The managerial rumors don't take a break, even if the playoff schedule does. Here are yesterday's rumors and here are today's rumblings, with the latest updates at the top of the page:
Blue Jays
Rays bench coach Dave Martinez will interview for the Jays' opening, tweets Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports.
The Blue Jays have interest in a third Red Sox coach. Bob Elliott of the Toronto Sun hears that John Farrell is in the mix for the Jays job, along with DeMarlo Hale and Tim Bogar (Twitter link). Lauber heard that Farrell hadn't interviewed for a managerial job yet, but perhaps he has an interview coming up.
Rosenthal reports that the Blue Jays will interview Farrell if they haven't already. The Blue Jays will also interview Padres first base coach Rick Renteria, but another NL West coach will not interview for the position. The Dodgers didn't allow the Jays to speak with Tim Wallach, though he was allowed to interview with the Brewers, according to Rosenthal.
Pirates
Joel Sherman of the New York Post believes the Pirates should be looking to land Bobby Valentine. According to Sherman, Valentine would be the perfect choice for Pittsburgh, since, in addition to being a great evaluator of talent, he could make the Pirates relevant. The team doesn't appear to be considering him though.
The Pirates interviewed former Blue Jays manager Carlos Tosca for their managerial vacancy today, according to Jenifer Langosch of MLB.com.
Mariners
Bobby Valentine’s interview with the Mariners went well, according to Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports. However, the Mariners’ other candidates also fared well and Valentine isn’t necessarily the favorite. As Rosenthal reminds us, Cecil Cooper, Eric Wedge, John Gibbons, Lloyd McClendon and Daren Brown are also options for Seattle.
Brewers
The Brewers have asked the White Sox for permission to interview Joey Cora, but Cora hasn't heard from Milwaukee yet, according to Bruce Levine of ESPNChicago.com. Bob Melvin remains the favorite to manage in Milwaukee, according to Levine.
Cubs
The Cubs have continued interest in Yankees manager Joe Girardi, according to Gordon Wittenmyer of the Chicago Sun-Times. Several insiders tell Wittenmyer that they expect an announcement before the World Series begins, unless Girardi becomes a serious candidate. Rival teams have not asked the Cubs for formal permission to interview Mike Quade or Ryne Sandberg, according to the Sun-Times. As we heard yesterday, Quade has become the favorite for the Cubs job.
Meanwhile, Chris De Luca of the Sun-Times calls Eric Wedge a "bland tactician" and says Sandberg is the man for the job. The Hall of Fame second baseman tells De Luca that he is more qualified to manage in the majors than he was the last time the Cubs considered him.
Marlins
Red Sox coach DeMarlo Hale, a candidate for the Blue Jays and Mariners, may also be a candidate to manage the Marlins, according to Scott Lauber of the Boston Herald.
Bobby Valentine turned down an offer to manage the Marlins, according to Sunil Joshi and Joe Frisaro of MLB.com. Dave George of the Palm Beach Post says "some other Type-A scrapper still could be the ticket, someone whose ego is a match for Hanley Ramirez and whose confidence allows room to tell everyone in the organization, including the owner, to back off."
Edwin Rodriguez, who managed the Marlins to a 46-46 record after taking over midway through the season, told Clark Spencer of the Miami Herald that he'd accept a one-year deal to have a shot at managing the team for an entire season.
Hale would be a good choice for the Fish. Smart and Francona’s bench coach and R/H man for several years and doesn’t get the credit he deserves for in game decisions, but would hate to see him leave, even to another team I like and have to tolerate poor decision making by Luria and horrible pay restrictions he mandates.
It would be a good jump start for his managerial career and a better start than his fellow Sox coach Brad Mills is forced to endure with that pathetic team he is stuck with. The marlins overall have a decent infrastructure from GM on down, if the owner would go on a cruise and just disappear.
another promising young manager for the Marlins to fire after a couple years
The problem with the Marlins managerial job is that even if the guy has the “cojones” to tell the Front Office to back off… that doesn’t work well in Miami. The last guy to tell the Front Office to back off when they really were over the line, got fired. Remember Joe Girardi?
The Marlins are run by incompetent management. How else can you explain how two managers who get their teams to perform way above realistic expectations, like Girardi and Fredi Gonzalez, get fired?
This job is not a godd opportunity… it’s a curse.
Maybe we’re just looking at a Rachel Phelps situation?
Nice. Yeah, maybe Jeffrey Loria is hoping to move the team to a more “desirable” location… like Montreal?
funniest thing i’ve read all day lmao
“Bland tactician”, perfect description for Wedge. He shouldn’t be considered.
But really, who isn’t in contention for the Blue Jays’ spot?
Carlos Tosca and John Gibbons. (Thankfully.)
Much as I like John Farrell, I’d be delighted if the Red Sox could get a pitching coach who knows how to correct the mechanics of underperforming stars. Or at least finally teach Beckett and Papelbon how to pitch.
Because he hasn’t helped Jon Lester, Clay Buchholz, etc.? I’m so sick of fans blaming coaches when the players don’t do well…Papelbon and Beckett aren’t struggling because Farrell can’t coach. While pitching coaches help pinpoint flaws in mechanics and help make adjustments, these two guys are veterans and are the most accountable for their own success/failure. Farrell is widely regarded as one of the top pitching coaches in the game. Beckett and Papelbon are both stubborn guys, and especially in Beckett’s case are throwers and not pitchers. Beckett got by on pure stuff for years and now his stuff has dropped off and he can’t adjust. Beckett was wildly inconsistent long before Farrell became his pitching coach. Maybe Josh Beckett just isn’t that good and Papelbon is experiencing a regular closer dropoff. Again, using your logic he is either doing a great job with Lester and Buchholz or Jon and Clay would be pitching like Walter Johnson if he wasn’t around. You can’t have it both ways. This is like the Varitek argument where he supposedly makes every pitcher better, but they ignore the fact that Buchholz struggled with him and came into his own almost as soon as Martinez began catching him.
Farrell and the trainer/medical staff have been praised for years, why many pitchers with issues wanted to come to Boston and why all of a sudden this year people think both are incompetent is beyond me over Ellsbury and Beckett.The last pitcher to come to Boston with a combination of mechanical and injury flaws for both staffs to fix was brad Penny and Farrell fixed his delivery, while the medical team properly diagnosed a medical problem that had been overlooked for 2 years by his previous team, yet nobody mentions these episodes here or anywhere else and continues to hammer away at the same Ellsbury/Beckett problems and they may still get fixed yet.
Edit:
Same with the constant blister problem Beckett had when Boston 1st got him that is -0- problem now as in NONE fixed when they got him. The medical staff properly diagnosed it and fixed it.
Penny may not be the best example to use when defending Farrell. He still sucked when the Sox finally gave up on him, but pitched far better after that for SFO and STL.
He was a good example to use for fixing his mechanical and health issues that penny himself thanked both for when he left and penny said he even came to Boston as a major, defining reason.
Penny was throwing 96-97mph when he left Boston and even had his curve ball working, which Farrell was working with him with and getting his arm back in order, Penny was still a work in progress when he left from the wreck they got from the LAD of poor mechanical and injury from misdiagnosis and horrific mechanical issues he brought with him.
You seem to be so fixated on trashing me that you didn’t comprehend what I said. But I’m getting used to that with you.
I never said Farrell makes pitchers worse or keeps them from fulfilling their potential. They get worse all on their own. Mechanics deteriorate. Bad thoughts creep into the head. Farrell just can’t seem to fix them in a lot of important cases where there doesn’t seem to be anything physically wrong.
Amazing how fans turn on players so quick after a bad year and will look to blame anyone they can find.
Players, managers, coaches, front office staff, bloggers (Some of the venom I’ve seen spewn at some of the guys at Fangraphs on occasion). Fans’ll turn on anyone they can.
The reason I named Beckett and Papelbon is because they seem to think that the key to success is overpowering the batter. Both have gone through extended periods where they’ve thrown nothing but fastballs. Papelbon, after his disastrous 2009 playoffs, went home and spent all winter trying to make himself stronger so he could throw the ball even harder.
Both would be much better served by developing a couple of reliable secondary pitches they could use in any situation to set up their fastball, rather than trying to throw the fastball at the very limits of their ability, which causes a lack of control and excessive wear on the arm.
It takes a lot of thought and commitment to become at pitcher (like Lester and Buchholz) rather than a thrower like Beckett and Papelbon. As Greg Maddux (who never threw anything like a 95MPH fastball in his life) said, “It’s not your arm that makes you a great pitcher. It’s that thing between both of your ears we call a brain.”
Hmm.. The Dodgers let Tim Wallach interview with the Brewers, but not the Jays? Did Anthopolous take a leak in Ned Colletti’s coffee mug?
wallach signed the contract. the whole situation strikes me as odd. wallach claims he wants to manage in the big leagues… there are 30 of these jobs on the planet… and he voluntarily removes himself from consideration for some clubs to ensure a coaching gig?
Word in LA is that the Dodgers would have allowed Wallach to interview in Toronto if he really wanted to. Apparently for some odd reason, Wallach perfers living in LA by the ocean rather than in Toronto. Go figure.
What I read is there’s a list of teams in his contract that disallow him from being interviewed for, and Toronto is on that list.
wallach also prefers living in milwaukee to toronto, apparently…
i’m not judging the guy – it just seems that managing in the big leagues isn’t really his top priority.
Then why would he let himself be interviewed by other teams? Just doesn’t make sense.
One would think a clause like that would be in place for the club, not for the coach. Say to prevent a division rival from obtaining a new manager from you unless they gave something up first. This contract issue sounds like nonsense. The only thing I can think of is he stipulated clubs that the Dodgers could not block him from interviewing with.
I suppose we can’t say for certain what Wallach’s motives are for allowing an interview w/ Milwaukee & not Toronto. I can only surmise that Wallach sees the NL Central as a division he might have success…in the AL East, well it’s obviously a much tougher assignment. Seems pretty lame to me – but it’s a guess.
Does anyone else think that the Crew’ should go after Ryne Sandberg? It’d be a great slap to the face of the Cubbies, he’s better than the hack Melvin, we aren’t giving Willy a chance. It all adds up to me as a great idea, I’m sure there is some contractual stipulation that would prohibit it, but if the Cubs don’t hire him as Manager, you better believe he’s gone from Chi town first chance he gets. Dude knows baseball, and was an all world athlete back in his day. Seems to be great with young talent, which the Beer Makers have a lot of, it just seems logical to me…. Any thoughts?
I’m not sure that Sandberg is cut out to be a quality big league manager, since everything he’s said about managing has been all about himself. I don’t how any team that doesn’t have ties to him as a player would hire such an ego-driven individual.
Hopefully the Cubs brass is smart and hires a manager and not a marketing tool.
While I understand where you are coming from, I would have to disagree with this.
1, Ryne Sandberg cares alot about baseball, albeit himself, there is no way he wouldn’t do everything he could to be a winner.
2, Ryne would judge every player as if it was him back in his day, huge shoes to fill of course, but why wouldn’t you expect nothing but the best from your guys… Especially the marquee guys IE: Prince, Braun, Hart, Weeks and Mcghee.
3, I hate the cubs, and doing anything to make the next 100 and however many years of losing worse for them would be fine by me.
4, We’ve had far to many of the “watch and see” Managers of late, Yost and Maccha most recently, and both junk for a young cocky team.
Just thoughts, but I’m sick of the “Good ol’ boy mentality” where as I love the young fiery guys who kick and scream until they are heard.
What makes you think he would leave? A managerial offer would have to be worth his time. Even if the Cubs name someone else manager, the possibiltynof Ryno being bench coach is greater than him leaving, especially for Milwaukee.
Ryno did say he is not doing what he is doing in the minors to be a bench coach next year. Maybe or maybe not he changes his stance. That interview was in July.
Word on the street is that the Cubs are prepared to announce Quade the manager and Sandberg bench coach.
On what street did you hear that. I hope it’s true.
Yes, that is what some are saying. That Sandberg article was over the summer. He has had two formal interviews from Hendry and one from Ricketts. Maybe he changed his mind on things from the summer. I think it would be beneficial for Ryno to have an open mind on things even if he was not given the managers job right now. From the Cubs standpoint, it would be a bad move just letting him walk.
Not saying it didn’t happen, but I follow the Cubs almost religiously. I don’t recall seeing that, but I’d love to read it. I’ll check the archives.
I hear you. I follow the team very well, too. It was not an on the street thing. It was an article from Barry Rozner from the Daily Herald over the summer. I want to say in July, but it could have been August. It was Rozner and it was right after the whole Lou situation. I’m just not sure if the article was in July (when Lou said this was his last year) or August (when Lou left). In it, Sandberg indicated he was not doing what he is doing to be a bench coach. Again, that was over the summer.
Maybe after the two Hendry interviews and interview with Ricketts, he changed his mind. It would be a bad PR move letting Sandberg go to another organization with his status in Cub history and coming off of AAA manager of the year…along with three previous successful seasons in the minors. Hendry wants Quade, but he is not dumb enough to just cast off a Cub icon after doing everything he was asked to do.
Only if the Cubs hire Robin Yount as their next skipper… okay, give them Jim Gantner since they played the same position.
It’ll definitely suck for the Red Sox if the Blue Jays get Farrel as their manager. He knows their pitching system and strategies like the back of his hand. I was kinda expecting him to take over for Terry after a few years. lol
And so continues the obnoxious Cubs culture. “Yeah, we hired Lou Piniella four years ago instead of Girardi, but now that Captain Senile is gone we’re interested in Girardi. Even though he manages for a different team. He should leave the Yankees so he can come join the Cubs. You know, just like any normal person would.” This is ridiculous and bordering on tampering.
Sounds like the Yankees, not the Cubs.
In fact, I don’t believe you have heard “the Cubs” say anything about Girardi. You’ve heard a lot of reporters talking, you’ve heard quotes from Girardi himself brought up, and of course people like you making up entire imaginary dialogues in order to slam them for reasons surpassing understanding (White Sox fan perhaps?), but the only thing the Cubs have said is “expect a hire soon unless they want to wait until he’s no longer under contract to interview Girardi.” Sure sounds like borderline tampering to me. *eyeroll*
The same obnoxious Cubs’ culture in which their GM continues to decline comment on individuals that are under contract in another organization? That has always been Hendry’s policy. So, what is obnoxious about reporters considering the possibility of a hometown guy coming back to manage the team he started with? Joe Giardi is Chicago. Joliet Catholic Academy, Northwestern University, Chicago Cubs… He is in a contract year, and interviewed with the Cubs previously. What’s so obnoxious about his name coming up?
To be honest I don’t really care if Girardi leaves. He’s also a bland tactician, and to me, doesen’t really have the cojones to get into a game and manage. I’d love for Bob Brenly to take the position if he does leave.
I think Valentine would be good with the Pirates, but I haven’t really heard anything linking them together.
Pirates won’t hire Valentine- He’ll cost more than the entire Pirate infield in salary.
Bob Walk needs to coach the Pirates
Bob Walk is like bob eucker in major league, he could never be the manager. I would love Bobby V., pony up the cash to have a mind like that in their organization, it would finally give them a real talent evaluator involved in the game. I also like the idea of royally turning over the Cubs and landing Sandberg. That guy wants to win and win bad. The pirates need that right now.
I think that Bobby V will end up with the Cubs.. just a feeling
Bobby V would not go to the pirates. He will sign with Seattle, Mets, or the Jays.
Dave Martinez to The Jays please!
I hope Bobby Valentine goes to the Blue Jays. He’d be perfect for the position. And on Joe Girardi, I really don’t care if he leaves for the Cubs. I hate his managerial style, and it’s really more of Nick Swisher and Robinson Cano who are managing the club house really. If he leaves I demand Bob Brenly or Tim Wallach(even though the Dodgers wouldn’t allow it).
what are the chances the Marlins interview Ryne Sandberg??