Earlier this week, in the wake of the Marlins’ managerial change, Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports noted that the two skippers who were most obviously on the hot seat had now been dismissed. With Mike Redmond and Brewers skipper Ron Roenicke having been replaced, Rosenthal looks at four more managers who could eventually find themselves in danger of losing their jobs, listing John Gibbons (Blue Jays), Bud Black (Padres), Fredi Gonzalez (Braves) and Terry Collins (Mets) as the likeliest options. Gibbons can’t be blamed for the lack of quality relief arms he has at his disposal, Rosenthal notes, but bench coach Demarlo Hale has long been thought of as a managerial prospect and makes sense as a replacement option. Black’s Padres are struggling with pitching, and Mark Kotsay’s name is floated by Rosenthal as someone who could be the next recently retired player to turn manager. Braves president of baseball ops John Hart isn’t as high on Gonzalez as president John Schuerholz or Bobby Cox, and there’s been some recent “internal finger-pointing,” Rosenthal hears. Collins nearly lost his job at the end of the 2014 season, he notes, and while the team is still in first place, the Mets’ managerial situation has long been volatile in nature.
Here’s more from Rosenthal…
- In a new Notes column, Rosenthal looks at the Athletics’ roster in the wake of a brutal start to the season. As many have pointed out, Scott Kazmir, Tyler Clippard and Ben Zobrist — each a pending free agent — would all be logical trade candidates if the team is still underperforming in July. However, Rosenthal writes that there’s no way GM Billy Beane will act quickly and sell, as he’ll first want to see how the team performs with Zobrist and closer Sean Doolittle healthy and activated from the DL. One change that won’t be coming, Rosenthal adds, is at manager. Beane and skipper Bob Melvin have a strong relationship, and it’s “exceptionally unlikely” that Melvin would be dismissed, in Rosenthal’s eyes.
- Another possible trade chip for the A’s could be Josh Reddick, who is earning $4.1MM after his second trip through arbitration this year. The Athletics, however, resisted trade offers for Reddick all offseason, Rosenthal hears.
- Rosenthal recently called Rockies owner Dick Monfort to discuss the recent Troy Tulowitzki trade chatter. However, when Rosenthal began asking about Tulowitzki, Monfort “quickly hung up.” The bizarre situation lends credence to wide-spread belief that Tulo, his agent and even GM Jeff Bridich have little say in whether or not the Rockies trade the face of their franchise. Rather, it’ll come down to the team owner’s wishes.
- The Astros are considering a long list of pitchers that either are or could become available, and they’ve recently been scouting Jeff Samardzija. It remains to be seen if the Astros would be willing to part with enough to get their hands on Samardzija, though. As Rosenthal notes, some rival execs feel that the tandem pitching system the Astros use in the minors devalues their pitching prospects, though one exec told him that it actually increases the value, as it suppresses the young pitchers’ inning counts.
- Rosenthal believes the Rays should consider trading left-hander Jake McGee to either help their rotation or another area of the team. McGee, he notes, is earning $3.55MM this season and will see that price tag sail beyond $5MM in arbitration this winter.
- Of course, as I noted yesterday when looking at this topic, using McGee in the ninth inning would help to keep down the future earnings of Brad Boxberger, who would benefit greatly from two full seasons of saves when he heads into arbitration following the 2016 season. And, as MLBTR’s Jeff Todd mentioned to me earlier today when we were chatting, left-handed relief is an area of weakness for the Rays at this time. Nevertheless, I wouldn’t be surprised if the scenario Rosenthal lays out came to fruition, and it’s hard to imagine that the Rays wouldn’t at least be open-minded to moving McGee.
In the old days? Kotsay, as well as Giambi would have been prime candidates to have become player managers. Both have extreme game smarts and could still hit when their careers ended. I add Sean Casey to that list as someone who may have been a candidate for player manager in throwback times who could still hit when his career ended who had good game smarts.
There is a lot more to managing a group of players then “game smarts”.
Most of the recent hires that did not have previous managerial experience have hurt their teams going through the learning curve of managing people. Furthermore, with many players coming up to the major leagues from the minors missing basic skills in their games, the lack of previous experience in managing young players during their development period also presents a problem.
With the rebuilding and retooling the braves did I don’t think they can blame freddi Gonzalez although the platoon system in place is a head scratcher.
My guess is that they still refuse to say the word rebuild and if they fire him will just say they expected a lot more
Astros would be wise to see how Brett Oberholtzer and Brad Peacock come back from injuries…..Oberholtzer pitched well last year and this year has been out with a series of nagging injuries, but nothing serious. He’s throwing well in the bullpen and should be activated shortly. Peacock has also been hurt, but is once again throwing in the bullpen and may be back after a rehab. With Keuchel, McHugh, Feldman and Hernandez their top 4 is fairly solid, and what they need is a 5th starter. Obviously if someone offers them a front line pitcher for a fairly good deal, they should go for it. But Oberholtzer or Peacock can hold the 5th starter job.
Re Astros: and then there are the farm hands . . . Lance McCullers, Jr. looked solid in his debut . . . there are several others on the cusp.
Yes….McCullers looked like he had great stuff but I think he could use some time in AAA to keep his pitch count down. The other really good young pitchers are all in AA or below. Probably next up after McCullers is someone like Dan Straily in AAA (who has been up and down from the majors) or Tommy Shirley in AAA who they would have to put on the roster – Shirley is having a pretty good year but not sure if he is worth a roster spot.
I can’t see the Sox trading Samardzija unless they’re out of the playoff hunt.
Agree….
see 2 months
Did Rosenthal legitimately get the phone hung up on him or is that just a saying for Monfort shutting down conversation about Tulo?
Who can say? This article seems to be filled with lots of speculation and surmising but very little fact. “I had a theory the other day and now I think this is what needs to happen for it to come true.” I get the whole “trade rumors” thing but should they pick teams and player names out of a hat and make up some “rumor”?
Wouldn’t it be more likely that Monfort just didn’t want to be bothered with questions on trade sepculation over the phone with Rosenthal? The conclusion he reaches seems like a massive stretch, if I hang up on a telemarketer that doesn’t mean I do not want to consolidate my debt (or other generic telemarketer scheme), it just means I do not want to talk to them about it.
Gibby’s poor managing of the team is the reason he’s in jeopardy of losing his job. Or should be. Mainly with the rotation and bullpen. Very poor choices and I’m sure any jays fan whos watched them over the last few years agrees he makes more terrible calls than he does good ones.
Okay Dave. Jake McGee is going to be this years Andrew Miller for whatever team acquires him. He would look great in the Tigers pen teamed with Soria. Plus he’s still under control, so he’s not a rental. Even at the 5MM plus, he would be a bargain compared to the money wasted on other relievers in the past. GO GET HIM!!!!