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Hitting coaches, we're told, are for the most part ignored by teams with older players. They are set in their ways, having experienced enough plate appearances to feel like they have a better grasp on their approach than some outsider who may have only joined the team recently.
But the Orioles are young enough that a folksy old hitting coach may be able to help them by comparing them to a crawdad he saw once, or something. And for that reason, they are (still) after Charlie Manuel to be their new hitting instructor.
According to MASN's Roch Kubatko, the order of the vowels in whose name I can never get right on the first try, the Orioles are re-trying to get Manuel to help their offense. Earlier in the offseason, they approached the 71-year-old with the idea that perhaps he'd like to take the job. "No," Charlie replied, and went to go do something rustic and West Virginian, like posting mysterious pictures of mirrors on Twitter.
— Charlie Manuel (@CMBaseball41) October 18, 2014
Don't worry about the mirror, guys. Just another one of my head scratching moves.
— Charlie Manuel (@CMBaseball41) October 19, 2014
For a moment it seemed like retired Charlie Manuel was trying to get people to take a real good look at themselves, and maybe reflect on the nature of their true feelings within. But it turns out it was just a butt-tweet after a butt-picture of a mirror. Supposedly.
Anyway, we may see old Charlie in a Major League uniform again some day soon. The Orioles would have to get the Phillies' permission to hire Manuel, but unless the Phillies are trying to get really dramatic with their rebuild, they wouldn't deny the Charlie his new job. Of course, he'd have to want to take the job as well, which he has not indicated he does. Though who knows what that mirror thing was about.