Before the Athletics’ season ended earlier this week, quality control coach Mark Kotsay made it known he’d be interested in managing a major league club in 2020. A few days later, at least one team is showing significant interest in Kotsay. He’s “a strong candidate” for the Bay Area rival Giants, per Jon Heyman of MLB Network.
Based on Heyman’s report, it seems Kotsay will be one of the six to eight external managerial candidates Giants president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi interviews as he seeks a successor to outgoing potential Hall of Famer Bruce Bochy. The Giants have also been linked to former major league outfielder and current Dodgers special assistant Raul Ibanez, who’s believed to be close to the top of Zaidi’s list, Alex Pavlovic of NBC Sports California writes.
Like Ibanez, Kotsay’s an ex-MLB outfielder with no managerial experience. But while Ibanez has no coaching experience in the bigs, the 43-year-old Kotsay has filled multiple roles on staffs since his playing career ended in 2013. Kotsay worked as a hitting coach with the Padres prior to joining the Athletics ahead of the 2016 season. He served as the A’s bench coach that year before eventually shifting to his current role in advance of the ’18 campaign.
Hmm. I mean you can’t actually replace Bochy. And, giants manager is a long term gig, so Z better get it right. As long as it’s not Maddon!
Bochy is overrated just saying.
Passive aggressive twaddle. Just saying.
You’re astonishingly ignorant
They’re all overrated. Talent on the field is what really matters. Anyone can read a spreadsheet and make managerial decisions
I agree
Bochy sucks and always will be over rated.
Hahahahaha, stats say different hater. 3 rings? 2000+ wins, ok dude.
200 plus wins but has more losses than wins.
2000 not 200
Look at the team he had before the Giants, I don’t think there are any managers that have a career winning record when they’ve coached the padres…
Overrated? He is the only reason the Giants won 3 rings….they went into the postseason all 3 of those years as the worst team in the playoffs and were underdogs in each series of each season they won the WS….I can’t stand the Giants and I bash them when ever I can but in this case u are wrong….Bochy is the Belicheck of baseball….
Belichick*
How many losing seasons did belichick have? Not many compared to the loser Bochy has. More losses than wins makes a hall of shame not hall of fame.
Bochy took the Padres to the playoffs and then leaves San Diego to take over the Giants and they win 3 WS….
2 not so great teams that he made better….
Belichick had Bledsoe and Brady and an already decent team behind him….u put Bochy in as manager of the Dodgers and u are looking at 105 wins every season plus at least a couple rings in my opinion….the Giants would have no rings without him….
I hope Raul will manage Seattle someday.
So what do people like Kotsay and Ibanez do to merit such consideration? Do they walk around emitting pearls of wisdom? Do they have charisma? I’m not trying to be snarky, I genuinely want to know? How do they show it?
I don’t know but most people here don’t have any idea on how front offices evaluate talent so trying to figure out how they evaluate who would make a good manager is nearly impossible. They would rather make up ridiculous narratives like collusion instead of admitting they don’t know what they’re talking about.
Just about everyone on here fails to admit that spending doesn’t equal winning particularly when trying to build a bullpen. The rays built their bullpen with a guy they acquired from the Braves for literally a $1 and another guy who played on 8 teams.
Thanks!
The San Francisco Giants job is huge. You earn your stripes by managing a smaller Market team to success.
Specifically these days as a manager you want two things if you’re a forward thinking club:
You want someone who will listen to your analytics people and actually use their advice. Your manager doesnt have to be a hardcore analytics guy but has to be open to that stuff.
You want someone who will relate to the players who can get the most out of them, who will prevent outright mutiny/quitting.
It’s a rock and a hard place gig where you’re tasked with listening to the nerds and implementing what they ask, which sometimes goes against what the players themselves want to do. Old school guys like Boche and Francona essentially get by on reputation (they’ve got the rings), but if you don’t have rings to point to then the best thing you could have going for you is being a recent player.
Basically everyone is looking for an Aaron Boone type instead of looking to recycle Showalter or Terry Collins or Jon Gibbons. Ibanez, Sam Fuld, Kotsay, David Ross and Carlos Beltran are all getting consideration for these reasons.
Everyone is missing the point why they might go for a Kotsay. The Giants are in a rebuild mode. Please do not say they can contend next year because everything must go 100% right to contend. Kotsay has been on teams that gone through rebuilds with young players. Giants will have lots of young players next year. Rebuild with a manger that has played the game and knows about the rebuild process instead going after another recycle of old managers.
Thanks!
Joe Girardi perhaps?
Please no.
Why not?
Have a feeling that Girardi is only interested in one job and he has a good shot at getting that job.
And he will get that job in New York… if he wants it. He may pass on it himself but I know the Mets would like to hire him because Madden will not take that job and take himself out of the running.
I really don’t care who gets hired as long as it’s not Girardi or Maddon
Girardi and Maddon both probably want to stay away from that steep of a rebuild regardless. From a success stand point SF might be the worst destination in the league. Gutted farm, poor contracts, and aging vets oh my!
Apparently you don’t keep up with prospects and kind of talk out of the side of your neck. That was the narrative earlier in the year but the giants moved up to around the 15th rated farm system. With 4 ball players in the top 100.
The guy who just retired calls managing in SF the best job in the majors. Great ownership, easy media market, high budget, great place to live and a smart front office that’s committed to player development. Throw in a beautiful stadium that’s full almost every day when they’re competitive and it’s a dream job.
Oh my?
I just wrote this on another board:
Sure the Giants are mediocre today. However, to say they are not rebuilding is foolish. They just aren’t dropping everyone and going for 100 losses like the Padres did. In one season their minor league ranking went from last to middle-of-the-pack and they didn’t trade any of their prospects for veterans. Heck, they even got 3rd place, which is a lot better than the cellar the Padres are perpetually in.
The Giants farm is now ranked 15, with four players in the top 100. Bart, Helios, Luciano and Bishop are all projected starters, probably all-stars. Bart and Helios might just get to the majors next season. They also were gifted Mauricio Dubon, who looks like he’s going to be an anchor at 2nd and SS for the next half-decade.
After next season hey will have $91 million in payroll for 2021. With any luck, Belt will be traded for a dozen doughnuts and that’s another $16 million off. This is one of the richest teams in the league and loves to spend money.
Zaidi is a smart guy. He sees 2021 as the season the Giants come back. Right now he’s building up the farm and filling in spots quite well. Heck, I saw this season as a huge success and am excited for next year.
Jekporkins – agree on every count!
You wouldn’t want two great managers? Ok enjoy the basement of the NL West
Still better than the Padres
Gabe Kapler and Zaidi can reunite ‘cause it feels s”good.
“Feels so good.” Lord I wish I could type.
I kind of like the other one!
It’s as if dr. John or Tom Waits said it
Hahaha!
You can safely remove the word “potential” ahead of hall of fame.
7 of the 8 current playoff managers are in their first managerial position. Maddon couldn’t win the last few years with the talented Cubs and Girardi somehow ticked off Cashman. We will have a first time manager. I’m betting on Ibanez or Meulens.
What about Matt Williams? He was a great slugger for the giants. Won manager of the year for the Nats and then got canned.
Because it ended badly in DC.
Farhan is going to hire someone that’s not on anyone’s radar.
Probably true. I’m old enough to remember when the Padres hired Bochy and everyone said, “Who’s he?”
Right. He knows who he wants .This has been planned for months, as he knew Bochy was leaving since the day he started.. He didn’t have to fire a manager because they didn’t make the playoffs, like so many of these other teams.
This whole “doing interviews with A, B, and C’ is just to appease the media. It’s probably Ibanez. If he doesn’t get Ibanez, he has a plan B.
“Quality control coach?” What does a Quality Control Coach do?
He makes sure the food in the clubhouse is at the proper temperature. LOL. I have no idea
Lol
Why is there so much negativity surrounding the likes of Girardi and Maddon? Girardi had one losing season out of 11. Maddon helped build what the Rays continue to do to be successful in that awful market and ended 108 years without a title for the Cubs. Those are pretty good resumes.
He makes sure the food in the clubhouse is at the proper temperature. LOL. I have no idea
They will both end up with manager positions for 2020.
“Why is there so much negativity surrounding the likes of Girardi and Maddon?”
Because they are old hat.
A lot of the negativity is coming from fans whose teams are rebuilding, and they are pining for a change instead of business as usual. Maddon and Girardi have lost some of their gilt having been fired from good teams that felt (rightly or wrongly) that these guys were no longer suited to take the helm.
3 out of 15…..
Of all the managerial vacancies, one the least appealing to candidates is arguably the Giants job.
This is a franchise in the middle of a massive rebuild. Subsequently, they are going to lose a lot of games in the next 3-4 years. That’s a risky proposition. Especially for an established manager..
New York, San Diego, Chicago and possibly Anaheim are better gigs
How about Jason Giambi?
Yeah, yeah, Bochy is overrated. But how many managers can say they won 3 WS? Many teams seem to have unlimited spending money yet are fortunate enough to either only won one or just made the playoffs.
Kotsay looks extremely high in the photo that goes with the pic
Anyone know anything about the Dodgers bench coach who has also been mentioned??