Winter Meetings leftovers for breakfast

SAN DIEGO - The interviews to find a replacement for Orioles bullpen coach John Wasdin are carrying over from Baltimore to the Manchester Grand Hyatt in San Diego, with executive vice president/general manager Mike Elias and manager Brandon Hyde involved in the process.

Hyde's inclusion is important, of course, since the hire will be working on his coaching staff. He had a voice in Fredi González's recent selection as major league coach and their ties to the Marlins organization made it a logical fit.

González was the Marlins' manager while Hyde managed in their farm system. A friendship blossomed over the years.

We need to find out the exact duties that come with the title of major league coach. Hyde can shed some light on it this week, since he's going to be made available to the media Wednesday afternoon for formal interviews.

"Formal" meaning he'll sit at a table in the media room and field questions from anyone who ventures to his side. New Padres manager Jayce Tingler will speak at the same time.

It has nothing to do with attire. Black tie is optional. It's not encouraged.

González is going to work closely with Tim Cossins, the major league field coordinator and catching instructor. Both men will be de facto bench coaches without the title.

As the only member of the staff with major league managing experience, González is expected to inherit those duties if Hyde is ejected from a game. Cossins did it three times in 2019 after Hyde was tossed.

Cossins will continue to instruct the catchers and coordinate spring training. González has a catching background that allows him to contribute and he'll join Cossins in assisting with in-game strategy.

The Orioles will wait until they hire a bullpen coach to announce their 2020 staff, which also includes new first base coach Anthony Sanders.

* Hyde visited the "MASN All-Access" set yesterday morning and talked about the trades that removed infielder Jonathan Villar and starter Dylan Bundy from the organization.

"Those guys were big parts of our team," Hyde said. "Dylan's done a lot of good things in Baltimore and it's tough to see both of those guys go. Not only what they did on the field, but what they did in the clubhouse, what they did for me personally, the coaching staff. They were just fantastic in every way and both really good players, and I'm really hoping that they have good years going forward."

What did Hyde learn about himself in his first season as a major league manager?

"Well, I knew I had patience," he said, "but I didn't know how much patience."

Hyde laughed and said the Orioles knew it was going to be an uphill battle, they've been through it before and "we kind of know what the end of the rainbow looks like."

The deficiencies on the roster couldn't be hidden.

"We'd like to improve our pitching," he said. "You just can't compete in the major leagues if you can't get people out and give up all the home runs we gave up. So we just have to really improve our pitching organizationally."

Hyde also said it would be "huge" to get a veteran middle infielder, which is going to happen at some point before opening day.

"Pitching and up-the-middle defense and be able to have as many guys that can play in the middle of the field as possible," Hyde said.

"Losing Villar opens up a hole in the middle of our infield. So yeah, it's something that we're going to address."

* Elias said left-hander Keegan Akin will compete for a rotation spot out of spring training, but I'm still uncertain whether he's a viable candidate or just allowed to go through the process.

I'm reminded how Elias indicated after the Bundy trade that holes in the rotation would be filled by outside acquisitions until internal options were more viable later in the summer.

The competition is going to involve pitchers outrighted off the 40-man roster, a group that includes Luis Ortiz, Tom Eshelman, Chandler Shepherd and Ty Blach.

Newhan worked as minor league infield coordinator for two seasons before getting his first managing gig. He served as assistant hitting coach with the Tigers from 2015-16.