Lachemann Accepts Collins’ Job Offer

Angel pitcher Mark Langston called it bizarre, and former Angel manager Marcel Lachemann admitted, “It’s not your typical situation.”

But that didn’t prevent Lachemann from accepting an offer from new Manager Terry Collins to be the Angels’ pitching coach, a position Lachemann held for nine years before becoming the team’s manager in 1994.

Lachemann, 55, also had an offer to be the Chicago Cubs’ pitching coach, but after meeting for three hours with Collins on Sunday, he decided Tuesday to return to Anaheim, even though he had resigned as Angel manager Aug. 6.

“This doesn’t happen very often,” Lachemann said of the move from manager to pitching coach. “But it’s something Terry and I are comfortable with. I think we can make it work.”

It may take some getting used to, though.

“I don’t know, it’s a strange thing,” Langston said. “He was the manager last year, and the way things ended were not good. . . . But we’ve worked with him before and know his expertise is pitching.”

Shortly after Lachemann resigned, General Manager Bill Bavasi told him he’d like to have him back as pitching coach. Lachemann spent several weeks in September working with Angel prospects in the Arizona instructional league but waited to see who the new manager would be before making a commitment.

“I had to see if we were compatible, and both of us had to be comfortable with the situation,” Lachemann said. “He had to want me back. I didn’t want it to be forced on him. After meeting Terry, that was the case.”