Jays make internal moves; Hentgen added to coaching staff
Hentgen has joined new manager John Farrell's staff as bullpen coach for the 2011 season, one of three new additions the Major League Baseball club confirmed Monday as it continues to shake up its on-field staff.
Hentgen, 41, spent 10 seasons with the Blue Jays during his 14-year playing career. In 1996, the right-hander posted a 20-10 record with a 3.22 earned-run average to capture the first Cy Young Award in Blue Jays history.
Hentgen has spent the past seven seasons as a Blue Jays club ambassador and special assistant to the president and CEO.
The team also announced former Seattle manager Don Wakamatsu will serve as Farrell's bench coach, replacing Nick Leyva, and Torey Lovullo will take over from Omar Malave as first-base coach.
In a widely anticipated move, Dwayne Murphy is coming back as hitting coach after the Jays hit a baseball-best and team-record 257 home runs last season.
Already the team had announced pitching coach Bruce Walton and third-base coach Brian Butterfield would return in the same roles they had during former manager Cito Gaston's final season in 2010.
It was not immediately known if Malave, Leyva and Hentgen's predecessor, Rick Langford, will be returning to the organization in other roles.
Even before the end of last season, general manager Alex Anthopoulos guaranteed all members of Gaston's staff jobs in the organization if the new manager did not keep them on his staff.