:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/47832547/usa-today-8982838.0.jpg)
It seems with the Dodgers there has been a lot of almost news but not much concrete or official yet out of the winter meetings.
With Hisashi Iwakuma and Chase Utley, their signings should become official soon enough. But from the excitement Monday morning to potentially adding Aroldis Chapman to the back end of the bullpen, we sit nearly 36 hours later with no Chapman and nothing much else but a pair of waiver pickups.
So in the meantime, let's check in on some smaller things that have reportedly happened in the last few days.
Majors
Gabe Kapler will be 1B coach for dodgers
— Jon Heyman (@JonHeymanCBS) December 7, 2015
The Dodgers will likely announce their coaching staff soon, perhaps as early as this week. But this is another detail trickling out for now, an actual position for Kapler.
The Dodgers will hire Red Sox minor league hitting coordinator Tim Hyers as their assistant hitting coach.
— Nick Cafardo (@nickcafardo) December 8, 2015
Hyers, 44 was the Red Sox minor league hitting coordinator the last three seasons. He also served as interim major league hitting coordinator for Boston for part of 2014 when Greg Colbrunn missed time with a subarachnoid hemorrhage. Hyers also scouted for four years with the Red Sox and was a minor league hitting coach with the Tigers in 2002.
With Hyers at assistant hitting coach behind Turner Ward and Kapler at first base, it makes sense that Chris Woodward — another expected hire — could be the third base coach.
Minors
Also on minors front: Paco Figueroa, Frederick hitting coach last yr, has taken job as 1 of 2 minor lg hitting coordinators for LA Dodgers.
— Steve Melewski (@masnSteve) December 4, 2015
Damon Mashore was the lone minor league hitting coordinator in 2015, his fourth year coaching in the system. It is unknown if Figueroa will simply join Mashore or if there there will be two new hitting coordinators.
The Orioles drafted Figueroa, mostly a second baseman throughout his career, in the ninth round in 2005, and in parts of seven minor league seasons with Baltimore and Philadelphia he hit .285/.366/.370. He reached as high as Triple-A, playing 90 games for Norfolk in 2010.
Figueroa was a coach in the Orioles system the last three years, at three different levels of Class-A. In 2015, he was the hitting coach at Class-A Frederick.
Some former Indians news...Ryan Garko has been named manager of the Dodgers Double-A Tulsa Drillers affiliate.
— Tony Lastoria (@TonyIBI) December 7, 2015
Garko, who played six years in the major leagues (2005-2010) for the Indians, Giants and Rangers, was the assistant coach at Stanford, his alma mater, in 2014, before leaving to spend more time with his family this past season.
Garko will be 35 in 2016, Figueroa 33, and Drew Saylor — an earlier reported hire — 32. These reported new Dodgers minor league coaches are young. Again, nothing has been announced by the team, but figures to come soon.