MLB Managerial Merry-go-round

[z - Gaz]

Loads of changes this off season, who do you think has picked the right guy, who has picked the wrong one. Who is probably going to end up with Brad Ausmus?

Tigers - Got in early and signed on former Twins stalwart Ron Gardenhire. The right man for the coming rebuild?

Red Sox - Courted Ausmus and Gardenhire before settling on Astros bench coach Alex Cora. Comes with an excellent reputation and was interesting a lot of teams. Can he take Boston that step further?

Mets - Apparently the favourites were Mariners 3B coach Manny Acta and in-house option Kevin Long then seemingly out of nowhere they gave it to Mickey Callaway, latterly the Indians pitching coach who worked wonders with their staff. Could he be a great fit with all the arms the Mets produce? The rest of the staff have all left, including much discussed pitching coach Dan Warthen.

Phillies  - Still vacant. Callaway, Acta, Gabe Caplan, Chip Hale and Phil Nevin have all interviewed. Ausmus and Red Sox coach Gary DiSarcina are expected to interview too. They are in no rush it seems.

Nationals - Still vacant. They couldn't decide if they wanted to keep Dusty Baker then decided they actually didn't, then declared their interest in Alex Cora a day after everyone knew he had agreed to be Red Sox skipper. Who could they get?

Thoughts?

[Phillies GM (Ron)]

I like the Mets hiring of Callaway and the BoSox hiring of Cora. Two of the top candidates in my opinion. I'm really kinda shocked the Mets made that move, actually. They've just been bumbling and stumbling along for the last five or six years.

The Nats have a nice team on the field but Werner is a bozo and will impact who is interested in the job.

Think the Gardy hire in Detroit will work out good for them. He's used to young players and teaching them as he did a great job in Minnesota with a constantly over turning roster due to limited payroll ability.

[Deleted]

I totally agree with Phillies in liking the Callaway and Cora hirings. Love both of those moves.

Gardenhire was also a decent hire. Not a flashy move for sure, but its nice to have an experienced manager to take over a team on the verge of a rebuild.

Nats moving on from Dusty was an awful move. He is in my opinion at the very least a top 10, maybe even top 5 manager in the league. You can't blame him for lack of postseason success (after all, the MLB postseason is basically a crapshoot).

Surprised we haven't heard much about Ron Wotus to either the Nats or Phillies as he is usually a top name in discussions, although he may be moving to a front office role with the Giants.

Would love to see Joe McEwing get a job. I also predict Acta gets one of the vacancies.

Definitely one of the more interesting years in this department out of the past few offseasons. Can't wait to see how it all shakes out.

[Marlins GM (Anthony)]

These things are almost impossible to predict but I do like giving new guys a shot. Everything I've heard about A. Cora has been positive so he could see immediate success much like D. Roberts in LA. Then again...both guys stepped in to great situations so who knows.

The Dusty Bakers of the world have had their shot, let some new blood in there. I like it.

[AstrosGM (Matt P)]

Nationals are disaster because of the Lerners meddling where it doesn't belong, and MLB's inability to negotiate the MASN issue properly. Rizzo couldn't bring in his number one choice or number two choice last time solely because of the Lerners. Rizzo wanted Dave Martinez of the Cubs. Lerners said no because no major league experience. Rizzo wanted to bring in Bud Black. Lerners said no because he wanted too much money. Too much money because the Lerners are squeezing every dime they have because they're not getting the proper amount of income from MASN. The Orioles are screwing the Nationals and the MLB by not releasing the proper funding to the Nationals (And it's not like they're fucking spending it either). So they come in with these retarded contracts with backloaded money for Murphy and Wieters and Strasburg and then won't pony up the proper money for a proper manager. So Rizzo had to hire the only manager who had managed before, and would take a pay cut to do so. And then it's Lerners who decided to shitcan Baker. So good luck to Rizzo finding someone else to deal with this level of garbage.

[Pirates GM (Ryan)]

Disappointed Dusty Baker doesn't have a baseball job. Sure he may not be the greatest sabermetric guy but I think baseball loses a big part of itself if he's not managing. Has to be one of the unluckiest managers in baseball history right? Hope he gets one more chance somewhere... Like the Gardenhire hire. Seems like a steady hand that can give you three plus years of non-negative managing. Not sure he's the guy that leads the Tigers to their next World Series but I still like the hire. Cora seems like a great on paper hire. We'll see if he can get through to all that young talent without Dombrowski interfering too much. Don't know a ton about Callaway but he seems like a decent move as well. Sad Chris Bosio will be leaving the Cubs but if they replace him with Hickey I guess I can't complain. Worried the Cubs are a little too bought in on anything related to Maddon being better by default though.

[AstrosGM (Matt P)]

Yankees send the merry go round on another spin. My money for the last three jobs:

Nationals: Dave Martinez
Phillies: Gabe Kapler
Yankees: Robbie Thompson (Total guess, too early to tell)

[Marlins GM (Anthony)]

Wonder how much of Girardi not coming back was actually him wanting to look elsewhere. Maybe the Marlins and teaming back up with Jeter?

I dont think Mattingly is necessarily safe.

[z - Gaz]

Hadn't Cashman been quoted as saying he thought Giradi was "spent"? Maybe the rigours of having to deal with Yankees expectation had finally caught up with him.

I wouldn't have thought he'll be out of work for long.

[AstrosGM (Matt P)]

Most of the things I've read is that:
1. Cashman didn't want to bring Girardi back. Wants a new voice and one more accepting of analytics. Girardi originally wasn't sure about coming back (burned out) but the postseason run had him rethinking it.
2. Mattingly is not likely not on the list because he's not an analytics guy, and Michael Kay says he came in third after Girardi and Pena the last time around.
3. I do agree that Jeter would be the only one who could talk Girardi into not taking the year off.
4. Kevin Long had a good interview with Mets before they picked Callaway. I thought the Yanks had a better approach at the plate under Long

[Marlins GM (Anthony)]

Girardi had a nice run in NYY. He deserves some of the credit for getting this young team as far as he did, despite the belief they were a year or two away. When NYY got down 2-0 to the Indians and the boo's started pouring in, it felt like that was it for Girardi, even though they wound up coming back winning the series. The expectations now, are sky high going in to to 2018 for this Yankees roster. They're young, there is more still coming and they have a lot of money to play with. I think Joe knows if not now, he'd be on the chopping block again next year. I don't blame him, it it was the case that he wanted out. It was probably mutual.

[Phillies GM (Ron)]

I'm not so sure about Dave Martinez anymore. The more I see Maddon squeeze his roster under pressure in the post season the more hesitant I become re: Martinez since he's been Maddon's Lieutenant since TB.

I've read great things about Kaplan as a player development guy, which to me, means he can teach. That is a match made in heaven with Philly and their young roster if that happens.

Hadn't heard the Robbie Thompson rumors. He was a scrappy player who made the most of his talent on the field. If he can translate that skill to a management level skill and get the best out of his players then I can see him succeeding.