He's been known as Lou's right hand man for quite some time. He was Lou's strategy guy, did more than most bench coaches. Very aggressive coach, unlike Lou was a player's coach, young and veteran players liked him as Crawford publically wanted him to stay as manager in lovely TB, but will get on players when necc. as well as umps (one of few bench coaches I've seen get suspended). If he was a poss., I would hope he'd get a look. Baldelli was among three Rays veterans who gave glowing reviews of McLaren, who has spent the past 14 seasons working on Piniella’s coaching staff, from Cincinnati to Seattle to Tampa Bay. http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/baseball/93467_mclaren30.shtml