We aren’t even out of the playoffs yet and already we have several managerial moves around the league. Ideally teams would wait for the playoffs to conclude, but hey, if it’s gotta be done, may as well be done fast I suppose.
We will start up in Boston, where John Farrell was very publicly shown the door and had a few not so nice things implied about him on the way out per Boston tradition. His replacement has already been named in Alex Cora. Cora and the Sox agreed to a three year deal with a club option for a fourth. I don’t really understand this move, and to me it puts a bad taste in my mouth as Cora still has a job to do and maybe should remain focused on his current employer, you know in the one who just made it to the World Series. Although I’m not entirely sure how much effect a bench coach has day to day, it just feels icky. Why couldn’t they have waited a week to make the announcement?
Traveling a little ways south, we’ll head to New York, were the Mets have hired Mickey Callaway away from the Indians, who are now looking for a new pitching coach. Callaway will have to put his pitching skills to good use to get the most out of a staff that annually performs under their potential and can’t seem to stay healthy.
Going just a little further south, we learn that the Nationals cowardly fired Dusty Baker and have solidified a reputation for being incredibly untrustworthy. Apparently they are looking up to Boston in all the wrong ways. All Baker did in Washington was win, despite his reputation for ruining pitchers, managed to actually turn a few careers around.
Next we will head west where the Tigers have announced they are hiring Ron Gardenhire as their new manager. Ron may not be as beautiful as Brad, but he’s certainly quite qualified. The Tigers decided to go with Gardenhire over Fredi Gonzalez, so bullet dodged right there. Still no word on if Gardenhire can pitch in the 7th, 8th, and 9th innings. Gardenhire will have a tough job ahead of him with the team on a rebuild path.
That’s all the Management news I have for you today. The last bit of news that’s of any interest is the newly acquired Marlins are looking to slash payroll 25 million down to 90 million dollars. With Giancarlo Stanton set to make 25 million next year, it’s clear the implication is that Stanton is likely on top of the list of players who may be on the move. It’s also possible the Marlins will try to deal away Dee Gordon, Brad Ziegler, and AJ Ramos in an effort to slash and burn.
Fan Interference 
Slogging through this coming winter at least I’ll be able to look forward to seeing Gardenhire throw is first manager’s tantrum in Target Field while wearing a Tiger’s uniform. Instead of booing I expect laugher.
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Meet the new boss. Same as the old boss.
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Dusty Baker will be high on the list of likely NL Managers of the Year. I think it would be hilarious if he won it. As to Alex Cora, it’s not the best look for the Red Sox (as if that ever mattered to them) but I’m not entirely sure what a Bench Coach does except hold the manager’s hand in tense situations. 🙂 I think Alex is taking quite a chance after only one year in coaching to go to what has to be the most thankless managing job in the MLB.
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There were some in this neck of the woods who posited that a better bench coach than Chris Speier would’ve helped Dusty navigate the treacherous NLDSen, to the extent that the Nats might’ve won at least one of them during the last two cycles, and Dusty would still be employed, but that’s all speculation.
As for the Nats, I expect them to wait until after the Phillies have filled their opening before they do anything, regardless of who it costs them. Since the going rate for hiring this year seems to be a three-year deal, minimum, and since the Nats prefer one year with an option, they won’t want to get into a situation where they’re bidding against anyone but themselves.
2027 me is going to be looking back on this era as a serious missed opportunity…
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First up, former Expo Dave Martinez (who’s interviewing here for at least the second time, having been passed over for Matt Williams in 2013):
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The belief around here is that Molitor has somewhat of a chance of being named AL manager of the year. Those same people also believe that the Twins front office strongly considered not extending Molitor and mostly did so because the Pholads really like his local connection. Imagine if both managers of the year were also just fired managers.
The Gods can be so cruel.
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Davey Johnson was effectively fired after winning MOTY in ’97 with the Orioles, so it has happened in the past.
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A team built to win now hires a guy with no experience as a manager, think we’ve seen this movie before. Surprised DD was interested in a sequel.
As for the Tiggers, some local bloggers were pushing for a more analytics oriented manager which wasn’t part of Gardenhire’s profile until his year with the Gritty Snakes evidently enlightened him. Hopefully he brings in a new staff of young cutting edge guys instead of keeping some of Leyland’s Mafia (Legendary Lloyd and Sleepy Gene).
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I’m really enjoying DD doing the worst of his thing in Boston.
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In half hearted defense of DD, Tom Kelly was a rookie manager the last time the Twins won it all in 91.
Changing managers I think is mostly a way of changing the fan focus away form recent disappointments, which is why I don’t understand the Gardenhire hire. I can’t imagine there’s much joy in Tiger Land over the hiring of a manager whose last 3 or 4 Twins teams were somewhat less than successful, as I expect Tiger fans well remember.
I wish you guys all the luck, but I wouldn’t get my hopes up too much on the analytics front. I believe I heard that Gardenhire hired Doug Man-cave-ich (phonetic spelling – I can’t even come close to the real spelling) as bench coach and from what I understand he lives up to his name.
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Does tough actin’ Tinactin cure Mancave-itch?
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Dougie!
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Not sure why the Mets went with a Defensive Coordinator, but maybe this is the old when you’re in a hole, first stop digging thinking. I know pitching wins championships, but runs win games, and the Mets need to win some of those.
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Since it’s players that win games, it’s possible that the identity of the manager doesn’t matter much. But since it’s the front office which selects the players, it’s curious that they are reluctant to replace themselves.
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And because not renewing your manager’s contract after two straight division wins isn’t wacky enough, the Nats’ off-season just took another turn, as post-game studio analyst Ray Knight picked up an assault charge:
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Ray Knight, professional low life of many years’ pedigree, jumps back into the spotlight (or maybe just a penumbra of the spotlight, because, really, why should we give a s**t?).
Perhaps he felt neglected because Curt Schilling and Pete Rose have so completely usurped his place at the table as most despicable ex-ballplayer.
Or maybe a scorpion just always is a scorpion.
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Chad Curtis and Mel Hall say, “what’s up?”
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In that photo he looks like Donald Trump might look after a couple of rounds of plastic surgery in the witness protection program.
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“Although I’m not entirely sure how much effect a bench coach has day to day, it just feels icky. Why couldn’t they have waited a week to make the announcement?”
Because they’re the Beanbags and have no class whatsoever.
Also Scouts, the Feesh traded A J Ramos to the Mutts before the waiver deadline this past season. That’s a little slashin’ and burnin’ they got out of their system while Scrooge McLoria was still around to enjoy treating his fans like coprolite one last time.
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Reading Comprehension. One of these days I’ll learn it. Until then…
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Yeah. Back in the old days when I was teaching composition to rooms full of football players at the University of Macondo on the 8AM pre-workout shift I used to tell those budding silverbacks that I knew they would rather be out smashing heads than learning to read and write, but that they had the choice of understanding how their language worked or spending the rest of their lives being manipulated by people who had learned how it worked. I think I may have gotten through to a few of them who hadn’t already built up too much concussion-related scar tissue. But I have great faith in you, Scoutster.
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Haha, my problem is simply I’m trying to skim 5-10 different articles and write a post at the same time, all while trying to get done as quickly as possible so I can return to my paying gig. Overall I do pretty well I think, but mistakes will happen. If anyone wants to pay me a living wage, or hire me a full-time proofreader, I’d happily sign on.
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