was understandable after last year.

“But it takes a team four to five years to grow. Look at Cleveland and Atlanta. They took their beatings early, but stayed together as a group.”