Needed: Sentient Being Available 162 Days a Year, Some Travel

Longtime baseball writer Jim Street described the duties of a bullpen coach in a recent mailbag:

A bullpen coach works closely with the pitching coach during a game, ascertaining when a reliever is ready to enter a game and usually signaling that he is by taking his cap off and waving it.

So, to recap, a bullpen coach needs to be able to 1) ask a pitcher "are you ready?" and 2) wave a hat.

It doesn't so much bother me how you'd hire a bullpen coach: anyone with a voice and arms will do. But how could you possibly assess a bullpen coach's performance?

Do these guys have performance reviews like the rest of us?

Actually, we can get a little insight here. The Mariners fired their bullpen coach, Jim Slaton, at the conclusion of the year. When the Times' Geoff Baker asked how it went down, Slaton said, "They told me I'd done a great job, was getting better and then thank you very much. It was kind of strange."

Sounds strange, but would it have been have been any less so had the M's given Slaton a raise? "You've done a great job, and you asked 'are you ready?' 38 times in a row without missing a word. We're giving you a $6,000 raise."

The M's new bullpen coach, the team announced yesterday, is former Mariner Norm Charlton. Charlton, who's fourth all-time in Mariner saves with 67, had three tours of duty with the team before retiring after the 2001 season.

The M's selection of Charlton sheds the most light on what they expect out of a bullpen coach--Charlton was known in his time as a bit of a prankster, a guy who kept the bullpen relaxed. That, and not waving ability, is probably his main qualification.

Besides, Charlton has nearly four months to practice.