DALLAS -- Now that Bobby Valentine is in place as the Red Sox' manager, the team is looking to put together his coaching staff.
Hitting coach Dave Magadan has been retained, leaving three other holdovers from Terry Francona's staff: bench coach DeMarlo Hale, third base coach Tim Bogar and bullpen coachcatching instructor Gary Tuck.
Hale has an offer to become third base coach for Baltimore, reuniting him with Buck Showalter, with whom he worked before in Texas. If Hale returns to the Sox' staff, it would likely not be as the bench coach since Valentine would probably want to chose someone with whom he has a history.
"We don't have any official decisions," said general manager Ben Cherington. "Bobby's had a lot of conversations and we're getting closer to a resolution on the current guys. Once that's done, we'll sort of shift gears and look at the openings we have."
"I think we're going to take a little longer rather than shorter," predicted Valentine, "so that Ben and his staff can really concentrate on the business at hand here. If we can fit in an interview or two, we'll try to do that. But I don't think we'll make any (hirings) until after next weekend."