The Braves hired Fredi Gonzalez and the Mariners chose Eric Wedge, leaving the Marlins, Pirates, Blue Jays, Brewers, Cubs, and Mets with managerial openings. The latest:
Marlins
Bo Porter "has emerged as the frontrunner," heard MLB.com's Joe Frisaro. Frisaro says Porter "has been making inquiries about candidates for his coaching staff." Edwin Rodriguez remains in the mix despite not speaking with the team since the end of the season.
Pirates
John Gibbons is "a serious candidate," says ESPN's Buster Olney. Others linked to the Bucs in the past: Porter, Dale Sveum, Ken Macha, Jeff Banister, Bobby Valentine, and Carlos Tosca.
Blue Jays
Red Sox third base coach Tim Bogar is no longer a candidate, tweets Maureen Mullen. The Jays have been linked to more than a dozen names. One of those, Rick Renteria, was announced as the Padres' new bench coach today.
Brewers
MLB.com's Adam McCalvy profiled eight candidates who have been linked to the Brewers. Bob Melvin is the favorite, in the opinion of a few baseball writers.
White Sox bench coach Joey Cora will interview for the job on Tuesday, writes Mark Gonzales of the Chicago Tribune. Updated at 4:11pm.
Nothing new on the Cubs, and it's too early for the Mets, but we'll keep you posted on all manager rumors here.
What’s the scoop on gibbons, and how does he compare with wedge?
No clue about Wedge but as a Jays fan I can say Gibbons was HORRIBLE. I’ll never forget how happy I was when I heard he had been dumped and replaced by Cito.
Why John Gibbons? He was a jerk in Toronto. Why create an uncomfortable enviroment for your players?
I personally want Dale Sveum, or Ken Macha, because I want to improve our avg. with Runners in Scoring Position. Plus, we need someone who IS familiar with the NL central b/c lately, the Pirates have been batting practice fodder for the rest of the NL central, minus the Cubs (9-3 against them this year).
I agree that Gibbons would be the wrong choice for the Pirates. However, I would rather see the Pirates bring in Tony Pena than Sveum & Macha.
Gibbons wasn’t a jerk, nor was he horrible. His bullpen management was excellent and Mike Wilner, the Jays radio guy, said that Gibbons was the 2nd best manager the Jays have ever had. I agree with him.
Whatever happened to Ted Simmons being a serious candidate for a bunch of positions? It seems like he jumped the gun by leaving the Pads….it doesn’t look like he’s a finalist for anything as of yet.