Wayne Kirby likely to be Mets' 1B coach

Wayne Kirby appears to be joining the coaching staff of the Mets for 2022, reports Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic. Jon Heyman of MLB Network notes that Kirby and Joey Cora are “likely” to be manning the first base and third base coaching boxes, respectively. (Cora’s hiring was reported on Tuesday.)

It was reported back in November that Kirby was in talks to join the Angels as a first base coach, though nothing official was ever announced. Wednesday’s report from Rosenthal focuses on how the lockout is leaving Adam Eaton in a state of limbo that is preventing him from being hired to the coaching staff in Anaheim. At the end of the piece, Rosenthal mentions that the Angels didn’t finalize a deal with Kirby, who is “expected to reunite with Buck Showalter with the Mets.”

As noted by Rosenthal and Heyman, this would be a reunion for Showalter and Kirby, who were together with the Orioles from 2011 through 2018. The Orioles made the playoffs three times during the years Showalter and Kirby were on the staff together, but neither was brought back after a 115-loss 2018 campaign, which kicked off the current O’s rebuild. Prior to coaching, Kirby played parts of eight seasons with the Indians, Dodgers and Mets, stealing 44 bases in 1,325 career games.

Kirby didn’t coach during the 2019 season, but he joined the Padres as part of Jayce Tingler’s staff for 2020 and 2021. In recent months, Tingler was fired, with Bob Melvin taking over as bench boss in San Diego. Melvin’s hiring was just the first of many changes, including David Macias taking over Kirby’s role as first base coach.

Showalter was announced as the new manager of the Mets more than two weeks ago. Things seemed to stay quiet over the holiday break, at least publicly, but the club has been busy lately, with the reports of Cora and Kirby emerging in recent days. More news figures to be on the horizon, as the club still needs a bench coach, hitting coach, bullpen coach and assistant coaches. Although the name of the next bench coach isn’t yet known, it was reported earlier Wednesday that it will be a “headline-grabbing hire.”