Indians Coaching Staff in Place for 2013

Indians to Say Farewell to Hafner, Sizemore, Kotchman and Hernandez; Exercise Option on Jimenez

The Cleveland Indians now have their staff in place for next season as new skipper Terry Francona announced who will make up his coaching roster for 2013 on Wednesday. Joining Francona will be bench coach Sandy Alomar Jr., pitching Coach Mickey Callaway and first base coach Make Sarbaugh from the Indians organization. Francona reached out to former teammate and friend Brad Mills to be the Tribe’s third base coach, coming over after being let go by the Houston Astros following their 2012 campaign. Hitting Coach Ty Van Burlenko also joins the staff from the Astros organization while bullpen coach Kevin Cash will come to the Indians via the Toronto Blue Jays organization.

The Indians will hope that their new arsenal of coaches can coax some success from a ball club that completely fell apart in 2012. Callaway will have his work cut out for him as the Indians will return two pitchers who lost 15 or more games, and will be looking to fill the rest of its rotation with young arms such as Zach McAllister, Corey Kluber, Jeanmar Gomez and Carlos Carrasco who will be attempting to return following Tommy John Surgery. Van Burlenko will have to deal with an offense that simply could not produce runs in 2012 and will be saying goodbye to its designated hitter and first baseman this offseason, and could lose right hander Shin-Soo Choo as well via trade.

By Robert Gonzalez
Cleveland Indians Correspondent