The Giants interviewed Royals third base coach Vance Wilson as part of their managerial search earlier this month, reports Anne Rogers of MLB.com. Wilson is also a candidate to interview for the Twins’ position, Rogers adds.
The 52-year-old has worked as K.C.’s third base coach for the past six seasons. He’d spent the preceding two years as bullpen coach, giving him eight seasons on an MLB staff. Wilson has worked under each of Ned Yost, Mike Matheny and Matt Quatraro.
The Royals interviewed him during the hiring cycles that resulted in the Matheny and Quatraro hirings. While Wilson didn’t get the top job on either case, Kansas City has valued him enough to keep him on staff through multiple managers.
Wilson has never managed in the major leagues, but he has seven seasons of managerial experience in the K.C. farm system. He played parts of eight MLB seasons as a backup catcher with the Mets and Tigers. He’s one of a few former catchers on the radar for the Giants. Nick Hundley and Kurt Suzuki have also interviewed, with Hundley reportedly viewed as a favorite. Minnesota is known to have spoken with Nick Punto, Derek Shelton, James Rowson and Ramón Vázquez as part of their search to replace Rocco Baldelli.
Obviously Posey is doing his due diligence & not rushing into a decision
Has DeRosa or Molina been interviewed yet?
I think Mark DeRosa would be a good choice.
I get the interest in Molina, but not so much DeRosa.
Wow! had no idea he was still in baseball. I remember Vance with the Mets years ago. Good for him.
Glad to see he is continuing to interview ex backup catchers. They have a distinct advantage over everyone else and the track record of success is undeniable. There are multiple options that will make sense and Buster will find the right one. He needs to find a few good starting pitchers and a closer after that.
There is zero evidence that former catchers have any kind of advantage over other managers. The one study I know of found that former catchers had a lower winning % as manager than every other position group (sabr.org/journal/article/playing-background-of-maj…). Maybe hiring someone who has been concussed repeatedly for decades isn’t wise.
That’s just one study, though.
Do you know if any others or are you just trying to confirm your own biases?
Whenever I go out,the people always shout!
I said ex backup catchers not former catchers and there is a difference. Former starting catchers aren’t bad options either but don’t have the distinct advantage of a backup which is what Buster is looking for. A backup catcher spends most of his career bouncing around between teams playing 1-2 games a week while spending the rest of the games getting a front row seat to watch the teams manager work. Other players might be in the dugout frequently as backups but nobody else has the level of intimate knowledge of the pitching staff and the gameplan and watches as it unfold in front of them like a back up catcher. I don’t have to look up any articles that someone else wrote to know this its just common sense for someone who actually has played this sport before not just commented about it on a blog!
Your first paragraph is especially funny.
Firing Bob Melvin after picking up his option and then blaming him for your decision to sell his bullpen at the deadline was a major F up.
Don’t F it up again by hiring one of your best buddies with no experience.
Bruce Bochy had back to back LOSING seasons before winning the WS with the Giants. Bob Melvin attracted Snell and Chapman and then you fire him because you want someone who is “obsessive” ?
This has been one of the constants of Posey’s administration so far, hiring his cronies to fill positions like his agent Jeff Berry. And hiring buddies of buddies even for his team, like the useless Andrew Knizner who was buddies with Berry.
Saying Melvin was fired because the Giants didn’t win, is reductive. The reason he was fired was due to the wild inconsistency of the team. 52-45 in the first half of the season, 29-36 in the second. Also:
6/4 – 6/13 they go 8-1
6/14 – 7/1 they go 4-12
7/2 – 7/11 they go 7-2
7/12 – 7/30 they go 2-12
That 2-12 record in July had everything to do with Posey selling at the deadline. But even after the deadline they were still wildly inconsistent.
8/1 – 8/12 they go 5-2
8/9 – 8/22 they go 2-11
8/23 – 9/5 they go 11-1
9/6 – 9/23 they go 5-12
then win the last 4 of the season.
Every team will have some winning and losing streaks, but not one after the other for most of the season. They’re not super talented at every position, but do have a solid core and they underperformed. That’s on the manager.
“Considering the 2-12 record in July happened BEFORE the deadline, that’s literally impossible.”
How so? When a team loses 12 of 14 games PRIOR to the deadline, a PBO is fully justified by selling at the deadline, which was the following day, after loss number 12 of that streak. It is possible since that’s what literally happened.
Well, you’re not the first guy to misread something. I know I have.
Not a good sign for Giants fans when they are interviewing people who have been with the Royals for 15 years and were hired by Dayton Moore.
Oh I don’t know. The Royals have a World Series win and a World Series loss in the last 15 years which is a lot better than many teams.
Was actually one of my favorite players growing up, good for him.
DeRosa needs to return the money he stole from the Giants when Sabean signed him as a free agent. One of his worst signings and that is a long list to say the least.
I’ll take Kapler again before DeRosa. Or Alou. Even Alvin Dark, Roger Craig back from their graves.
We shouldn’t dismiss the concept of a manager from ‘beyond the grave’ until it’s been tried and proven unsuccessful. Isn’t baseball all about analytics?
DeRosa’s nickname was “Oatmeal wrist” during his time with the Giants.
Really ?
I always went with “balsa wrist”myself.
DeRosa wasn’t a catcher. He can’t have the job.
He always wanted to be a backup catcher.
He played 2/3 of an inning at catcher while in the minors once so he qualifies 😉