The 43-year-old Urueta served as the Marlins’ bench coach under Skip Schumaker and also held a bench coach position with the Diamondbacks prior to his time in Miami. The Rangers hired Schumaker as a senior advisor to president of baseball operations Chris Young earlier this month, and it was reported at the time that Urueta was expected to be named bench coach to manager Bruce Bochy. In addition to his time as a bench coach in Miami and Arizona, Urueta spent more than a decade coaching and managing in the D-backs’ minor league system.

Bush, 45, was the Red Sox’ pitching coach from 2020-23 and joined the Rangers as the organization’s director of pitching strategy back in January. He worked with both the coaching staff and front office in that role, and Bush even stepped in as interim pitching coach during the 2024 season when pitching coach Mike Maddux was briefly away from the club.

Tiegs, 37, will be suiting up on a big league coaching staff for the first time but has spent six years in the Rangers organization already. He’s been a pitching coach at multiple minor league levels and worked with the Rangers’ player development staff as the team’s minor league pitching coordinator. He’s also coached college ball at two different schools in his native Indiana (University of Indianapolis and Indiana State University).

Viele’s hiring was first reported back on Nov. 1. The 34-year-old had been an assistant hitting coach with the Giants and overlapped with current Rangers offensive coordinator Donnie Ecker on San Francisco’s staff in 2020-21.

Bochy will be returning to the Rangers for his third year as manager. In addition to Urueta, Bush, Viele and Tiegs, the Rangers will welcome back Ecker, first base coach Corey Ragsdale, third base coach Tony Beasley, catching coach Bobby Wilson, assistant hitting coach Seth Conner and quality control coach Brett Hayes.

Bush is a new hire for Texas GM Chris Young. The 44-year-old has spent the last four seasons as pitching coach of the Red Sox. Boston fired him shortly after the conclusion of the 2023 campaign. (They hired Andrew Bailey to fill the position six weeks later.) Prior to his stint on the MLB staff, Bush had operated as a pitching development analyst and coordinator with Boston.

While he won’t directly return to a big league coaching staff, the Rangers’ press release said Bush “will be involved in all aspects of the organization’s pitching operation with emphasis on the Major League club.” He’ll work with veteran pitching coach Mike Maddux, who is entering his second season on Bruce Bochy’s staff in Arlington.

Bush pitched in 17 games for the Rangers in 2011, part of a nine-year big league playing career. He spent the majority of his time as a player with the Brewers, including a few seasons where Maddux was the pitching coach in Milwaukee.

Bush has led the Boston pitching staff for four seasons. The Sox hired the former big league right-hander in October 2019. He held the role during Ron Roenicke’s year as interim manager and remained on staff when the Sox re-hired Alex Cora during the 2020-21 offseason.

The Sox have been a below-average run prevention team over the past four seasons. They rank 23rd in ERA during that stretch and finished 21st this year, allowing 4.51 earned runs per nine. That’s not all on the pitching staff. Playing in the AL East has pitted Boston against generally strong offenses. The Sox have also consistently run out a mediocre defensive alignment. Only the Cardinals, Rockies and A’s allowed a higher percentage of batted balls to fall for hits this past season.

From a strikeout and walk perspective, the Red Sox were a middle-of-the-pack group. They ranked 14th with a 23.1% strikeout percentage and 10th in walks, surrendering free passes at an 8.1% clip. Young right-hander Brayan Bello had a reasonably encouraging first full MLB season, although his production dropped markedly in the second half. It was the opposite story for Nick Pivetta, who was dominant late in the season after being bumped from the rotation by mid-May.

Aside from Bello, Boston shuttled through a number of pitchers in the rotation this year. Corey Kluber, James Paxton, Tanner Houck and Chris Sale all dealt with injury issues. That was also true of Garrett Whitlock, who didn’t find the expected level of success upon a move from the bullpen to the rotation. Kutter Crawford also bounced from the relief corps to the starting staff midway through the year. The pitching staff’s flux isn’t necessarily a reflection on Bush’s work — it was always likely to be a high-variance group given Paxton’s and Sale’s injury histories and the inexperience of Whitlock, Houck and Bello as starters — but the Sox will look for a new voice to lead their pitchers moving forward.

Febles has worked in the Boston organization for nearly two decades. He had been on the MLB staff as third base coach since 2018. A former infielder, Febles spent parts of six seasons in the majors with the Royals around the turn of the century.

That’s not especially surprising, as manager Alex Cora announced immediately after the season ended he hoped to retain his staff. It seemed the biggest question was whether bench coach Will Venable might depart for greener pastures. Venable has long been viewed as a viable managerial candidate, and he indeed drew some attention for the Royals job that eventually went to former Rays bench coach Matt Quatraro. With all the managerial vacancies now filled and no anticipated further turnover this offseason — Astros skipper Dusty Baker is on an expiring contract but expected to re-sign with Houston — Venable seems headed for a third season as bench coach.

Varitek, a 15-year MLB veteran who spent his entire big league career in Boston, was a three-time All-Star during his playing days. He retired after the 2011 campaign but has remained in the organization in various non-playing capacities. That includes his time on the coaching staff as game planning coordinator, which he first assumed over the 2020-21 offseason.

It’ll be Cora’s third consecutive season managing in Boston and his fifth overall. Aside from Venable, his top returning staffers will be second-year hitting coach Peter Fatse and fourth-year pitching coach Dave Bush.

The Red Sox will bring in a new manager at some point this winter after announcing the dismissal of Ron Roenicke in September. Roenicke was promoted from bench coach when Alex Cora was fired following MLB’s investigation into the Astros’ sign-stealing scandal. There have been rumblings that Cora could come back to resume his role as Red Sox manager, with MLB Insider Jon Heyman going so far as to say he is the favorite for the role.

In the meantime, many other members of the coaching staff appear to be returning in 2021 regardless of who takes the top job. Hitting coach Tim Hyers, assistant hitting coach Peter Fatse, pitching coach Dave Bush, assistant pitching coach Kevin Walker, third-base coach Carlos Febles, first-base coach Tom Goodwin, and coach Ramon Vazquez are all said to be returning, per Alex Speier of the Boston Globe (via Twitter). It’s still certainly possible that more changes could come whenever the manager role is filled.

• Cavan Biggio could be in line to bounce around the diamond next season for the Blue Jays. The 24-year-old has no problem donning different gloves, he tells Kaitlyn McGrath of the Athletic. Biggio came up as a second baseman, although questions about his defense there dogged him consistently as a prospect. Last year, Biggio logged MLB starts at first base, second base, left field, and right field, although most of his work indeed came at the keystone. Now, he’d be amenable to logging time at third base and/or in center field next season, too. General Manager Ross Atkins has previously floated Biggio as a possibility to help solidify the Jays’ questionable center field mix, McGrath notes. Manager Charlie Montoyo will surely be looking for ways to get Biggio’s potent bat into the lineup. Thanks to elite plate discipline, Biggio compiled a strong .234/.364/.429 line (114 wRC+) as a rookie.
• First-year Red Sox pitching coach Dave Bush sat down for a Q&A with Jen McCaffrey of the Athletic. He explains that the organization reached out to him to replace Dana LeVangie, rather than his ardently pursuing the position. That should ensure some continuity on the pitching side, as Bush has spent the past three seasons in Boston’s player development department. The longtime Brewer reiterated that Chris Sale is back on a normal offseason program and praised new signee Martín Pérez’s reliability. He also hinted that the organization could further tinker with Pérez’s pitch mix in hopes of unlocking some upside. A new cutter helped Pérez jump off to a fast start in 2019 with the Twins, but a brutal second half led Minnesota to decline his team option.
• The Tigers aren’t actively looking to move staff ace Matthew Boyd, who still has three years of team control remaining. With the free agent market for starting pitching drying up, however, it’s natural to wonder if the teams who lost out on the top hurlers could reengage the Tigers on one of baseball’s prime trade candidates. One such team is the Angels, who have added Dylan Bundy and Julio Teheran to their rotation, but still have room to upgrade. The club is monitoring the trade market, Jon Paul Morosi of MLB.com tweeted Monday, but the Angels and Tigers haven’t had any recent discussions on Boyd. Of course, there’s ample time for the sides to recommence talks regarding the 28-year-old, who ranked 11th among starters (minimum 100 innings) in strikeout minus walk rate in 2019.

It appears that Bush beat out four other candidates for the post, among them former Reds manager Bryan Price (the names of three other candidates remain unreported).Bush’s familiarity with the organization likely worked in his favor, as the 39-year-old has been a coach in the Boston system since the beginning of the 2017 season. Previous pitching coach Dana LeVangie was reassigned to a pro scouting role with the organization earlier this month.

Of course, Bush is best known to readers as a longtime starter in the majors, logging 187 starts with the Blue Jays, Brewers, and Rangers in a nine-year big league career. That background will distinguish him from his predecessor, as LeVangie was noted for being a formidable scout despite having never pitched professionally.

Along with Bush, the Red Sox are known to have interviewed ex-Reds manager Bryan Price for their pitching coach position. The team has reportedly focused on five candidates for the role, though the identities of the other three remain unclear. Regardless, it appears Bush is on the verge of beating all of them out for the job. The 39-year-old has been a coach in the organization since the beginning of the 2017 season.

While Boston bigwigs have grown familiar with Bush in recent years, he’s better known to most baseball fans as a longtime major league right-hander. Bush spent 2004-13 with the Blue Jays, Brewers and Rangers. It now appears he’s about to oversee a Red Sox pitching staff that, like the team as a whole, fell short of expectations in 2019. However, with Chris Sale, David Price, Eduardo Rodriguez and Nathan Eovaldi in place, Bush can take solace in the fact that most of Boston’s rotation looks set going into next season.

Of Boston’s quintet of potential LeVangie successors, the previously reported Bryan Price is the only one with experience as a major league pitching coach, Speier relays. Although Price is best known for his ill-fated run as the Reds’ manager from 2014-18, he’s a former professional hurler who oversaw the pitching staffs of the Mariners, Diamondbacks and Reds for a combined 13 years before Cincinnati chose him for its top job.

It’s not fully clear whom Price is vying against to join Boston’s staff, though Speier notes the club has also spoken with in-house candidates and possibly even coaches from the college ranks. Sean McAdam of the Boston Sports Journal (subscription link) suggested last week that Dave Bush, an ex-big league right-hander who has worked with the Red Sox for three seasons, may be in line for a promotion to take over as either the MLB team’s pitching coach or its assistant pitching coach. Chris Cotillo of MassLive.com writes that Bush is “surely” one of the four non-Price choices the Red Sox have interviewed. If true, that still leaves three mystery names in the running for the position.

Some items from around the two East divisions…

• Jake Odorizzi and Alex Colome “have been popular in early [trade] conversations,” Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times writes.  The two pitchers are perhaps the most likely members of the Rays’ 12-player arbitration class who will be dealt in order to cut costs, as MLBTR projects that dozen players to earn $40.4MM in 2018.  Topkin figures that the Rays will be in heavy trade talks this week in order to move some of these names before Friday’s non-tender deadline.  There’s also the specter of a total rebuild, which would come if Tampa decided to move a franchise cornerstone (i.e. Chris Archer, Evan Longoria, Kevin Kiermaier) this offseason.  While the Rays will clearly shop the arbitration-eligible players first, Topkin wonders if the club would pounce if they got a great offer for one of Archer and company before any of the arb class had been moved.  Previous reports have cited the Twins’ interest in both Odorizzi and Colome, while the Cardinals have been linked to Colome in their search for bullpen help.
• A case could be made that the Nationals should pursue a top-tier starting pitcher rather than just rotation depth this winter, though as the Washington Post’s Chelsea Janes outlines, the team could be gearing up for a bigger pitching addition next winter.  The Nats will have over $50MM in salary coming off the books after the 2018 season, which could allow the club to sign or trade for a notable arm.
• Nine-year big league veteran Dave Bush has been working as a Red Sox pitching development analyst for the last year, as the Boston Herald’s Jason Mastrodonato details in this look at Bush’s duties within the organization.  Bush sees his role as helping bridge the gap between the analytics department and young pitchers who may be being exposed to such information for the first time.  “Baseball is not known for accepting change in a hasty manner.  But I also think there’s also a benefit for someone like me, who has been a player,” Bush said.  “I’m comfortable having that conversation.  And it’s my responsibility to present information to them because I think it’s going to make them better.”  Bush’s duties are part of president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski’s plan to overhaul how the Sox select and develop young pitchers, as the club has been notably short on homegrown arms over the last decade.

• Blue Jays pitcher Dave Bush has cleared waivers and has been outrighted to Triple-A, according to Shi Davidi of Sportsnet (on Twitter).  Bush was designated for assignment yesterday to make room for Mauro Gomez on the roster.
• The Rangers didn't want to give up Chris Davis to land Koji Uehara from the Orioles in 2011, former O's president Andy MacPhail told Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports.  Initially, Texas was only willing to part with right-hander Tommy Hunter to get a deal done, but Baltimore wanted Davis too.  Last year with the Orioles, Davis hit .270/.326/.501 with 33 homers.
• The Rays' trade of Robinson Chirinos to the Rangers on Monday has left them thin at catcher in the upper levels of their minor league system, writes Roger Mooney of the Tampa Tribune.  

The Red Sox had designated Gomez for assignment last week to open a 40-man roster spot for Jackie Bradley, Jr.  Gomez, 28, hit .310/.371/.589 with 24 home runs in 426 Triple-A plate appearances last year, playing mostly first base.  He reportedly drew some interest from the Hanshin Tigers during the offseason.

Bush, 33, has logged over 1,100 innings in the bigs, and led the National League with a 4.37 K/BB ratio for the Brewers in 2006.  After spending all of 2012 at Triple-A, he clawed his way back to the Majors only to suffer the indignity of allowing four homers to the Red Sox yesterday in his one appearance.  Bush was the first to manage that since Brian Bass in 2009, but at least George Caster's record of six home runs allowed in a relief appearance, set in 1940, still stands.

• The Diamondbacks signed right-handers Nelson Figueroa, Alexis Lara, and Warner Madrigal, Eddy tweets.  Figueroa, 38, spent 2012 with the Yankees and Red Sox’s Triple-A affiliates.  The veteran posted a 3.89 ERA with 5.4 K/9 and 2.9 BB/9 in 15 starts and ten relief appearances.
• The Dodgers signed journeyman third baseman Dallas McPherson, according to Eddy.  The 32-year-old infielder has hit 144 HR at the Triple-A level for Pirates, White Sox, Athletics, Marlins, and Angels with a .276/.349/.572 batting line.
• The Nationals signed defensive-minded shortstop Brian Bocock to a minor league deal, Eddy tweets.  Bocock spent last year with the Blue Jays in the minors.
• Right-hander Dave Bush will return from pitching in Korea to sign with the Blue Jays, Eddy reports.  Toronto originally drafted him in the second-round in 2002.
• The Reds inked 7’1″ right-hander Loek Van Mil, whose is better than his numbers would indicate, in Eddy’s opinion.
• The White Sox signed utility man Andy Gonzalez, and right-hander Jeff Gray while re-signing catcher Damaso Espino and right-hander Matt Zaleski.
• The Cubs signed right-handers Andrew Carpenter and Cory Wade plus first baseman Brad Nelson to minor league deals.  Wade elected free agency from the Blue Jays in late November.
• The Giants signed outfielder Cole Gillespie, a 28-year-old right-handed hitter with a career .390 OBP in Triple-A for the Diamondbacks and Brewers.

Bush, 32, signed a minor league deal with the Phillies this offseason and has spent the year pitching for Triple-A Lehigh Valley. The right-hander has pitched to a 3.16 ERA, 5.3 K/9 and 1.1 BB/9 in 62 2/3 innings of work for the IronPigs. He last saw Major League action as a member of the Rangers in 2011 when he posted a 5.79 ERA in 37 1/3 innings. Bush is represented by Turner Gary Sports.

Bush, 32, signed a minor league deal with Philadelphia last August and posted decent numbers in four starts for Triple-A Lehigh Valley.  Bush is an eight-year Major League veteran, playing for the Blue Jays, Brewers and Rangers during his career.

Lerud, a catcher, has played eight seasons in the Pirates and Orioles' farm systems with a career OPS of .665.  He has spent the majority of this time in Double-A ball, briefly cracking the Triple-A level in 2010.

Purcey, drafted 16th overall by the Blue Jays in 2004, was well-traveled in 2011, going from Toronto to Oakland and finally to Detroit in a six-week span.  The left-hander has a 5.38 ERA in 87 career Major League games, 21 of them starts.