No, not as a second basemen or outfielder, sadly. As a first base coach. That according to MLB.com’s Brittany Ghiroli, who notes that Samuel did not take part in the Orioles’ organizational meetings last week and may be in line to take over Davey Lopes’ old job with the Phils.
The last time I said something about first base coaches -- I think I dismissed their importance -- a lot of you countered with the notion that they’re important to have for base stealing purposes, as they see every opposing pitcher on every pitch, and thus are invaluable in teaching their own base runners how to read moves and stuff. It’s an excellent and rather obvious point, in hindsight, that I’m rather embarrassed that I didn’t consider.
Which also makes me understand why so many Phillies fans were sad to see Lopes go. In his career he was an 80% base stealer. Samuel, in contrast, was only successful about two-thirds of the time. While the Phillies are perceived as a take-and-rake kind of team, the fact is that they were fourth in the NL in stolen bases in 2010, and were caught stealing fewer times than every single team in the league. You probably have to give Davy Lopes credit for that, and you probably have to wonder if Juan Samuel -- who was a less-successful base stealer than his speed should have had him being -- will be able to maintain that kind of success.