Hyde talks about process of hiring coaches

New Orioles manager Brandon Hyde said he's reached out to coaches on this year's staff while in the process of making hires for the 2019 season.

Hyde stated during last night's "Hot Stove Show" on 105.7 The Fan that he wouldn't offer any promises, but he's open to considering candidates from all corners of baseball. He isn't committed to bringing in an entirely new crew, though it could be the eventual outcome.

Other potential hires were contacted besides the holdovers, but Hyde indicated that he spoke with or left messages for pitching coach Roger McDowell, bench coach John Russell, first base coach Wayne Kirby and third base coach Bobby Dickerson.

Bullpen coach Alan Mills and assistant hitting coach Howie Clark were given minor league contracts before the club dismissed director of player development Brian Graham. Hitting coach Scott Coolbaugh accepted a job at the Winter Meetings as hitting coach at Triple-A Oklahoma City in the Dodgers organization.

Meetings were held this week regarding the coaching staff, among other business, before Hyde jumps on a flight Saturday to Hawaii.

"I spent this whole week on the phone talking to the coaches that were on the staff (this) year, talking to possible coaches coming in. Just really getting to know kind of the landscape of where the organization is," Hyde said.

"Had some meetings with Mike (Elias) and the front office. That's been fantastic. Just getting to know the organization and seeing where we are, and it's been a real productive week."

Hyde said he's doing his homework on available coaches and isn't dismissing anyone at this juncture.

"Right now we're wide open," he said. "We're really forming a long list of potential coaches and just going through it very, very thoroughly. Talking if others have interest.

"It's really hard to put together a coaching staff at Christmastime. The one thing is you're not competing with anyone because nobody else is. But we're late in the game, obviously, this year the way things happened here. It's late, but we're going to do the best we can to put the best coaching staff we can together."

Hyde said he's sympathetic to coaches who are out of work, especially around the holidays. He's been there and knows the stress that builds up.

"It's a terrible feeling," he said. "I've been through it. I've been through changes before and I have a lot of sentiments to the guys that are on the staff that are on hold. I've done it twice. It's a terrible feeling, so I definitely wanted to reach out to those guys and kind of let them know that ...

"I was 100 percent honest with them. 'I'm not sure what's going on, to be honest with you, but I want you to know that I'm thinking about you and we're not dismissing anybody at this time.' I just wanted them to know that I'm here for a phone call.

"Yeah, it's not a good feeling."

The one obvious advantage of retaining a coach from 2018 is tapping into his familiarity with the personnel at the major league and minor league levels. And if it's Dickerson, Hyde would be getting one of the top infield instructors in baseball. Russell is lauded for his work with catchers and Kirby for his tutelage of outfielders.

I've heard from multiple people that Dickerson might have managed at Double-A Bowie, with Gary Kendall moving up to Triple-A Norfolk, if Graham hadn't been dismissed and was making those decisions.

"First of all, I have a ton of respect for coaches, period. Especially in the line of work that we do and the level that we're doing it at," Hyde said. "So, those guys have my utmost respect, and whether they're on this staff or another staff, I really hope always for the best because we're a small fraternity, honestly. We all know people that know people. We're all friends of friends if we're not friends. So, like I said, they have my utmost respect and the grind that we put us through and our families through.

"I think that does have a lot of value to have people who are familiar with the current roster, players that are coming through the system, so that's definitely stuff that we're considering."

I asked Hyde about being put in an awkward position at the Winter Meetings with news breaking that he was offered the managerial job while Elias insisted that reports were overzealous and inaccurate.

"The report wasn't accurate," Hyde said. "There was interest from both sides and as the week went along we talked more and it's very fortunate that we got it done. But yeah, I think that there was ... a lot of times things come out a little too quick, and it was one of those where we were kind of caught in too quick of a moment.

"There were a lot of no responses on texts from me because there was nothing to respond to. There wasn't anything going on. I was just letting the smoke clear and see what happens."