A few managerial openings have been filled since baseball's regular season ended, but there are still a handful of clubs looking for skippers. Here's the latest on some of the searches, with any new updates added to the top of the page throughout the evening:
Blue Jays
We know that DeMarlo Hale, John Farrell, Sandy Alomar Jr., and Brian Butterfield are considered finalists for the Blue Jays job. MLB Network's Peter Gammons spoke to multiple GMs who believe that it's only a matter of time until Toronto hires Farrell (Twitter link). Shi Davidi of the Canadian Press (via Twitter) is also hearing that Farrell could be the Jays' man, though nothing is certain yet.
Butterfield could be a leading candidate to become the Orioles' third base coach if he's not hired by the Jays, writes MLB.com's Brittany Ghiroli.
Brewers
The Brewers have interviewed eight candidates so far, and will cut the list of contenders down to four, GM Doug Melvin tells Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
Reports have suggested the team has interviewed Tim Wallach, Ron Roenicke, Pat Listach, Joey Cora, and Bob Melvin, whom Haudricourt thinks is the frontrunner (Twitter link). According to the club's GM, however, "some of the names (reported) are right and some aren't right."
The Brewers will conduct second interviews with the four finalists, and they expect the process to last another week to ten days.
Pirates
The Pirates haven't interviewed any managerial candidates in a week and GM Neal Huntington tells Rob Biertempfel of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review that he's considering additional interviews. Biertempfel suggests the Pirates may be waiting to interview Yankees coach Tony Pena.
Meanwhile, John Gibbons has removed himself from the Pirates' search, according to Bob Dutton of the Kansas City Star (on Twitter). ESPN.com's Buster Olney heard earlier today that the former Blue Jays manager was a serious candidate for the job.
Ben Nicholson-Smith contributed to this post.
John Farrell would be an extrodinary Manager for the Jays. He has been coveted for a while and I could see him as a definite pitchers manager for the Jays. Excited!
I would wait until it’s for sure.
I don’t really see AA as the type of guy that would go around telling GM’s who he is going to hire without actually officially hiring him.
i thik Gammons intention was saying that the 3 people said it would be a great move.
Yeah, that’s how I took it too, other GM’s saying that if those are the finalists, based off what they know, Farrell would be the best pick. But I don’t think it’s crazy to assume that Anthopoulos has a lot more information and different criteria for these guys than those GMs do. We’ll see soon though.
Yeah definetly. Obviously there is a lot of undisclosed info, but all I know is that we Jays fans have a lot to be excited about.
from Boston Globe..Francona’s comments regargind Farrell:
“The only question in front of him isn’t so much when he’ll leave the Red Sox, but what job he’ll take when he does,” Francona told the Boston Herald. “You spend any time around him, he can be good at whatever he wants. Manager, GM, pitching coach, running a minor-league system, you name it. He’s just a special talent.”
C’mon, is anyone going to trust old man Gammons here?
yes. He’s only a hall of famer and a great writer and has great Baseball insight.
You can’t be serious. If it’s about Boston and he heard it in a bar sure. Otherwise, he’s a pretty poor source on what’s going on in Toronto.
I just dont get how Peter saying “Three GMs today insisted John Farrell will get the Toronto job. The final list was the product of exhaustive, thoughtful due diligence ” is being a “pretty poor source on whats going on in Toronto”.
He knows Baseball. Simple as that.
Yeah, so does Tim McCarver. Gammons shoots his mouth off all the time. He doesn’t care if he’s wrong.
That’s your opinion, but its just the way they are..
I wanna “Like” this comment, but for all the wrong reasons.
pardon my young age, but I don’t get it your joke.
gonna suck to see butterfield go
Agree. Surprised that after all the years in Toronto and knowing the organization as well as he does, Butterfield was passed over. Good baseball man.
I heard a great explanation of why butterfield can’t be the big boss
In his time in Toronto, players loved him, he was their big brother not their coach, everyone called him butter, and he had a great relationships with players
to come in to camp next year as the dad and not the big brother is a diff story. Having to change the angle of respect, going from being the guy that the players talked to when they were upset they’re not playing, to the guy actually sitting them down is a drastic change that is best suited to be done in a new place.
It was a good enough reason for me, but sad to see him go for sure.
Yeah I heard that too and unfortunately it’s true.
Wait, so the Jays hired someone? Give me an update please.
On a side note, I have an uneasy feeling about Halladay. He doesent look comfortable at all, and the Phillies look way out of sync and out of it. I think the pressure might be to hard to handle for Roy, which is something I really refuse to believe.
Reports are saying Farell.
It’s really tough to say that considering the sample size and it’s not like he’s shat the bed or anything. Just hasn’t been dominant lights out but give some credit to Giants. They’ve played fantastic while Phillies have sucked. Their bullpen sucks, offense is non-existent. Not much going right for them.
Lol 3-1 now.
Clearly Lincecum can’t handle the pressure.
Really?
Seriously?
Is it that Ryne Sandberg was assumed to get the Cubs job and he hasn’t been added to any list, or do most feel he just isn’t ready? IMHO I believe Ryne would be a good fit in any of these cities.
From what I have heard, it is good news to see Mr. Gibbons off of the list of Pirate candidates. It will be interesting to see who else the Pirates interview, but as it stands now, the favorites are Sveum and Bannister.
I’m glad to hear that Gibbons is out as a candidate to coach the Bucs. Here’s hoping the Bucs wait until the Yankees postseason is over so they can interview Tony Pena. He’d be a great manager for the Pirates.
I’d like to see the Bucs make a run a Pena too now that the Yankees are out. Also, what about Jay Bell, I thought I heard a couple of years back he was interested in getting into managing… Any chance the Bucs give him an interview???
If I’m the Brewers, I hire Ryne Sandberg right now just as a jab in Chicago’s eye.