Marlins right-hander Heath Bell told Jim Duquette and Mike Ferrin on MLB Network Radio that he made a poor choice of words yesterday when he implied he doesn't respect Miami manager Ozzie Guillen. Bell said he does respect Guillen, but repeated that he doesn't like hearing things through the media. Here are some more notes on managers and managerial openings from around MLB…
- The Rockies and Jim Tracy could agree to a role change for Tracy within the organization, leaving the team free to hire a new manager, opines Troy Renck of the Denver Post. Tracy's "handshake deal" with Colorado only guarantees him the manager's job through 2013, Renck notes.
- The White Sox and Cardinals' decisions to hire inexperienced managers Mike Matheny and Robin Ventura has thus far paid off for both teams, writes Jeff Gordon of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
- Astros owner Jim Crane says his team has narrowed its search for a manager down to three or four candidates and they hope to have their new field boss in place within a week, reports MLB.com's Brian McTaggart. An announcement could come later than that if the new manager is currently working for a team going to the playoffs. Tony DeFrancesco, Tim Bogar, Dave Martinez and Bo Porter appear to be the final field of candidates.
- While Brad Ausmus is open to interviewing for managerial positions this offseason, he has withdrawn his name from consideration for the Astros’ position, Jon Paul Morosi of FOX Sports reports (on Twitter). Ausmus, now a special assistant with the Padres, had interviewed for Houston’s managerial opening.
- Nothing has been decided regarding the future of Indians manager Manny Acta because the organization must first decide on the future of general manager Chris Antonetti, Paul Hoynes of the Cleveland Plain Dealer reports. CEO Paul Dolan and President Mark Shapiro are expected to decide on the future of Antonetti, Hoynes writes.
MLBTR's Mark Polishuk also contributed to this post
I guess Heath was hungry, so he chose to eat his words…
…with a grain of salt, no doubt.
And where does Heath Bell go to express his displeasure about Ozzie Guillen communicating to players through the media?
“Oh, hi Kettle! You’re black!”
Two words for you, Dolan and Shapiro: fire Antonetti. And yourselves, while you’re at it.
For the love of God YES. But I doubt Antonetti will be fired, he’s Shapiro’s handpicked successor and he actually makes Shapiro look like less of a failure as GM
dont blame antonetti blame the guy who wont put out the money to go get guys that can help this team.dolan got to go
I did blame Dolan…But he’s not the one who made horrible trades and drafted stiffs either. It’s a top-to-bottom affair in Cleveland.
It’s not Dolan not spending money as much as how Antonetti spends it. They could have had Willingham for the cost of Sizemore, Duncan and Damon, and that’s just one example. Give Antonetti the Yankees payroll and the Indians still wouldn’t be better than .500. If you think Antonetti isn’t the number one problem I challenge you to name one thing he’s done that has improved the team in any way.
It’s incredibly ironic that Bell chose go to the media behind Ozzie’s back to gripe about Ozzie going behind guys backs to the media.
I think he said something along the lines of, “It’s not my style to go behind your back to the media, if I have a problem, I’ll tell you to your face.”
Uh….yeah….nicely done, Heath….
The White Sox and Cardinals choices of manager have indeed worked out but the same cannot be said for the Cubs and their “yes” man on the bench, Dale Sveum. I am glad that he, Sveum, didn’t the Red Sox job, as Ben Cherington wished. Thanks Larry.
Speaking of Cleveland … how about a swap of Boston’s Alfredo Aceves for Chris Perez, straight up?
that wouldnt help the tribe at all
Or Boston. Their bullpen is alright, once Bailey is healthy. Or alright enough not to need a closer at any rate.
An “allright” bullpen is not good enough. The Yankees paid Mariano Rivera $15M to be their closer but went out and signed Soriano @ $12M/3 as a back up, in case. A very wise decision so it turns out. Bailey is healthy today but that doesn’t guarantee he will be healthy for all of 2013. In fact, chances are he will spend some time on the DL next year if his history is any indicator. Perez can set up Bailey and close if and when circumstances call for it.. Perez wants out of Cleveland and Aceves wants out of Boston….. a match made in heaven IMHO.
I have no doubt Perez will be out of Cleveland but they don’t need another closer, Pestano can close. They desperately need starters and hitters so trading one closer for another is just the kind of move Antonetti will make
Aceves is not a closer. He functions best as a 2-3 inning middle reliever and sometimes starter. I didn’t mean to imply that a swap would be a closer for closer deal…. If a deal were consummated, I would envision Perez being an 8th inning set up guy, sometimes closer, and, generally, insurance against Bailey getting re-injured.