Cleveland Indians: Coaching staff set for the 2018 season

The Cleveland Indians have filled out the 2018 coaching staff after signing a new assistant hitting coach, who comes over from the Boston Red Sox.

Cleveland Indians fans are waiting patiently for free agency news, but in the meantime the organization has taken care of filling out the coaching staff.

The team needed a new assistant hitting coach and got one in Victor Rodriguez, who comes over from the Boston Red Sox.

From the announcement on Indians.com:

"Like Willis, Rodriguez comes to the Tribe from the Red Sox. The 56-year-old Rodriguez spent the past 23 seasons as a player and coach in Boston’s system, including the past five seasons as assistant hitting coach with the big league club. Before that, Rodriguez was the Red Sox’s Minor League hitting coordinator for six seasons, Latin field coordinator for 10 years and a hitting coach at various Minor League levels. A veteran of 19 professional seasons and 17 Major League games with the 1984 Orioles and ’89 Twins, Rodriguez was named “Man of the Year” by the BoSox Club in 2014 for his contributions on the field and cooperation and efforts in community endeavors off it."

Rodriguez joins Carl Willis as new coaches coming over from the Red Sox, which is a good thing considering Boston’s success in 2017. Willis’ role is more in the spotlight as he is replacing Mickey Callaway, but everyone on the staff is important as the team chases a World Series title.

The focus is still on the players to be signed, but it is nice to have the entire coaching staff set this early in the offseason. Terry Francona can begin planning with his staff, and get to know the new faces before shipping out to Goodyear in a few months.

The Boston to Cleveland connection is clear, so hopefully Boston’s castaways can win a championship in Cleveland. That goes for Francona as well. Fans have seen the team play some great baseball and get close, but winning a title remains the most important thing for this Indians team.

Next: Top 10 wins from 2017

Now that this is taken care of, we can get back to the fun stuff. That is, if your idea of fun consists of staring at the Indians’ Twitter feed awaiting news on Carlos Santana.