In his latest piece for the Boston Globe, Nick Cafardo speculates on possible frontrunners for all the managerial positions that could open up this offseason. Bobby Valentine, Fredi Gonzalez, Dave Martinez, Tim Wallach, and Brian Butterfield are among the options Cafardo suggests for various teams. Here are the rest of the highlights from Cafardo's column:
- The Diamondbacks placed potential trade candidates Adam LaRoche and Kelly Johnson on waivers on Friday.
- One National League GM on August trades: "You’re going to see a lot of deals in the third and final week. A lot of teams are still in the mode that they’re in the hunt and they don’t want to sell off. The races are tighter this year, so most of the activity will come later rather than sooner."
- The Red Sox and Victor Martinez's representation have had "preliminary talks" regarding an extension. Cafardo feels that Martinez could land a contract worth approximately $60MM for four years, and he's not sure if the Sox would pay that much to keep V-Mart's bat around.
- An American League GM tells Cafardo that he was on the fence about Jeremy Guthrie before the trade deadline and regrets not pursuing the O's right-hander more aggressively: "I think he’s a pitcher who could have helped a lot of teams if you’d taken that leap."
- Cafardo hears from a Blue Jays source that the team has "about 200 people" on their list of managerial candidates. Whether or not that's an exaggeration, the Jays are clearly casting a very wide net in their search for Cito Gaston's replacement.
