Jewett joins Mariners (updated)

It turns out that new Nationals manager Matt Williams might need to tweak his coaching staff a little more than we originally thought. The Nats have granted permission for third base coach Trent Jewett to interview for the Mariners' bench coach position under new manager Lloyd McClendon, according to FOXSports.com's Ken Rosenthal. Jewett was expected to return to the Nats as third base coach, but when McClendon was hired as the new skipper in Seattle, Jewett's name immediately began being tossed around as a candidate for the job. Jewett was third base coach in Pittsburgh when McClendon managed there. I'm hearing from an industry source that Jewett is likely to get the position. The Nationals allowed Jewett to interview for the Mariners' bench coach job because it's a promotion. That's the standard policy. If the Mariners had wanted Jewett for their third base coaching job, the Nationals could have declined the request because that would have been a lateral move. Jewett had interviewed for the Nationals' managerial opening in October, before the job went to Williams. He has been with the Nationals organization since 2009, managing high Single-A Potomac in 2009 and Triple-A Syracuse in 2010. He joined the Nats' coaching staff in 2011, became first base coach in 2012 and was third base coach last season. Jewett had a tendency for being aggressive as a third base coach, pushing the issue and trying to get runs across for a Nats team that struggled mightily from an offensive perspective in 2013. If Jewett does indeed get the bench coach job in Seattle, Williams will likely be able to hand-pick his new third base coach, allowing him to potentially bring in someone who was with him in Arizona or someone he respects and trusts. Williams was originally going to be inheriting pretty much the exact same coaching staff that Davey Johnson had last season, with the exception of Matt LeCroy now serving as bullpen coach, instead of Jim Lett. Williams was allowed to add Mark Weidemaier as the Nationals' seventh coach in the dugout. Weidemaier, who was with Williams in Arizona, will serve as an advance coach focused on defensive alignments. Now the new Nats skipper could get to bring in another familiar face to D.C. Update: The Mariners have officially announced that Jewett has been hired as their new bench coach, ending his five-year run in the Nationals organization. Jewett was a well-liked, respected presence in the Nats' dugout the last three seasons. Now Williams and the Nats will be tasked with finding a new third base coach. One in-house option the Nats could consider is Triple-A Syracuse manager Tony Beasley, who knows many of the Nationals' players well and has experience coaching third base at the big league level. Beasley was the Nats' third base coach in 2006, served in the same role with the Pirates from 2008-2010, and has spent the last three seasons managing in the Nats minor league ranks (at Double-A Harrisburg in 2011 and Syracuse the last two seasons). The Nats really like the job Beasley has done developing young talent in recent years, however, and might prefer to leave him in a managerial role at Syracuse for now.