O's add two to coaching staff

This news is a couple of days old, but it's still worth noting. The Orioles and Buck Showalter have started to assemble the team's 2011 coaching staff, and according to Dan Connolly of The Baltimore Sun, two hires have been made. Jim Presley will be the new hitting coach, and Rick Adair will take over as bullpen coach.

Replacing Terry Crowley, Presley certainly has his work cut out for him and will be primarily responsible for the tall task of getting better production out of the team's young core of hitters. Adair, who replaces Alan Dunn, also will play an important role, though he likely won't be under the same microscope as Presley.

Here's some quick information on both Presley and Adair, via Connolly's article:

Presley, 49, is reuniting with Showalter, who gave him his first big league hitting coach job in 1998 with the Arizona Diamondbacks. Presley most recently spent the past five seasons with the Florida Marlins before being fired in June along with manager Fredi Gonzalez.
[...]
Adair, 52, has spent seven years as a major league pitching coach, including the past two with the Seattle Mariners. He was fired in August along with Wakamatsu, then the Mariners' manager.

So both coaches were recently fired, though that's not a particularly shocking thing for assistant coaches in the MLB. Most new coaches want to bring in their own staff, and it looks like this situation is no different.

At pitching coach, it's not looking like Rick Kranitz will return. Besides that position, three coaching slots still need to be filled: first base coach, third base coach, and bench coach.

Speaking of Wakamatsu, Connolly also mentions the former Mariners manager as a potential bench coaching option.