We’ve seen ample managerial turnover this season, with eight clubs looking to replace their dugout leaders. We’ll check in on some news on that front as we await tonight’s Game 2 of the ALCS:
- Joel Sherman of the New York Post examines the status of Joe Girardi, who seems likely to find a managerial job two years after concluding a successful decade-long run with the Yankees. He has already interviewed with the Mets and Cubs and is reportedly near the top of the Phillies’ wish list as well. Sherman’s report only adds to Girardi’s odds of getting a job somewhere, as the reporter has “a sense…someone will have to decisively win the interview process for the Mets’ first choice not to be Girardi.” Girardi to Queens is hardly a foregone conclusion; it’s possible another candidate will indeed turn Mets’ executives’ heads, and Girardi himself could find Philadelphia a more desirable opportunity, Sherman explains, especially in light of his “strong relationship” with Phillies’ team president Andy MacPhail.
- More from Sherman, who predicts the league will see increased front office turnover at this time next year in a separate piece. As he points out, the eight departing managers (five of whom were fired, while a sixth didn’t have his expiring contract renewed) dwarf the one outgoing baseball operations head, Dave Dombrowski, who was fired as Red Sox’s president of baseball operations last month. Sherman hears from one team executive who predicts a “GM purge” in twelve months time. It’s impossible to know for certain which front office people could find themselves on the hot seat so far out. (Imagine someone telling you last November, fresh off Boston’s World Series title, Dombrowski would be the top executive to be let go in 2019). Nevertheless, Sherman takes a stab at identifying some potential front offices in flux if things don’t turn around in the coming months.
- Michael Young is on the radar for some teams looking for a manager, tweets MLB Network’s Jon Heyman. The former Rangers’ franchise player is currently a special assistant to Texas GM Jon Daniels, one of handful of notable former players serving in that role. Young, 42, has no managerial experience at any level, although that hasn’t stopped some recently-retired former players from getting a shot to lead a big league club. He has also banked a half-decade of front office work since hanging up the spikes, so there’s reason to believe Young’s familiar with the data that has swept the game in recent years. However, Heyman adds that Young’s friends indicate he’s not certain he wants to pursue a managerial position just yet, so he may be a more interesting candidate to follow in future hiring cycles than in the next few weeks.
I wish a team had hired Girardi before the playoffs started so I didn’t have to hear him on the broadcast.
Turn down the sound
Had someone hired him, it’s still likely he’d perform his playoff stint as is.
Better than Ernie Johnson. Yech.
Interesting you say that. I’ve always liked Joe (even as an O’s fan) but listen to him analyze the game has made me seriously reconsider. Not only is he utterly boring and uninspiring, his analysis is consistently predictable and shallow.
If I were a GM considering him for a job I would listen carefully to how he thinks about the game.
I think he’s solid way better than Smoltz
Smoltz has become an outstanding analyst. Professional, very well prepared (including toward the modern game, and offers up really strong insights from a player’s perspective.
Smoltz sucks.
ChiSoxCity. Outstanding rebuttal. I concur.
Smoltz actually does have some good insights. Problem is he is so bitter about so many things that he quickly becomes insufferable.
Yup, ChiSuxCity showing off that GED education once again.
Not sure the GED was acquired.
I agree with dimitrila’s assessment of Smoltz. His greatest attribute is that he’s more interested in the game than in its myths. And he avoids the tendency to talk about whoever made the last play or got the last base hit as “great.” How many analysts gush about how this or that guy is “going to be a player,” just because he made a recent splash in the field or at the plate? Smoltz eschews all that myth-making, image-creating mush.
Try being a Mets fan and listening to Keith Hernandez sometime…
After 20 years of McCarver, I think Girardi is excellent LOL
Ok ok. I guess arguing about announcers is like arguing about music—boils down simply to preference and tastes.
True, but some music sucks.
Girardi will be the Phillies manager and the Mets will regret it.
CUBS
Yes, then they can start another 108 years without a title. #saynotojoe.
already started… just like 28 other teams
26
Nah I think the Mets actually want Girardi. My bet is that if he signs elsewhere it’s because he doesn’t want to coach the Mets.
Unless they think Beltran is the politically correct move. I wish front offices would look more at historical success than analytical assumptions.
Michael Young as manager? Blah.
Why? Great leader, super smart guy. Seems like a logical choice for some team.
zero experience. Whole slew of guys with experience and success available.
Guys that embrace analytics and clubhouse atmosphere are top priorities these days, regardless of experience.
Stratcrowder. Exactly. You have actual rocket scientists and other geniuses in the analytics departments of these Ml teams.
You need a manager that can get behind the game plan dictated by all the advances in the game that the best teams are using and succeeding with.
Experience many times is a detriment. It brings unwarranted ego, inflexibility and dated strategy to the game.
For example, last year Girardi managed the Yanks, they underperformed the pythag by 9 games. Then he made the unforgivable blunder by not challenging in the ALDS against the Indians and hanging his catcher out to dry.
And Buck Showalter, who abhorred analytics, overperformed the pythag routinely.
Aaron Boone and Craig Counsell both had zero coaching experience at any level and today are arguably top 5–7 managers in the game. Experience is overrated.
Even Brad Ausmus could have managed the Yankee team to 100 wins. They are stacked. Counsell has done a great job… top 5 or 7… I doubt it. Heck, Ned Yost is as good as these guys. Yost at least managed a WS team.
Maddon, Showalter, Girardi, Roberts, Farrell, Washington, Black, Soscia… there are plenty of top managers to choose from, why take on a rookie when you have a playoff caliber team? I can see a young team taking a chance… or someone like the Pirates who won’t spend $ on a manager. But if you are a top team, don’t do like the Tigers and hire Ausmus. The guy was a complete failure. He was given a team of all stars and they ended up with the worst record in baseball.
if he wants to be a manager, he probably would’ve taken the rangers job last year
I think everyone has forgotten why Joe has sat out the last few years! He has been waiting for an opening in Chicago….
It’s a good fit. I think the Mets are to, however. Wherever he lands, he’s going to win.
*too
Good fit with the Cubs. I remember he was the one who made a speech representing the Cubs when Darryl Kile died. I thought when he subsequently became manager of the Marlins his day would come in Chicago as manager.
If you like him so much, tell the Tigers to hire him. A lot of Cubs fans DON’T want him.
Pretty much it’s only you. Not sure you are really a fan of any team though. More just a troll with no life.
Every thing you read about Michael Young is that he’s Buck Showalter-smart and Terry Francona in people-relation skills. Add in his FO experience (which these days may very well be essential), he looks like the perfect choice for somebody.
Would love Maddon for the Mets but looks like he’s going to the Angels. Girardi would be my second choice for the Mets But I think he’ll choose the Cubs first ( home town, very good team and owners) then the Phillies (better management/owners willing to spend on better players, built to contend Younger longer than the Mets), then the Mets (dysfunctional owners/ management spends money on cheaper players makes trades for wrong players, team was built to contend this and next year, weaker farm system) I can still hope he chooses the Mets so they’d have a better chance in 2020.
Why does it seem like Dombrowski and BVW are literally the exact same type of GMs? The only difference to me is Dombrowski actually makes good deals instead of any deal he can get.
DD can build winners. BVW is in over his head.
So nobody wants Girardi or Young , nobody wants Maddon or Beltran , now I read Phillies fans don’t want Baker after not wanting Kapler. So who do these teams want to manage the team ? Someone who will magically from the dugout to win 162 then somehow win 11 game’s in October ? I get that when a team fails it’s the manager or coaches who are the ones to be fired , released or not extended . But what fans need to admit is that it’s the PLAYERS who need to be accountable. Yes the manager or front office makes the decision as to go plays and when , but it’s that player who has to execute. After all this player must have did something to be on the team and to get the millions.
Girardi deserves a manager’s job. So does Maddon. Showalter, Farrell and Socia deserve another shot.
If the cubs hire Girardi, it means they’re prepping for a major overhaul the next two offseasons. Bryant will be gone this offseason, followed by Contreras next offseason. Baez and Rizzo will be the only players left from the WS team in 2021.
If any of that nonsense you’re spouting were to happen they’d still finish with a better record than the White Sox.
If Maddon doesn’t get the Angels gig. I hope Girardi does.
Mets job is Girardi’s, as long as they don’t interview Brad Ausmus. He out-interviews all. The intelligence and charm doesn’t transfer to wins, though.
Love Joe G.
I don’t even know if he wants it, but I’d love to see David Wright back in the dug out. How about bench coach and then let him run smaller things like camps, spring training, winter ball, etc.