Buck Showalter wants to keep managing, and is trying to get an interview with the Angels about their dugout vacancy, the New York Post’s Mike Puma reports (via X). It isn’t known if there is any mutual interest on the Halos’ side, though one would imagine the club would be open to at least having a chat with a veteran skipper with such a long and distinguished track record. Showalter’s managerial career has been marked by his ability to turn around struggling teams, which would seemingly have particular appeal to a Los Angeles club that has suffered through eight straight losing seasons. The position opened up earlier this week when the Angels officially parted ways with Phil Nevin — by coincidence, a former player of Showalter’s on the 2005-06 Rangers.
Showalter might have an extra edge if the Angels have trouble finding other top-tier candidates. “The job isn’t deemed attractive within the industry because GM Perry Minasian is entering the final year of his contract,” Puma writes, meaning that if a new general manager is hired next offseason, the incoming boss might want to make their own hire in the manager’s chair. However, there is also a significant connection between Showalter and Minasian, who worked for the Rangers from 2003-2009 as a scout and as Showalter’s staff assistant when skipper was managing in Texas.
More from around the American League….
- Red Sox president/CEO Sam Kennedy discussed several topics during an appearance on the Fenway Rundown podcast with MassLive.com’s Chris Cotillo and Sean McAdam, including the team’s reneweed emphasis on trying to sign younger, pre-arbitration players to contract extensions. Brayan Bello, Wilyer Abreu, Jarren Duran, and Triston Casas were specifically mentioned by Kennedy as the types of young players the Sox would like to lock up, though the CEO naturally didn’t provide details on whether or not the club had already broached the topic of extensions with any of the quartet. Chaim Bloom’s four-year tenure in charge of Boston’s front office didn’t see many extensions in general, with the notable exceptions of Rafael Devers’ mega-deal and one of those aforementioned pre-arb pacts with Garrett Whitlock. Cotillo also reports that Bloom tried to sign an unnamed Sox top prospect to an extension before the player had even started his Major League career.
- The Royals plan to retain their coaching staff for 2024, general manager J.J. Picollo told MLB.com’s Anne Rogers and other reporters, though a couple of new faces could be added in new roles on an expanded staff. Though the Royals struggled through a miserable 106-loss season, they already underwent a significant coaching overhaul last winter after new manager Matt Quatraro was hired. K.C. apparently doesn’t want to make more changes just yet, though there could be some turnover if any coaches are approached for promotions on other teams.
Just say NO Angels. Why would anyone want that job with Arte still the owner?
Hey do you want 2 million dollars? There’s 29 other jobs out there also.
Because everyone wants to be with the hot sexy blond, even thou she’s dumb as a box of rocks.
…and she doesn’t know how to put together a winning baseball team.
Angels should say no, but nobody wants the job? I’m confused
Cook, because a wise man would not turn down a job when there’s only 30 like them in the world, if it’s his passion, and believe it is, or he still wouldn’t be doing it at his age. The Angels and the O.C. has always been a top 10 job, you might call it 20 now, but it will be back soon enough. Even the Yankees under the great “George” suffered for 10 years.
So.., just say “no” to the angels? Or just say no, angels?
Gary – I’m with ya. They rushed to get first post, and typed a completely illogical sentence in doing so.
FWIW – I think he forgot to write “to the”.
Even before George, the Yankees went nearly dormant for a 30 year period from 1966-1995, while popping their heads out of the ground in the late 70’s and in 1981. That’s something I try to explain to Angels fans because it’s hard for the average fan to wrap their heads around 8 straight losing seasons with Trout and Ohtani at the center. If it can happen to the Yankees, it can happen to any sports franchise. From ‘02-‘09, almost everything fell into the Angels’ lap and almost everything went right. There has to be an opposite to that, which the Angels just happen to be going through after that run. But all they’ve needed is starting pitching.
Can you say desperation. If you actually WANT a job with Arte after 2023 and all that has come out about the Angels you are seriously not qualified.
Or maybe you just like a challenge.
Have you taken a look at the Angels? Read some of the articles about them? As a long time Angel’s fan I can tell you for sure that the only challenge will be staying ahead of the A’s for last place.
Given his age, Buck realizes it’s likely now or never. I’d love him in Boston. Despite winning in 18 and going to the AL Championship round in 21, I have little trust in Cora and still think there could have been a little “Houston magic” involved in 18. My thinking is Buck would be the perfect manager to groom Tek.
Why not give Varitek the bench coach spot and move Ramon Vazquez who seems pretty versatile?
Tek has too much integrity to work in the dugout with Cora
Absolutely not to Buck in Boston
Overpay? Not sure about that. And absolutely not to have Buck
Cora has no knowledge of how to construct a batting order or how to handle a pitching staff. He’s practically admitted the latter when he overworked a few of his bullpen guys. Cora would probably be a very good bench coach or third base coach. Not a manager or GM. I would much rather see Varitek or even Lloyd McClendon take the helm.
Tek has been a coach on the Red Sox working with Cora.
Or maybe you just like a challenge.
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That’s the first thing I thought of. There are people out there, me included, that think they can fix anything (in their given profession). I was open to switching positions for jobs way worse than mine, only because I could succeed where everyone else failed. It could be delusional, but ego is a huge force.
Red Sox ownership has a lot of trust to build with fans, prospective free agents and prospective management types.
Wouldn’t Milwaukee be a far more attractive landing spot for Buck than the Halos?
Well run organization that’s going to go through some changes and a well regarded manager that is known for having a steady hand seems like a logical marriage to me. Especially since Seidler isn’t going to let AJ blame his effups on the manager this time. Not even if it’s another chance to get Manny HIS guy
Counsell hasn’t left and i don’t expect him to, unless they are stupid enough not to renew him.
Counsell isn’t managing in 2024. He’s taking a year or 2 off for family reasons. that being said the brewers will be looking for a new manager.. showalter would be perfect
Counsell said the right things then or even meant them but times and people change. He will be in NY and Showalter will be a great choice in beerland.
I don’t know how u say he’s better or worse for any team. There’s only 30 of these jobs in America. If he wants to do it still, he’s highly qualified to do it for anyone.
That said, he probably doesn’t want to go to a rebuild. He’s not getting any younger. But to think the budget costing Brewers, are any closer to winning than the Angels, is preposterous.
I operating under the assumption that Buck wants to keep managing. A rebuild probably isn’t his ideal choice, but the Pobres gig isn’t coming open & he just left the Mets. That leaves the Brewers, Guards & Halos. The Guardians is the most desirable of those three jobs. Milwaukee isn’t very far behind, but Anaheim?!!?
The Tigers, Royals, Pirates & Rockies all look like model MLB franchises when compared to the Halos. The only thing the Angels have been successful at is hoodwinking their pitiful fan base into actually believing the Halos ‘just need a few more arms’
How come former Red Sox Manager Kevin Kennedy never managed again? I thought he did a good job with them.
I wouldn’t be surprised to see his name come up in the nexf few months. Also, I pretty sure Alex Avila is going to be another guy getting some interviews. This is a pretty good year to be looking for a new skipper.
A long time away from the dugout (more so than Buck). If an older person is chosen, Buck seems the best fit as previously suggested. Will he want to manage in Milwaukee or does he prefer the coast? I’m not trying to big negative of the Midwest (Milwaukee is though not Chicago) but NY and LA are major markets. He might limit his next option if he gets one.
I think showalter is a near lock for the Angels, he’s a Perry guy, it just makes sense in every way.
No need to go deep into, unless u know a bit of the history. As a fan, I’m good with it. He has baseball players respect, and won’t be stupid with lineups and RP calls.
A Framingham cop I one knew told me that Kevin Kennedy had a predilection for meeting hookers in motels. And that he was inclined to favor young ones, like dangerously borderline- 18- and 19-year-old women.
Imo Buck would be an excellent choice for the Angels provided he asks the hitters to have more patient ABs. I would like to see Angels hitters work the count by looking for a particular type of pitch or one in a certain area while ahead in the count. More situational hitting, passing the baton and driving up opposing pitchers pitch counts. I’m tired of watching an Angels hitter walk on four pitches and the next hitter swings at a slider a foot off the plate. Frequently, opposing pitchers did not have to throw the ball in the strike zone to SO Angels hitters last year.
Buck wants to leave one meddling owner driven s*** show for another? If that’s the case try Cleveland, at least they have good young players and an actual chance at the postseason
I don’t know the Guardians staff but they seem like an organization that will promote from within. They might even have already discussed with TF on his replacement.
You’re probably right. If you’re Buck i just don’t understand wanting to go from one horrendous situation to another
Just say no, Buck. Not the way to end your career.
I sure hope Buck can handle the tough Orange County media market coming from soft New York. Rendon and the front office get all out of sorts with the Angels’ half dozen beat writers esp 1 guy from the Athletic.
It sure is great to see Kennedy is still putting his foot in his mouth.
Why is an owner without a GM talking about what is going to be done? He’s a fool.
2030 is when the guys he mentioned become free agents. I think we have some time before another Devers mistake is made.
My bad I gave Kennedy a promotion from CEO. He’s not an owner but he sounds as uninformed as an owner. His poorly thought through comments aren’t far from Cora’s except he enunciates!!
Why do they keep covering interviews by Dumb and Dumber?
Do your job Kennedy!!! Pretend you are important while accomplishing nothing!!
Wait…. he has the same job as Cora!!!! hahaha
No, you didn’t.
Kennedy has a partnership interest in FSG and is thus a part owner.
Devers will be costly due to the length and AAV but it was not a mistake. While they may not have lost corporate season ticket sales, the team was on the verge of being irrelevant before 23 started which would have likely led to immediate attendance, marketing and NESN rating losses. That’s the main reason why 24 seems to be different. Only this ownership could risk losing such a big fanbase. The Yankees? They still spent and with the Mets now competition, will become more competitive on and off the field. They may have a short term on field decline but it won’t be because of not trying to compete. Say what you want about Bloom but he had orders to follow and was mainly a scapegoat (part of the job description).
Dewey – Bloom was an inept, under qualified crappy GM. The only real owner-based move was Mookie. The rest were his mistakes. Nobody told him to tear down the franchise, he did that on his own because he had a poorly thought through vision of how to be build from the ground up. That vision was meaningless since he was starting with a championship team. Only a moron would tear down a championship team in their prime.
The deal with Devers is worse than Cherrington’s deals because it’s far longer, with a lesser talent and for more money..
Devers had huge numbers thanks to Mookie, Benny, JD, and Bogey. They protected him beginning in 2017 and gave him the opportunity to thrive as a young player. The Dumpster Diver got rid of all that made Devers good and by doing so his OPS= plummeted in 2024. He’s not worth the $25MM they should have paid him for 5 years. His numbers in 2024 justify his $17.5MM salary in 2023. In 2024 he must put up at least 140 and that’s only if he quits hurting the pitching staff by playing defense.
BLOOM is COMPLETELY TO BLAME for everything after MOOKIE.
You have no evidence that shows the internal workings varied completely from all other Ownership / GM roles in baseball. The job of the GM is to present deals and seldom are deals dictated to the GM. That’s a fact of life when it comes to GM jobs. Otherwise, there would be no reason to take a job because you aren’t proving your worth. You might as well be standing there asking if the owners want fries with their burger.
You’ve been a Bloom apologist since the beginning and you’ve been wrong since the beginning. Bloom may have taken the job under the condition he dump Mookie and Price but after than he had limitless money and absolutely no idea of what to do with it except tear down a great franchise and try to make it look like a franchise that has as many rings as you and I do. He sucked at his job because he wasn’t qualified to do it. He wasn’t the brains in TB, those guys are still there making the great trades to help an under funded franchise pretend they are competitive. TB can’t win the World Series because they don’t have star players. They temporarily get good players for a few years until they become too expensive to keep and then they rotate the tires and the new young guys keep them looking competitive but only over 162 games. They have no chance in the playoffs because their talent level isn’t great enough to be teams with star players like Seager and Semien or Montgomery and Eovaldi. They have a revolving door concept that works because they are poor but it should NEVER be used as a big market strategy and yet Bloom tried because he had no clue as to how things work to win a ring since TB has never done it.
If and when that day comes… and Cora is let go… the job isn’t offered to Tek I believe he does something else… on the flip side could he possibly not want it seeing how things are run??? Thoughts on this Nation…. I’ll hang up and listen….
@Olm. Tek has already stated that he is not interested in being the manager. There are a couple of reasons.
1- He is a big believer in, ‘Know your role and place’. He isn’t the type to stab a manager in the back to get his gig, it isn’t in his character.
2- He is on track to take the Bill Mueller FO executive path. Someday Tek will have some stake in FSG. I expect that if Kennedy is ever removed, Tek will be first choice to replace him.
3- His legacy is in place. The Captain of the idiots. 2 rings. His star can not shine any brighter than it does now. One under-perporming season as manager, and that is GONE FOR EVAH. Just ask Dewey or Rice.
It may be that Tek looks at the mess that the FO has become and wants no part of it as a manager.
But as an executive, he will have the voice and support of both fans a owner to shape things for the better.
If there is one person in the organization that Cora will not tangle with, it is Tek. Luckily for Cora, Tek he would never go to Henry to say Cora needs to go. Unlike Cora, Tek knows his role and his place.
Dbh… very insightful and informative… totally agree with the whole one bad year and legacy is gone… means to much to organization so upper office sounds good to me… hope you nail it
There’s no less than Thirty-Two partners in FSG. Of those, Henry retains about 40% ownership, followed by Werner, and Redbird Capital whose 3rd largest block resulted from a $750m buy-in to put things in perspective.
There’s a lot of fingers in those pies, and, that leaves a lot of motivations in play when it comes to creating one single set of marching orders on handling the team.
I think the days are gone where winning, with a nice side of profits, were the marching orders. Now, it’s maximize profits while remaining competitive enough that you wait and see if some magic happens.
GASox – I’ve said all along, first and foremost Henry is a businessman. Years ago the revenue stream was mostly from ticket sales, merchandising, etc.
Now? Ticket sales aren’t as important, not when you’re making $170M to have a patch on the uniforms.
And when the development around Fenway is complete, John Henry will be like Biff Tannen in Back To The Future II.
BTW – 2029 is when the development is expected to be complete, then the All-Star Game will return.
@@GA, sadly I believe you are correct about FSGs motivations these days. Guess the glory days are gone. Fenway is just a big ATM now
What’s the managers chair??
I’m also looking for an MLB head coaching job. I’m a player-coach for our beer league so I’m qualified for the position.
I would like to have Buck at the helm. But like Maddon, he’s not going to be a Moreno “yes-man”. He’s going to want to manage his team. Moreno doesn’t know how to allow that which is why I believe Moreno will hire a young/new manager he can push around. I hope I’m wrong and we can land him sooner rather than later so we are ready for the off season.
including the team’s reneweed emphasis on trying to sign younger, pre-arbitration players to contract extensions.
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The dude’s been at the job for a while. If he wants this to happen, all he has to do is okay it.
The Royals organization is an absolute dumpster fire! They’ve drafted poorly, their player development is a joke, and their owner is a clown. On the bright side, only 22 years (2045) to their next World Series title.
OMG! You all MUST read Shaughnessy’s piece in the Globe today! Freaking priceless. Absolutely torches the Boston FO concerning the search for a new POBO.
Awesome. Absolutely AWESOME!
DBH – Can you copy and paste some of it here? I can’t afford the price of a subscription to the Globe. Haha!
Here you are, FPG.
This Red Sox job comes with some curious conditions, and other thoughts
By Dan Shaughnessy Globe Staff,Updated October 6, 2023, 5:00 a.m.
“SEEKING CHIEF BASEBALL OFFICER FOR ICONIC MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL FRANCHISE
General requirements and duties:
Highly motivated candidate with strong interpersonal skills, collaborative team skills, and ability to deal with ambiguity.
Candidate will report to team’s principal owner, team chairman, and team president/CEO. Candidate will be expected to provide public explanation for team decisions.
Candidate will be encouraged to ensure franchise does not pay luxury-tax penalties and remains under the top 10 MLB player payrolls.
Candidate will answer to team’s major league manager, who will be part of the interview process for this position.
Candidate must work well with others (many “others”). Needs to work with 59 vice presidents, 36 analytics experts, plus numerous assistant general managers and executive vice presidents already in place.
Candidate will be accountable for decisions made by all of the above. Must be prepared to take the blame for everything.
Candidate is discouraged from buying real estate in Greater Boston. This is generally a short-term position.
Sounds like a swell job, no?”
Didn’t realize Buck was only 67. He doesn’t look a day over 75.
Seriously, was thinking the same thing. The dude was like in his 70s when he managed the stands lol
Next Angels manager MDR
Angels already had a seasoned veteran manager who should’ve probably been their manager much earlier. But someone in there watched Moneyball and thought: “If Billy Beane can override his manager and win 20 straight, we can too!” I wouldn’t mind Buck, but it just further shows how much the Angels blew it with Joe Maddon. Again!