So after all the rumors and courting of other teams' hitting coaches, the A's are going to fill their remaining coaching vacancy/vacancies from within. The names:

• Darren Bush moves from bullpen coach to hitting coach;
• Marcus Jensen moves from roving hitting instructor in the minors to assistant hitting coach and catching coach; and
• Scott Emerson moves from roving pitching instructor to bullpen coach.

That's one coach out (Chili Davis) and two in (Jensen and Emerson) -- the extra space comes from Ariel Prieto not being retained, which makes sense given that, while he was a coach, his main role was as interpreter for Yoenis Cespedes.

Googling "catching coach" turns up a number of teams who have someone listed in that role: Bill Lachemann in Anaheim, Steve Yeager in Los Angeles, Pedro Grifol in Kansas City. I don't think all of those are dugout coaches though -- teams are only allowed seven uniformed coaches, so when you start counting (batting, asst. batting, first base, third base, bench, pitching, bullpen) you see how you're either going to have to forego that assistant hitting coach or someone's going to pull double duty.

Of course, double duty is hardly unheard of, especially since base coaching only takes up so much of your time. Ron Washington was always more important to the A's as their infield defense coach than as a third base coach, for instance. And on the other hand, the manager (an ex-catcher, of course, as so many are) just has too much going on, dealing with the front office and the media, keeping track of how his entire roster is doing mentally and physically, figuring out lineups and days off for hitters and who's available out of the bullpen. You can't count on him having time to do blocking drills and pitch-framing practice with the catchers on top of that.

On the other hand, how important is it to have a guy named "catching coach" in the dugout in-game? Hitting coaches help with mechanics but they also, at least in theory, can help with preparation, scouting reports, plans of attack, adjustments, and so forth. When a reliever comes in midgame, the hitting coach should be a resource. The same doesn't apply as well to a catching coach, so it makes sense to have that person either be nonuniformed or fill multiple roles. The A's have decided to roll with the latter.

I'm not going to read too much into the hiring (promotion) of a catching coach in the aftermath of Derek Norris' defensive struggles -- he's always been known as a bat-first player, and the entire basis of his prospect status was that he hit like a third baseman, had a strong arm, and ... kinda needed work at the other stuff. All of that appears to remain true. So the question is whether the A's are basically just sick of it and want to take their 26-year-old almost-catcher and make something out of him? Or is it that Jensen is an ex-catcher, so what the hell, let's turn the catching coaching over to him? My guess is that it's more the latter, though I'll listen to evidence the other way.

Anyway, so, Darren Bush you know as a well-regarded minor league manager who the A's plucked out of independent league managing to be the hitting coach in Stockton back in 2005. Manager in 2007, Double-A in 2009, Triple-A in 2011, bullpen coach in 2013, and now hitting coach. One suspects he will shortly be a bench coach candidate quite soon, and a good managerial candidate not long after that. He's still only 40. Fun fact: He started his playing career in the independent leagues as a center fielder in the Frontier League before the Padres signed him in 2009.

Marcus Jensen was a first round sandwich pick in 1999 and wound up with 145 major-league games over seven years, but with a .184/.287/.289 batting line. He's an Oakland guy with a career 13 percent walk rate in the minors but, despite standing 6-foot-4, apparently did not have the power you need to keep pitchers honest in the big leagues. He finished his career with two years in the independent Golden Baseball League before joining the A's as a minor-league coach in 2007. He's been in the organization ever since.

Finally, Scott Emerson was a 40th-round pick in 1991 who pitched six years in organized ball but didn't get past Double-A. He went to the same high school as Curt Schilling. He's been with the A's since 2002 after two years as a low-minors pitching coach in the Pittsburgh organization.

One interesting note is that because of the A's tendencies in recent years to acquire every single one of their players by either trade or free agency, few members of the current roster played any of these three coaches. The full list appears to be:

• Josh Donaldson, managed by Bush in 2008, 2009, 2011, and 2012;
• Brandon Moss, managed by Bush in 2012
• Derek Norris, managed by Bush in 2012
• Eric Sogard, managed by Bush in 2011 and 2012
• Sonny Gray, managed by Bush in 2012
• Sean Doolittle, managed by Bush in 2008 and very briefly in 2012
• Evan Scribner, managed by Bush in 2012
• A.J. Griffin, managed briefly by Jensen in 2010, and pitching coached and managed by Emerson and Bush briefly in 2011 and partially in 2012

On other teams, Darren Bush might have his fingerprints on various players on the roster, but not here. Not that it means anything, in terms of a value judgment -- three playoff trips in three years says what you need to know about the A's team-building. (Though the likely fallow period coming may say something as well.)