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Blue Jays To Name Shane Farrell Amateur Scouting Director

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The Toronto Blue Jays are getting set to name Shane Farrell as their new amateur scouting director, per sources for Robert Murray (via Twitter), previously of The Athletic. Farrell has been the west coast crosschecker for the Chicago Cubs.

Chicago and Toronto both are undergoing behind the scenes makeovers this offseason, to varying degrees. Toronto is in need of new blood due to the departure of Ben Cherington to Pittsburgh. Chicago, meanwhile, has remade parts of their scouting and development departments, ostensibly driven by the stagnation of the team’s development pipeline.

Farrell’s departure from Chicago isn’t all that shocking after interviewing for and missing out on a VP of Scouting role that went to Dan Kantrovitz, a former assistant GM with the A’s. The Cubs also lost national crosschecker Sam Hughes to the Yankees this offseason, per The Athletic’s Sahadev Sharma.

Farrell, of course, is the son of the well-known former Red Sox and Blue Jays manager John Farrell, currently a scout for the Reds. The Cubs still have one Farrell connection, as Shane’s brother Jeremy is an assistant director of baseball development with the organization, while the third Farrell brother, Luke Farrell, is a former Cubs farmhand, who made 9 quality appearances for the Rangers in 2019.

For the Blue Jays, Shane Farrell joins a crew with heavy connections to his father’s time in Cleveland, though don’t be fooled into thinking this is a nepotism hire. Farrell has a strong reputation of his own accord and has been seen as a “fast-riser” among those in the industry, per Sharma.

Angels To Interview Buck Showalter, John Farrell

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Joe Maddon is reportedly the front-runner to take over as the Angels’ next manager, but they’re not going to hand him the job without first doing their due diligence on at least a few names. The club’s conducting interviews with three other candidates this week, including former managers Buck Showalter and John Farrell, per reports from Maria Torres of the Los Angeles Times and Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register. The fourth contender’s unknown, but it’s not Angels special assistant Eric Chavez, according to Torres.

Like Maddon, both Showalter and Farrell have managed multiple major league teams apiece to this point. The 63-year-old Showalter is a three-time Manager of the Year who oversaw the Yankees, Diamondbacks, Rangers and Orioles for a combined 20 seasons from 1992-2018. The O’s parted with Showalter after last year, a 47-win season in which they launched a full rebuild.

Farrell, 57, is an ex-major league right-hander who was a member of the Angels from 1993-94. He’s better known for his post-playing career, though, having managed the Blue Jays and Red Sox between 2011-17. In his greatest accomplishment in the role, Farrell helped the Red Sox to a World Series title in his first year atop the club in 2013. The rest of Farrell’s tenure with the team produced mixed results. The Red Sox finished below .500 twice in a row from 2014-15, but they took home AL East crowns in each of the next two seasons.

Despite its regular-season success under Farrell from 2016-17, Boston parted with him after back-to-back first-round knockouts in the playoffs. Farrell has stayed in the game since then by working as a scout and a pitching consultant for the Reds.

Managerial Rumors: Angels, Maddon, Giants, Ibanez, Farrell, Gibbons

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Joe Maddon is reportedly a leading candidate to take over as the Angels’ next manager, but he’s not the lone possibility to replace Brad Ausmus. General manager Billy Eppler stated Tuesday that the Angels “plan on sitting down with a number of candidates” to discuss the job, per Maria Torres of the Los Angeles Times. Maddon’s a highly accomplished manager who earlier spent three decades with the Angels organization in several different roles, which seems to make him a slam-dunk choice for the position. However, it’s worth noting that Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic reported last week that the Angels might be hesitant to meet Maddon’s asking price. Maddon made $6MM this year with the Cubs, who moved on from him after they fell way short of expectations in 2019.

  • The Giants, who are seeking a successor to Bruce Bochy, are interested in ex-major league outfielder Raul Ibanez, Jon Morosi of MLB.com reports.  Ibanez has been working as a special assistant to Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman since 2016, giving him familiarity with the Giants’ Farhan Zaidi. Before Zaidi took the reins as San Francisco’s president of baseball ops last offseason, he worked as the Dodgers’ general manager.
  • Former big league skipper John Farrell remains interested in a third go-around as a manager, Rosenthal tweets. The 57-year-old last managed in 2017, when he oversaw a Red Sox team that finished 93-69 and earned an AL East title. Farrell managed three division winners and a World Series champion (2013) in Boston over five years, though he also guided two last-place clubs during his uneven reign. Prior to that, he managed the Blue Jays to a 154-170 record from 2011-12. Farrell has served as a scout and a pitching consultant in Cincinnati since 2018, and he interviewed for the Phillies’ and Reds’ managerial openings during the previous two offseasons.
  • Fellow ex-Jays manager John Gibbons also could be a possibility for clubs, Mark Feinsand of MLB.com relays. The 57-year-old wants to manage again or at least serve as a bench coach, according to Feinsand. Gibbons lost his job in Toronto after 2018, ending a two-stint, 11-year run with the franchise. He led the club to a 793-789 record with a pair of playoff berths.
  • Astros first base coach Don Kelly is a candidate to draw managerial interest in the coming weeks, Morosi hears. The 39-year-old Kelly, best known for his run as a major league utlityman for the Pirates, Tigers and Marlins from 2007-16, is only in his first season as a coach. He spent the previous two seasons in a pro scouting role with Detroit.

NL Notes: Mets, Harper, Machado, Rockies, Dodgers, Kenley, Reds

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The Mets haven’t been connected to outfielder Bryce Harper or infielder Manny Machado – the best free agents available this offseason – in part because, “I don’t know how many teams have two $30-million players,” COO Jeff Wilpon said this week (via Tim Healey of Newsday). Wilpon was alluding to the Mets’ highest-paid player, outfielder Yoenis Cespedes, who will make just shy of $30MM per year over the next two seasons. But Cespedes is not under contract thereafter, may not even play in 2019 because of heel problems, and will have insurance cover some portion of his money while he’s on the shelf. Still, whether the outfield’s a pressing need for the Mets is debatable, as they have Brandon Nimmo, Michael Conforto, Juan Lagares and Keon Broxton headlining that group. Wilpon noted the Mets “have some pretty good lefty outfielders” in Nimmo and Conforto, lessening the need for Harper. Entering the offseason, they weren’t as fortunate on the left side of their infield, where Machado could have made a huge difference. The team has since signed Jed Lowrie, though, and it’s seemingly content to go forward with him as its primary third baseman and Amed Rosario at shortstop. However, even after reeling in Lowrie (and acquiring other pricey veterans in Robinson Cano, Wilson Ramos, Jeurys Familia and Justin Wilson), the Mets are still roughly $40MM under the luxury tax, Healey points out. Nevertheless, the big-market club is apparently content to stay out of the sweepstakes for both Harper and Machado.

More from around the National League…

  • Although the Rockies’ Bud Black is entering a contract year, the manager’s not fazed by his uncertain status beyond 2019. “Those thing work themselves out,” said Black (via Nick Groke of The Athletic). If Black wants to stay with the Rockies, it’ll be a surprise if they don’t extend him this offseason or sometime prior to next winter, as he’s easily their most successful manager ever in terms of winning percentage (.548). The Rockies have made the playoffs in each of the well-regarded Black’s two seasons on the job and gone 178-147.
  • Dodgers closer Kenley Jansen, who underwent surgery in November to address an irregular heartbeat, told J.P. Hoornstra of the Southern California News Group and other reporters Saturday that he’s back at full strength. Pitching in the thin air of Colorado has been particularly problematic in recent years for Jansen, who was hospitalized after a game there last August, but trips to Coors Field won’t be an issue for him going forward. “If I’m hydrated I should be fine,” Jansen said.
  • Earlier this offseason, John Farrell interviewed for the Reds’ managerial position – a job that ultimately went to David Bell. While Farrell was among many runners-up in that derby, he’ll still work with the Reds in 2019, Mark Sheldon of MLB.com reports. After serving as a scout and advisor last year, his first in Cincinnati, he’ll function as a pitching consultant during the upcoming season. Farrell, 56, is best known for his run as Boston’s manager from 2013-17, during which the team went 432-378, took home three division titles and won a World Series championship (’13).

Reds’ Managerial Search Enters Second Round

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The Reds are well into their search for a new manager, as has long been anticipated. Interim skipper Jim Riggleman took over after Bryan Price was fired and was at the helm for most of the 2018 season, but the club is determined to consider an array of candidates before naming the next full-time dugout leader. As we did last year with other openings of this kind, we’ll use this post to track the early developments in the hiring process in Cincinnati.

Latest Update — Oct. 20

  • Per Fox Sports’ Jon Morosi (Twitter link), Giants VP of Player Development and former MLB third baseman David Bell is the now the favorite to be offered the job.
  • The Reds informed Jim Riggleman today that he will not return as manager, according to William Ladson on Twitter.

Earlier Update — Oct. 17

  • Ausmus and Girardi are also still under consideration, per Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic (via Twitter). Both are slated for additional interviews, MLB.com’s Mark Sheldon adds on Twitter. It seems they’ll join Bell to make up a group of three finalists, per Jon Heyman of Fancred (Twitter link).
  • The Reds conducted interviews with the 12 candidates listed below and won’t speak with anyone else, per John Fay of the Cincinnati Enquirer. ESPN’s Jerry Crasnick tweets that there’s a growing sense that David Bell “has the inside track,” though he notes that Rocco Baldelli’s interview went “extremely well,” too, placing Baldelli “strongly in the mix.”

Click to view full overview of managerial search:

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Managerial Notes: Showalter, Riggleman, Mattingly

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Earlier this afternoon it was reported that the Rangers are considering moving on from skipper Jeff Banister following the season. In the wake of that report, here’s some more chatter regarding managers whose futures have had some uncertainty surrounding them…

  • Fancred’s Jon Heyman reports in this week’s notes column that Orioles manager Buck Showalter is “very likely” to be replaced following this season, though the venerable veteran has yet to be definitively informed one way or another by team decision-makers. The decision on general manager Dan Duquette is more up in the air, per the report, and could yet go either way. Showalter has been managing the O’s since 2010 and guided the team to a 666-677 record that is largely skewed by the unmitigated disaster that has been the 2018 season. He’s among the game’s most respected managers, though there have been reports questioning his job security throughout the season.
  • In light of recent reports that interim Reds manager Jim Riggleman is a favorite of owner Bob Castellini, Heyman adds that Riggleman additionally has numerous fans in the Cincinnati front office. The 65-year-old Riggleman has a decent chance at being tabbed the team’s long-term skipper, though former Red Sox manager John Farrell will be among those considered to step into that role as well. The Reds hired Farrell to work for them in a scouting capacity last offseason.
  • Asked by Clark Spencer of the Miami Herald whether manager Don Mattingly will return for the 2019 season (Twitter link), Marlins CEO Derek Jeter suggested that to be the case, rhetorically replying, “He’s under contract, right?” Mattingly is indeed under contract, but only through the 2019 campaign. Beyond that, it’s not clear whether new Miami ownership has plans to bring in a manager of their own preference — Mattingly was inherited from the previous regime — or whether there’s interest in extending him beyond the ’19 season. Mattingly’s Marlins clubs haven’t had much success, and that’s truer than ever in 2018, though he wasn’t given much to work with heading into the current campaign following last offseason’s organizational tear-down.

Reds Hire John Farrell

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The Reds have hired former Red Sox skipper John Farrell, though he won’t be joining the coaching staff of Cinci manager Bryan Price. Rob Bradford of WEEI.com first tweeted news of the hiring.

Farrell will function as a scout with the Cincinnati organization, per C. Trent Rosecrans of The Athletic (Twitter link). It seems the focus will be on pitching, with Farrell beginning his tenure by examining the Reds’ own system, as Peter Gammons explains on Twitter.

It certainly makes sense that Farrell will be focused on pitching, as he’s a former big league hurler who made his mark as a pitching coach. He went on to manage the Blue Jays and Red Sox.

Farrell’s tenure in Boston came to a close after 2017. Though he had guided the team to consecutive AL East crowns, in addition to a 2013 World Series title, Sox president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski elected to fire Farrell and (eventually) replace him with Alex Cora. It stands to reason that Farrell will be considered for future managerial openings.

The Nationals’ Managerial Search

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The Nationals became the latest team with a managerial vacancy last Friday when they announced that skipper Dusty Baker would not return for a third season with the team. The Nats have traditionally shown little penchant for hesitation when it comes to shuffling the dugout mix, as evidenced by the fact that they’re now seeking their fourth manager since the 2011 season. No manager has lasted more than three years at the helm in D.C. since the franchise moved there from Montreal.

It’s not yet clear how many candidates the Nats plan on interviewing, but we’ll track the candidates and update accordingly here in this post as they come to light.

Finalists

  • Dave Martinez is a finalist to land the job, according to Chelsea Janes of the Washington Post. It’s unclear whether anyone else is still in the mix, Janes adds (Twitter links).

Latest Updates

  • John Farrell interviewed for the job today, The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal reports (Twitter link).  As with previous reports, Rosenthal also hears that Dave Martinez is considered the favorite to be Washington’s next manager.
  • It is “not likely” that the Nationals have interest in former Yankees manager Joe Girardi, FanRag Sports’ Jon Heyman reports (Twitter link).  One of the reasons is that the Nats traditionally don’t pay large salaries to managers, and Girardi would certainly command a notable commitment — his just-completed contract with the Yankees was a four-year deal worth $16MM.

Will Interview/Have Interviewed

  • Barry Svrluga of the Washington Post tweets that the Nationals have received permission from the division-rival Mets to interview hitting coach Kevin Long for the position. Long, who has spent the past three seasons as the Mets’ hitting coach and held the same post for the Yankees in the seven preceding years, was reportedly a finalist in the Mets’ search. However, the Mets ultimately selected Indians pitching coach Mickey Callaway as their new skipper.
  • The Nats are interviewing Cubs bench coach Dave Martinez today or tomorrow (Oct. 26/27), Barry Svrluga of the Washington Post reports on Twitter. (Jorge Castillo of the Washington Post first reported Martinez would interview.) The 53-year-old Martinez has previously interviewed for the position in 2013, Castillo notes, before the Nats elected to go with Matt Williams. Gordon Wittenmyer of the Chicago Sun-Times further reports that Martinez came quite close to being named Nationals manager after Williams was dismissed, but ownership decided late in the process that a candidate with prior MLB managerial experience was needed. Wittenmyer writes that some within the industry consider Martinez the favorite this time around, which Jon Heyman of Fan Rag echoes. Martinez has spent a decade as Joe Maddon’s bench coach, dating back to 2008 with the Rays. Martinez spent parts of 16 seasons in the Majors as an outfielder, including four with the Expos before the franchise moved to Washington, D.C.

Kapler, Wathan Among Finalists For Phillies Manager

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The Phillies have an opening in the dugout after surprisingly removing Pete Mackanin from that role and transitioning him to a front office role. Philadelphia had extended Mackanin just four months earlier, making the decision all the more unexpected. We’ll track the majority of the managerial chatter pertaining to the Phils here over the course of the search and update accordingly as the hunt progresses…

Finalists

  • If the Phillies opt for a manager with Major League experience, ESPN.com’s Buster Olney tweets that the “industry expectation” is that John Farrell will get the job.
  • MLB.com’s Todd Zolecki reports that Dodgers director of player development Gabe Kapler is also a finalist for the position, along with Wathan. Both impressed the Phils with their first interviews, and it sounds as if the Philadelphia brass will conduct one more round of interviews with this pair (and any other yet-unknown finalists) before making a final decision.
  • The Phillies are “zeroing in” on Triple-A skipper Dusty Wathan for the job, per Nightengale (via Twitter). He’ll join Kapler, at the least, in a second wave of interviews. Wathan only briefly cracked the majors as a player, but has once again climbed the minor-league ladder since moving to the coaching ranks with the Phillies back in 2008.

Will Interview/Have Interviewed (Still Under Consideration)

  • Recently fired Red Sox manager John Farrell interviewed for the position on Oct. 25, reports Zolecki. It’s not yet clear whether Farrell’s sitdown with the Phils will result in another interview.
  • Dodgers director of player development Gabe Kapler is also slated for an interview, as Zolecki reports. Kapler took his position with Los Angeles after missing on the team’s managerial opening, but has continued to be cited as a possible candidate elsewhere ever since.
  • The Phillies already have one strong internal candidate in Jorge Velandia, reports Jim Salisbury of CSNPhilly.com. Currently a special assistant to GM Matt Klentak, Velandia interviewed for the opening on Wednesday and is a “strong candidate,” according to Salisbury, though other interviews are sure to be conducted with external candidates. Nonetheless, Salisbury writes that the 42-year-old Velandia is well versed in player development and has embraced the analytical side of the game. His work with Klentak and the rest of the front office should bode well for communication. He’s spent time on the Phillies’ big league coaching staff in the past and has also spent six seasons as a manager in the Venezuelan Winter League.
  • Current Phillies third base coach Juan Samuel has also interviewed for the opening, as Bob Brookover of the Philadelphia Daily News recently reported. Samuel, 56, has been on the Phillies’ coaching staff since 2011 after coming over from the Orioles, where he worked with Andy MacPhail, who was then the Orioles’ president and now holds that same role with the Phillies. Samuel spoke to Brookover about his own openness to incorporating more data-driven decisions into on-field decisions. “If you have something available to you that gives you an advantage over other clubs, you should definitely use it,” he said.
  • Both Salisbury and Brookover list Triple-A manager Dusty Wathan as another internal candidate that is expected to interview. It’s not known yet whether the 44-year-old has interviewed, but he’s spent the past 10 seasons managing at various levels throughout the Phillies’ system, so he obviously has plenty of familiarity with the Phillies’ homegrown players and a number of the front office execs that have been with the club for an extended period of time.

Preliminary Candidates (Interview Status Unknown)

  • The Phillies have spoken with Mariners third base coach Manny Acta, Jon Heyman of FanRag writes (and clarifies on Twitter). Acta, who managed the Nationals from 2007-09 and the Indians from 2010-12, was in the running for the Mets’ job before it went to Mickey Callaway.
  • In addition to a few of the other names already covered here, Heyman hears that the Phils have some level of interested in Red Sox bench coach Gary DiSarcina and possibly former Tigers manager Brad Ausmus. Boston is in the midst of its own managerial hiring process, with the club leaving coaches like DiSarcina free to explore their options with other organizations.
  • The Phillies are interested in speaking to Rockies bench coach Mike Redmond, per Heyman. There’s been no definitive word of an interview, but the former Marlins manager has been building his dugout resume since calling it quits as a player back in 2010. At 46, he’d give the Phillies a considerably younger voice than they’ve had under recent skippers like Mackanin, Ryne Sandberg and Charlie Manuel.

Not in the Mix/No Longer in Consideration

  • Ryan Lawrence of PhillyVoice.com reported recently that the Phillies won’t consider bench coach Larry Bowa or former GM Ruben Amaro Jr. for the post. Klentak has stated a desire for a “new voice” and a “new style” in the dugout, Lawrence notes, which wouldn’t be accomplished with the 71-year-old Bowa. As for Amaro, while he’d been previously connected to the role and is reportedly on the Tigers’ radar, Lawrence definitively characterized the chances of Amaro being on the team’s radar as nonexistent.
  • USA Today’s Bob Nightengale tweets that Phil Nevin is no longer in the running after interviewing recently. FanRag’s Jon Heyman tweets that Athletics third base coach Chip Hale, who also interviewed for the Philadelphia vacancy, has been eliminated from the running as well.
  • Indians pitching coach Mickey Callaway interviewed for the post but has since been hired as the new manager of the Mets.

Cafardo’s Latest: V-Mart, Bradley, Hickey, Farrell, Phillies

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The chances of Victor Martinez continuing his career may be “touch and go” in the aftermath of heart-related health issues in 2017, Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe writes.  The Tigers slugger twice suffered irregular heartbeats, the second of which led to chronic ablation surgery in early September that prematurely ended his season.  Martinez has one year and $18MM remaining on his original four-year contract with the Tigers, and he turns 39 years old in December, so retirement could potentially not be far away for the veteran.  That said, the top priority is Martinez’s health, and everyone around baseball is pulling for Martinez to both make a full recovery and be able to end his career on his own terms, whether after the 2018 season or beyond.

Here’s more from Cafardo’s weekly notes column…

  • Jackie Bradley Jr. could be a big commodity on the trade market, as Cafardo opines that the Red Sox could deal Bradley, move Andrew Benintendi to center field and then sign J.D. Martinez to play left field.  Boston’s “need for power is so critical,” Cafardo writes, that the Sox may have to take the hit on defense, not to mention the payroll hit of dealing Bradley (controlled via arbitration through the 2020 season) and spending big on Martinez.  Cafardo also noted Martinez as a potential Boston target in his column last week, citing the past relationship between Martinez and Dave Dombrowski from their time together in Detroit.  The Giants, Phillies, Royals and Braves are all listed as potential suitors if the Red Sox did shop Bradley, and several more teams would certainly check in on the 27-year-old.  Bradley took a step backwards at the plate this season, though he posted above-average hitting numbers in 2015-16 and is one of the game’s better defensive players.
  • Jim Hickey has drawn a lot of attention for pitching coach vacancies around the sport, though Cafardo writes that some around the game consider Hickey to be a potential managerial candidate.  He speculates that “the Mets could take a long look” at Hickey, or potentially the Red Sox as they look to replace another former pitching coach-turned-manager in John Farrell.
  • Speaking of Farrell, he could emerge as a contender for one of the open managerial vacancies around the game, or even with the Nationals if they choose to move on from Dusty Baker.  One AL executive feels the Nats “would be looking at strongly” if they did make a change in the dugout, though the exec also feels Farrell may take a season away from the game to both increase his job options and perhaps just to take a break from the grind.
  • While discussing teams looking for managers, Cafardo makes the interesting comment that “the Phillies still have their sights on” Orioles skipper Buck Showalter.  Once Pete Mackanin was reassigned from the manager’s job in Philadelphia, there was some initial speculation about the Phils targeting Showalter given his ties to Andy MacPhail and Matt Klentak.  Since then, however, the Phillies have seemingly moved onto other candidates, plus there’s the obvious obstacle of Showalter still being under contract to the Orioles for one more season.
  • Speaking of the Phillies job, Cafardo also notes that Red Sox bench coach Gary DiSarcina’s name has come up as a possible candidate.  DiSarcina worked for the Angels as a coach and front office assistant during Klentak’s stint with the club as an assistant GM.  The longtime former Angels infielder has several years of experience in a variety of front office, coaching and minor league managerial roles with the Halos and Red Sox.
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