M's coaching staff

We are being told the Mariners are close to naming their coaching staff and the inclusion of specific names to each role leads one to believe the reports are accurate. (Names like Bowa, Riggleman and Stottlemyre are pretty familiar names in baseball and don't come as a huge shock.)

The reasoning seems to be since McLaren is a rookie he needs to surround himself with experienced men who will enable him to focus on the core responsibilities of a manager.

Some of these guys are old enough to collect social security and some are former managers. McLaren is no spring chicken and he appears to be surrounding himself with older baseball people who look and sound like him. The youngest of the group Norm Charlton sounds like he's 104 when you listen to his ideas- he's as old school as they come.

We shouldn't expect a lot of new ideas with this group. They have all been reading the same playbook for a long time.

John McLaren showed no imagination during his time as manager in '07. His approach can basically be summed up as "run same lineup for rest of year."

Those expecting to see non-standard lineups or creative ways of injecting youth into the mix are likely to be rather disappointed based on the suggested staff.

McLaren wanted his staff, so he can run the team his way.

Color me unimpressed during the first step in that process.