The White Sox's unexpected hiring of former third baseman Robin Ventura is Thursday's hot news item regarding managers, but here are a few other nuggets of note:
- The Red Sox now have the managerial market to themselves with the White Sox filling their vacancy, tweets Sean McAdam of CSNNE.com.
- Indians bench coach Sandy Alomar Jr. must be the favorite, among the candidates we know, to become next Red Sox manager, McAdam adds in a separate tweet.
- Alomar says he never heard from the White Sox about their opening and he's excited to be the Tribe's bench coach, tweets Paul Hoynes of the Cleveland Plain-Dealer.
- Similarly, the White Sox did not contact Francona, who was a minor league manager in their system in the early 1990s, a source tells Rob Bradford of WEEI.com. All of the 30 Major League teams currently have managers, as Gordon Edes of ESPNBoston.com notes, so there will have to be turnover for Francona to be a skipper in 2012. That is still possible, though, as the Cubs, Astros and Orioles could be in the market, pending front-office changes, and the Cardinals may have to commence a search if Tony La Russa retires or moves on after the postseason.
- The good news for the Red Sox, tweets Jon Heyman of SI.com, is that Rays bench coach Dave Martinez and Alomar are still available.
