With Bryan Price set to take the helm in Cincinnati, Jim Leyland leaving Detroit, and Don Mattingly making something of a power play in L.A., today was a busy day on the field staff front. Here are some other notes on managerial situations around the league:
- We can expect a trend moving away from high-profile managerial hirings, says Anthony Castrovince of MLB.com. With both of the current World Series contenders relying on under-the-radar options who had experience in their organizations, other teams may follow suit. (Indeed, the Reds seem to have done just that.)
- He may be a Tigers hero, but Kirk Gibson will remain the Diamondbacks skipper, reports Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic. Both club and manager apparently assured each other that they want to continue the relationship into next year, according to team CEO Derrick Hall, although Hall also acknowledged that the team had declined to exercise options it held to control Gibson through the 2016 season.
- While that takes one possible option away from the Tigers as they look to find a Leyland replacement, the team will take its time assessing a wide field of potential candidates, writes MLB.com's Jason Beck. The team does have internal options with managerial experience in Gene Lamont and Lloyd McClendon — the latter of whom is a more likely target — and Dombrowski says he has no intentions of "chang[ing] the culture" after a nice run of success.
- The Nationals have interviewed the club's third base coach, Trent Jewett, for its opening, reports Adam Kilgore of the Washington Post. He joins bench coach Randy Knorr and outside candidates Matt Williams and Brad Ausmus as options that have had the chance to chat with GM Mike Rizzo. Both Jewett and Knorr are said to have interviewed strongly, Kilgore tweets, but for his money Williams is the odds-on favorite at the moment.
- Meanwhile, Kilgore further reports, Cal RIpken is not looking like a realistic possibility to take over in D.C. Kilgore also explores whether the opening in Detroit might impact the Nats' plans, concluding that it likely will not.
