By Theo DeRosa, Sports Talk Philly staff
An October article by Dan Connolly in The Athletic about free-agent megastar Manny Machado starts out like this: "Besides select family members and a few close friends, there might be no one who knows Los Angeles Dodgers infielder Manny Machado better than Bobby Dickerson."
The Philadelphia Phillies might be trying to bank on that relationship, reportedly hiring former Baltimore Orioles coach Dickerson, 53, as their new infield coach late Thursday.
MASN's Roch Kubatko was the first to break the news Thursday night.
The #phillies have hired former #orioles third base coach Bobby Dickerson as infield coach. Will be in the dugout for games. 1st member of O's 2018 staff to find job in majors.
— Roch Kubatko (@masnRoch) January 11, 2019
Dickerson served as the Orioles' third-base coach beginning in 2012 after spending part of 2011 as the team's bullpen coach. He managed in the minors for the Arizona Diamondbacks and Chicago Cubs organizations. Machado debuted with the Orioles in 2012.
With the Chicago White Sox, the New York Yankees and the Phillies said to be the three finalists to land Machado, 26, at what is sure to be a high price, the addition of Dickerson could be telling. The White Sox acquired Machado's brother-in-law, Yonder Alonso, and signed training partner Jon Jay this week.
A Philly.com story in December about Machado sourced Dickerson heavily. According to Dickerson, Machado would be willing to move off of shortstop, to third base, for the right contract. Maybe with his longtime mentor in the fold, the team to offer it to him could be the Phillies.
