Davey Lopes became the first member of the Dodgers’ 2015 coaching staff to defect on Thursday. He’ll be the Washington Nationals’ first base coach under new manager Dusty Baker, ending his (latest) stint with the Dodgers that began in 2011.

Lopes, 70, brought a unique voice to the coaching staff. He was the oldest uniformed coach in baseball last season and was an instrumental baserunning mentor when the Dodgers had speed to spare. His prized pupil was Dee Gordon, who stole an MLB-leading 64 bases (in 83 attempts, a 77 percent success rate) in his final season as a Dodger in 2014. In 2015 with the Marlins, Gordon stole 58 bases in 78 attempts, a 74 percent success rate.

The Dodgers did not have speed to spare last season. Carl Crawford and Yasiel Puig, maybe their two fastest baserunners, spent much of the season on the disabled list. Puig’s explosiveness was sapped by multiple hamstring injuries. Acquiring Chase Utley and Jose Peraza helped, but the Dodgers still finished the regular season with 59 steals as a team — one more than Gordon — and a paltry 63 percent success rate.

The Nationals only stole 57 bases last year, so Lopes will have his work cut out for him again. He was the first base coach in Washington in 2006 under Frank Robinson.

Lopes played for the Dodgers from the time he was drafted in 1968 until 1981.

Some more notes from the morning:

• Over on the Dodgers’ website, MLB.com columnist Richard Justice mentions Dave Martinez as a candidate for the managerial vacancy. The Cubs’ bench coach is a logical interview candidate. He was the bench coach for Andrew Friedman’s Rays for several years and left with Joe Maddon for Chicago in 2015. Yet this is the first significant mention of Martinez since the early prognostications. While the Dodgers may have been granted permission from the Cubs, it’s believed that Martinez hasn’t interviewed yet. That doesn’t mean he isn’t a candidate; it could be something as simple as a scheduling conflict that’s prevented an interview to this point.

• Tim Wallach was offered the Padres’ bench coach position, according to the San Diego Union Tribune. Marlins manager Don Mattingly has said he thinks Wallach will join him as the bench coach in Miami. The only logical thing holding up Wallach’s decision: there’s one managerial vacancy still to be settled.

• Dave Roberts was apparently a candidate in San Diego even though he didn’t interview for the manager’s job, and the Padres would reportedly consider retaining him on their coaching staff under Andy Green. Roberts has interviewed for the Dodgers’ vacancy and did well according to several reports.