CHICAGO — Jeff Manto, Joe McEwing and Mark Parent have joined new manager Robin Ventura’s coaching staff with the Chicago White Sox.

Manto was the White Sox’s minor league hitting coordinator the last four seasons and will now be the big club’s hitting coach. McEwing managed Chicago’s Triple-A affiliate at Charlotte last season. He will serve as third base coach.

Parent will be Ventura’s bench coach. He had a 13-year major league career and managed Double-A Reading in the Phillies’ organization last season.

Pitching coach Don Cooper and first base coach Harold Baines are holdovers from former manager Ozzie Guillen’s staff. Ventura replaced Guillen, who was released from the final year of his contract and became manager of the Marlins.

Manto, who spent two years as the Pittsburgh Pirates hitting coach from 2006-07, said he will reach out to two players who struggled mightily last season — Adam Dunn and Alex Rios.

“Find out where they’re at hope and hopefully when we get to spring training we can hit the ground running,” Manto said.

With the exception of Ventura, none of the three coaches were major league standouts. And they have limited experience in the majors as coaches. Ventura is a rookie manager.

“All we know is how to grind it out and get the best of what we’ve got that day,” said Manto, who replaces Greg Walker. “It’s going to be a blast working together.”

Manto hit homers in four consecutive at-bats while with the Baltimore Orioles in 1995.

Ventura, with no major league coaching or managerial experience, said he brought in people he was comfortable with.

“I totally trust what they’re going to be doing and what we’re asking them to do in their job and helping me,” Ventura said. “I’m not just hiring friends and we’re going to go in here and have a great old time. We’re here to work and win games and that’s what I was looking for.”

Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

CHICAGO — Jeff Manto, Joe McEwing and Mark Parent have joined new manager Robin Ventura’s coaching staff with the Chicago White Sox.

Manto was the White Sox’s minor-league hitting coordinator the past four seasons and will now be the hitting coach. McEwing managed Chicago’s Triple-A affiliate at Charlotte last season. He will serve as third-base coach.

Parent will be Ventura’s bench coach. He had a 13-year major-league career and managed Double-A Reading in the Phillies’ organization last season.

Pitching coach Don Cooper and first-base coach Harold Baines are holdovers from former manager Ozzie Guillen’s staff. Ventura replaced Guillen, who was released from the final year of his contract and became manager of the Marlins.

The Chicago White Sox confirmed the hirings of Joe McEwing, Jeff Manto and Mark Parent as coaches to their 2012 staff.

McEwing, who replaces Jeff Cox, managed Triple-A Charlotte the past two seasons and currently is managing the Mesa Solar Sox of the Arizona Fall League. McEwing, 39, joined the Sox’s organization in 2008 as Charlotte’s hitting coach before serving the next two seasons as manager at Class-A Winston Salem.

McEwing, known as a high-energy player during his nine major league seasons, was voted as the top managerial candidate in 2009 in a poll of South Atlantic League managers conducted by Baseball America.

McEwing played nine seasons in the majors for four teams, compiling a .251 batting average.

Manto, 47, completed his fourth season as the Sox’s minor league hitting instructor, and his tenure in the Sox’s system should be beneficial with the team’s plan to lean more on their prospects.

Manto was the Pirates’ hitting coach in 2006-07 and oversaw the development of Freddy Sanchez, the 2006 National League batting champion.

Manto, who replaces Greg Walker, played over parts of nine seasons with eight teams.

McEwing and Manto are natives of Bristol, Penn.

Parent, 50, has made the most remarkable advancement to a major league coaching staff. Parent managed the Chico Outlaws of the Golden Baseball League from 2005 to 2007, winning the league title in 2007.

In 2010, Parent managed Class-A Lakewood to the South Atlantic League title. He spent last summer managing at Double-A Reading of the Eastern League.

Also managed Class-A Lancaster to a California League championship in 2000, then took a four-year break from baseball.

Parent played parts of 13 major league seasons with seven major league teams as a backup catcher, batting .214. Parent replaces Joey Cora, who will join former Sox manager Ozzie Guillen in the same capacity with Florida.

Joel Skinner is a strong candidate to take over for McEwing in Charlotte. Tim Laker, who served last season as the hitting coach at Triple-A Charlotte, could take over for Manto as the roving hitting coach in the minors.

Chicago White Sox ace Mark Buehrle and the Cubs’ Kerry Wood and Carlos Pena were among 148 players filing for free agency Sunday.

The Sox and Cubs have exclusive negotiating rights with their free agents through Wednesday at 11 p.m. After that, other teams are allowed to make financial offers to free agents.

Buehrle, 32, has 161 wins and a 3.83 ERA during his storied Sox career. He has 11 consecutive seasons of at least 200 innings, 30 starts and 10 victories.

The Sox have anticipated that negotiations with Buehrle could be similar to those last year with Paul Konerko, who didn’t re-sign with the Sox until early December after considering an offer from Arizona. Jeff Berry, Buehrle’s agent with Creative Artists Agency, has said his client will listen to offers from other teams before deciding.

The other Sox’s players who filed for free agency were leadoff hitter Juan Pierre, infielder Omar Vizquel and catcher Ramon Castro. The Sox also must decide soon whether to pick up or decline the $3.75 million club option on reliever Jason Frasor, with the latter option considered likely.

In addition to Wood and Pena, the Cubs’ other players who filed for free agency were outfielder Reed Johnson and pitchers John Grabow, Rodrigo Lopez and Ramon Ortiz.

The Cardinals’ Albert Pujols, Edwin Jackson, Gerald Laird, Nick Punto and Arthur Rhodes were also on the list.

Among the high-profile free agents are Brewers first baseman Prince Fielder, shortstops Jimmy Rollins of the Phillies and Jose Reyes of the Mets, and Padres closer Heath Bell and Milwaukee pitcher Francisco Rodriguez.

Beyond the list of 148, there are other players who are eligible for free agency pending provisions in their contracts. Yankees ace CC Sabathia is among them.

Tribune News Services contributed to this report

mgonzales@tribune.com

Twitter @MDGonzales

Chicago White Sox ace Mark Buehrle and the Cubs’ Kerry Wood and Carlos Pena were among 148 players filing for free agency Sunday.

The Sox and Cubs have exclusive negotiating rights with their free agents through Wednesday at 11 p.m. After that, other teams are allowed to make financial offers to free agents.

Buehrle, 32, has 161 wins and a 3.83 ERA during his storied Sox career. He has 11 consecutive seasons of at least 200 innings, 30 starts and 10 victories.

The Sox have anticipated that negotiations with Buehrle could be similar to those last year with Paul Konerko, who didn’t re-sign with the Sox until early December after considering an offer from Arizona. Jeff Berry, Buehrle’s agent with Creative Artists Agency, has said his client will listen to offers from other teams before deciding.

The other Sox’s players who filed for free agency were leadoff hitter Juan Pierre, infielder Omar Vizquel and catcher Ramon Castro. The Sox also must decide soon whether to pick up or decline the $3.75 million club option on reliever Jason Frasor, with the latter option considered likely.

In addition to Wood and Pena, the Cubs’ other players who filed for free agency were outfielder Reed Johnson and pitchers John Grabow, Rodrigo Lopez and Ramon Ortiz.

The Cardinals’ Albert Pujols, Edwin Jackson, Gerald Laird, Nick Punto and Arthur Rhodes were also on the list.

Among the high-profile free agents are Brewers first baseman Prince Fielder, shortstops Jimmy Rollins of the Phillies and Jose Reyes of the Mets, and Padres closer Heath Bell and Milwaukee pitcher Francisco Rodriguez.

Beyond the list of 148, there are other players who are eligible for free agency pending provisions in their contracts. Yankees ace CC Sabathia is among them.

Tribune News Services contributed to this report

mgonzales@tribune.com

Twitter @MDGonzales

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