Phillies Finalize 2020 Coaching Staff

2019 Choice Williamsport Crosscutters #37

1986 Topps #379

2013 Grandstand Clearwater Threshers #25

On Monday, in the first new Phillies news of 2020, the team Tweeted out the graphic below listing its extremely crowded coaching staff.  Growing up in the 1970s and 1980s, I got used to a set number of coaches - bench, first base, third base, hitting, pitching, bullpen.  Six seemed like the right amount of coaches needed, and this is after most teams only had two or three coaches in earlier decades.

In 2020, the Phillies will be suiting up with double that amount as 12 coaches will be on their official staff.  We have the "traditional" six as listed above, and then there's infield, assistant hitting, assistant pitching, two bullpen catcher/catching coaches and the mysterious coaching assistant.  Paco Figuera, Jim Gott, Pedro Guerrero, Dave Lundquist, Bob Stumpo, Rob Thomson and Dusty Wathan are all holdovers from the Gabe Kapler regime.  I've previously posted about the additions of Juan Castro, Joe Dillon and Bryan Price.

Greg Brodzinski and Bobby Meacham are new to this list.  Brodzinski will assist Stumpo with bullpen catching and catching coach duties, a position previously occupied by Craig Driver.  He had spent the past two seasons as a coach with the Rookie-A Williamsport Crosscutters, and his baseball cards can be found in the 2017 Reading Fightin Phils and 2019 Crosscutters team sets.  He played in the Phillies minor league system in 2015 and 2016.

Meacham steps into the new coaching assistant role, and it's his third stint with manager Joe Girardi.  Meacham had been Girardi's third base coach with the Marlins in 2006 and the Yankees in 2008.  He was also a coach with the Crosscutters back in 2009.  Meacham should be no stranger to baseball card collectors, as he appeared in every Topps flagship set with the Yankees between 1984 and 1989.

I've added this list of a dozen coaches to the linked list on the sidebar, and now the big decision is do I create 2020 Chachi cards for all 12 coaches, or do I draw the line with the "Traditional 6?"