LA Angels swing and miss on well-respected assistant coach

When the LA Angels hired Phil Nevin to coach third base, they were also rumored to be in on long-time first base coach Wayne Kirby.

Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic reported that the Halos were looking at Kirby, who was last in the AL West as the outfield/base-running coordinator for the Texas Rangers. He was the first base coach for the Padres these last two years, and the first base coach for the Orioles in the previous eight.

Having played for the Dodgers in 1996 and 1997, he would certainly fit in location-wise back here in Southern California.

Wayne Kirby would have been a tremendous pickup for the LA Angels.

Unfortunately for the LA Angels, they failed to bring Wayne Kirby to the team, according to Rosenthal.

At least Kirby won't be in the division if he goes to the Mets. Perhaps he was a part of the success that Buck Showalter did have in Baltimore. Having four winning seasons together, Showalter won one of his three AL Manger of the Year awards in Baltimore.

He won it in 2014, when he and Kirby won the division and went on to play the Kansas City Royals in the ALCS.

Many question the Nevin hiring due to him having his share of failures with the Yankees, and most famously sending Aaron Judge home in the AL Wild Card round this postseason when he was dead to rights at the plate. There was no reason to send him, but Nevin did. It ended up cutting into the Yankees' rally, and they couldn't come back after the missed opportunity.

One way to certainly improve the coaching staff was to bring in the highly-regarded Kirby, and the franchise really botched this one.