With so many managerial jobs open this winter, there's plenty of news to pass along in the world of field managers. Here's the latest:
- Add Red Sox bench coach Demario Hale to the list of interview candidates for the manager's job in Toronto, reports Bob Elliott of the Toronto Sun. Meanwhile, Dodgers Triple-A manager Tim Wallach will not interview with the Jays since he has signed a new contract with L.A.
- ESPN.com’s Buster Olney hears that Red Sox pitching coach John Farrell will probably get a chance to manage in 2011.
- Former Pirate Andy Van Slyke told Chuck Finder of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette that he’d be interested in managing in Pittsburgh. Longtime MLB manager Phil Garner told Rob Biertempfel of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review that he would like to manage again, potentially with the Pirates.
- Former Indians manager Eric Wedge tells Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports that he's "burning" to manage in the major leagues again. Wedge has interviewed with the Blue Jays, Pirates and Cubs and is a candidate to manage the Brewers, Mariners and, possibly, the Mets.
- Jon Heyman of SI.com adds Cardinals coach Jose Oquendo and Juan Samuel to his list of managerial candidates.
- The Brewers are expected to interview White Sox coach Joey Cora, according to USA Today's Bob Nightengale, who says Bob Melvin is the favorite to manage in Milwaukee (Twitter link). Angels bench coach Ron Roenicke is also expected to interview for the Milwaukee job, reports Mike DiGiovanna of the Los Angeles Times.
MLBTR's Mark Polishuk also contributed to this post.
I’d like to see John Farrell manage the Pirates, but AVS shouldn’t be their manager because it would really be more for the fan appeal than his actual managerial value.
Wedge is an American League guy. He would do well up in Toronto with the young talent they have coming up and now playing on their roster.. Problem is, he could improve their performance by 25% and still end up coming in 4th place, behind TEE, the Red Sox and Rays..
I’m not sure how well the Rays will do next year with a payroll around $25m and losing players like Crawford, Pena, Soriano and 1/2 their pen. Considering a lot of their players are arbitration eligible, they’re going to have to re-load from within because they’ll be broke on free agency. They could easily finish 4th or even 5th if a key player or 2 goes down with an injury.
Next year should be very interesting in the AL East. Baltimore will be truly improved, as will Toronto, with their good young pitching. NY will most likely come back to the pack, as their position players aren’t getting any younger. Boston , if they avoid injuries will be tough and Tampa will have to contend with all of the above, with a diminished roster. It should be fun to watch.
Tampa has a plethora of excellent young arms hidden away on their minor league rosters…. So, fear not…they will be competetive again in 2011.. Losing Crawford and Pena, both of whom are at or beyond their peaks, will not have too much of an impact once the season gets underway..
They lose out on Soriano and Crawford, but other than that the roster is the same. Pena hasn’t been very good this season so he’s not a big loss. They got Jennings to replace CC, and while Jennings won’t be as good in the beginning, he’s going to be a solid player. They just need to find a 1B, and upgrade their DH. Lots of options for that this offseason. They get to add Hellickson fulltime next year, and they probably get Howell back next year. Mcgee will get a shot in the pen, and he should do well there given his high K rate – although he will have to watch his walks. It’ll be tough to replace all of Soriano, Benoit and Balfour, but if Howell/McGee are good to go then the bullpen won’t be as bad as you think.
They’re still going to be a very dangerous team. I’m sure people will say the payroll dropping is an issue, but considering Burrell (8M), Soriano (8M), Pena (10M), Crawford (10M) are off the books, it’s not that big a deal. Even after you add in Garza, Upton and the rest of the arb cases, they’re going to have a fair amount of money to play with.
I don’t know how you can suggest they’ll suddenly become one of the worst teams in the East.
As for the original post I hope that they don’t get Wedge. He’s never impressed me as a manager.
It would be pretty cool if the Mets got Alderson or Hart. Both guys are veterans who know how to get the job done.
I really don’t see Farrell as a good managerial candidate. Managers need to have 2 things:
1. Managerial experience at some level. Farrell has none.
2. ML coaching experience. Farrell at least has this.
Bud Black was a guy that had no managerial experience….he’s got zero trips to the playoffs in his 4 years. Yes, Pads did well this year….but a better manager probably wins that division.
Wedge…..worst move Shapiro ever made. Hated the pick at the time. Guy had no ML coaching experience. He was doomed to fail.
May make a decent manager in Pittsburgh. Shouldn’t go to a big city (guy is horrible with the media, sounds drunk ALL the time…and he looks it). Can’t really do any worse in Pittsburgh than what’s already going on there.
“Managers need to have 2 things:
1. Managerial experience at some level. Farrell has none.”
So… no new managers ever? In a few years were going to run out of them.
Dont forget, Start Wearing Purple Jones will be a manager some day.
Heh… don’t worry, I know I’m just an armchair GM. Sadly I can’t say the say the same for many other fans.
And my name isn’t Jones.
you know what I mean. You and I will team up someday as Royals Manager and GM. Take your pick.
As a fan, would like to see Farrell stick with Boston as the pitching coach, or go to a team with a better staff overall to begin with to work his pitching skills with.
Wouldn’t you love to be managing the Royals with Eric Hosmer and Mike Moustakas in their prime.
“Managers need to have 2 things:
1. Managerial experience at some level. Farrell has none.”
So… no new managers ever? In a few years were going to run out of them.
I’ll trade “managerial experience at some level” for *ANY* MLB coaching experience in the NL.
These guys that have AL experience, other than a handful of inter-league games, have little experience with the double-switches, etc. that come with playing in the NL.
I still think we need to see Ted Simmons’ name mentioned. They need to get him interviewed before Florida or Seattle get him in.
Eric Wedge was fine, Shapiro just kept trading away his talent. Cleveland is going to be the Pittsburgh of the AL for many, many years to come.
“Cleveland is going to be the Pittsburgh of the AL for many, many years to come.”
Not with a top ten farm system. I can easily see Carlos Santana and Lonnie Chisenhall becoming cornerstone players in a rejuvinated franchise like the Indians.
Pittsburgh also has a good pitching depth with a solid farm, IMO.
Eric Wedge was fine, Shapiro just kept trading away his talent. Cleveland is going to be the Pittsburgh of the AL for many, many years to come.
Remember kids, just say no to Wedge.
A better manager gets the Pads to the Playoffs? I dont really think so… They never had any offense, and the pitching that was carrying them just wore down… Most people had that team as one of the worst in baseball coming in to the season. I think Bud did about as good a job as he could… If the Pads fired him today he wouldnt be unemployed long
I’m with you. I think Bud Black got the most out of the least-that team wasn’t even picked to be improved this year. They were in it until the last day of the season on a strong bullpen and Adrian Gonzales’ bat.
A better manager gets the Pads to the Playoffs? I dont really think so… They never had any offense, and the pitching that was carrying them just wore down… Most people had that team as one of the worst in baseball coming in to the season. I think Bud did about as good a job as he could… If the Pads fired him today he wouldnt be unemployed long
Awesome! Brewers are going to interview Joey Cora. Out of all the candidates that have been connected to the Brewers, Cora is my favorite. If he got the job, I would be one happy camper.
Awesome! Brewers are going to interview Joey Cora. Out of all the candidates that have been connected to the Brewers, Cora is my favorite. If he got the job, I would be one happy camper.
Why does Tim Raines’ name never come up as a candidate? He has coaching experience since 2003 and has managed starting recently. And he’s Tim Raines. What am I missing here?
I’m going to bring him up again, and will continue to do so until I see him getting some attention. How in the world is Charlie Montoyo not getting any attention for a managerial job? 4 years as a manager in AAA, 4 division championships, 1 league championship, and a pretty respectable showing as the manager for Puerto Rico in the WBC.
Shouldn’t we be hearing Mike Maddux’s name bandied about for a managerial position? I think he would make a great manager, maybe the next Bud Black. Ryan S. is right about the Pads this year. They had little offense and their pitching couldn’t pitch perfect every game to make up for the lack of offense. Hopefully for Pads fans they’ll get the offense they need to compete.
*DeMarlo Hale
Now the Brewers are going to interview Ron Roenicke? So, Roenicke and Cora will be interviewed for the Brewers manager job. I’m really happy right now. This shows me that Doug Melvin is leaving his usual expectations in a manager of “Winner, experience, and a ‘good baseball guy'” and going into managers that are young, energetic, and could perhaps have an impact on this club.
I hope Wedge gets another shot. He was never really given the credit he deserved in Cleveland. When Victor Martinez goes down during the first game of the season, of course your team is going to struggle. Shapiro should have been the one fired, not Wedge, but Shapiro wasn’t going to fire himself. Wedge could really help a team, especially a young, developing one.
Agreed, but GMs can also be fired.
Glad to see the Brewers are looking at new blood instead of retreads lets hope Melvin has the guts to give a new guy a chance. My personal feeling is Melvin should of been let go with Macha 8 years and 1 second place finish is not very impressive and I don’t trust him making the Fielder trade hope he proves me wrong.
Well, AA sort of failed at the Roy Halladay return, even though they got Travis D’Arnaud(I think along with SniderLover that the Phillies should be forced to give them Dominic Brown). People already deem him a good GM, because other than that, he’s running the Blue Jays pretty good, and getting alot of talent in his farm system. I’m pretty sure Melvin will get great pitching talent in return.