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Manager & Coach Notes: Valentine, Riggleman, D’Backs

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While some teams continue looking for their new manager, other clubs are settling their 2011 coaching staffs.  Here's a collection of news items about both searches…

  • Ken Rosenthal of FOXSports.com (Twitter link) "keeps hearing" that Bobby Valentine is one of the finalists to be the next Brewers manager, though Rosenthal wonders if Valentine would take the job and if Milwaukee could afford him.  We heard yesterday that the Brewers had narrowed their search to four men, two of whom were Joey Cora and Bob Melvin and one of whom was suspected to be Ron Roenicke.  Valentine could be the mystery fourth man.
  • Jim Riggleman will manage the Nationals next season, according to a team press release.  The move was widely expected given Washington's 10-win improvement (from 59 wins to 69) in Riggleman's first full season as the team's skipper.  The Nats could have fired Riggleman and paid him a $100K buyout, according to Adam Kilgore of the Washington Post, rather than be on the hook for his full 2011 salary.  The team also has an option on Riggleman for 2012.
  • Arizona announced the hirings of Alan Trammell the new bench coach and Charles Nagy as the new pitching coach in a team press release.  The D'Backs also confirmed the hirings of Don Baylor and Eric Young as the hitting and first base coaches, respectively.
  • Paul Sullivan of the Chicago Tribune tweets that with Trammell leaving the Cubs for the Diamondbacks, there is a "door open" for Pat Listach to become his friend Mike Quade's bench coach in Chicago.  We heard today from ESPNChicago.com that Ryne Sandberg (a top contender for the Cubs' managerial job) wouldn't be staying with the Cubs as Quade's bench coach.
  • It sounds like something of a stock "never say never" answer, but Ozzie Guillen sounded open to the possibility of hiring Sandberg as the White Sox bench coach should Joey Cora become Milwaukee's manager.  Guillen made the remarks on WSCR-AM 670's "Mully & Hanley Show," and the news was reported by the Chicago Tribune.
  • Former Rockies manager and current Rangers hitting coach Clint Hurdle tells Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that the Brewers didn't consider him to be a candidate for their managerial opening.  (Twitter link)
  • Fredi Gonzalez will bring back his old Marlins bench coach Carlos Tosca for the same job in Atlanta, reports David O'Brien of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.  Also, former Florida hitting coach Jim Presley is "a finalist" to take over as the Braves' hitting coach.
  • Presley could also end up as Baltimore's hitting coach, reports Ken Rosenthal of FOXSports.com (Twitter link).  In other Oriole-related Rosenthal tweets, Billy Ripken and Mike Bordick are being considered for coaching jobs on Buck Showalter's staff, and Mark Connor and Rick Adair are the "leading candidates" to be, respectively, Baltimore's next pitching and bullpen coaches.

Baseball Blogs Weigh In: Ichiro, Garza, Greinke, Bell

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On this date two years ago, the Mariners named former Brewers vice president Jack Zduriencik as their new general manager. His defense-heavy approach resulted in a 24 win increase in his first season at the helm, though team scoring dropped by 31 runs. The Mariners won just 61 games and scored a mere 513 runs in 2010, the fewest by any team in the DH era. Unsurprisingly, there's already talk that Jack Z. is on the hot seat.

These links don't have to worry about being on the hot seat, they've made this week's edition of BBWI…

If you have a suggestion for this feature, Mike can be reached here.

Odds & Ends: Dodgers, Wood, D’Backs, A’s

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Links for Wednesday, as the Yankees try to prolong their season…

  • Baseball sources tell Ken Gurnick of MLB.com that the Dodgers are likely to bring Trey Hillman aboard as their bench coach.
  • Scott Lauber of the Boston Herald wonders if Kerry Wood could have made a difference for the BoSox.
  • Nick Piecoro of The Arizona Republic reports that the Diamondbacks are expected to name Ray Montgomery their new scouting director.  Montgomery has spent the last eight years in the Brewers organization.
  • Bryce Harper will bat seventh in his Arizona Fall League debut tonight, according to the Nationals Baseball Media Relations department (via Twitter).
  • The A's have announced several staff changes via press release.  Gerald Perry has been welcomed back as hitting coach in place of Jim Skaalen.  Joel Skinner, a longtime member of the Indians coaching staff, will take over as bench coach.  Former bench coach Tye Waller will be reassigned as the first base coach.  Waller replaces Todd Steverson who has been offered a position in the A's farm system.
  • Mark McGwire is on the fence about returning as the Cards hitting coach, Tony La Russa told Joe Strauss of the Post-Dispatch.
  • Former Angels scouting director Eddie Bane will join the Tigers scouting department, according to ESPN.com's Keith Law (on Twitter).
  • MLB.com's Jason Beck introduces us to Tigers assistant GM Al Avila, the longtime Detroit exec who remains a GM candidate. The Tigers recently declined to let the Mets interview Avila. 
  • If you play fantasy baseball, head over to RotoAuthority, where Tim Dierkes examines the impact of Ted Lilly's new deal on the lefty's fantasy value.
  • It doesn't look like Japanese shortstop Hiroyuki Nakajima will become available to MLB teams this year, according to reports passed along by Patrick Newman of NPB Tracker (Twitter link).
  • Cubs GM Jim Hendry told MLB.com's Carrie Muskat that he will "absolutely" welcome Ryne Sandberg back to Chicago's minor league system if the Hall of Famer wants to continue working his way to the major leagues. Sandberg, a finalist for the Cubs major league job, was disappointed when the team hired Mike Quade.
  • Brewers managerial candidate Pat Listach was pleased with his interview, according to MLB.com's Bill Ladson.

Manager Rumors: Jays, Sandberg, Mariners, Orioles

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The Cubs made the day's big move, signing Mike Quade to a two-year deal, but there's lots of chatter about another candidate for the Cubs job and other teams around the league. Here are the details:

  • Sal Fasano, Dave Martinez, Luis Rivera and Rob Thomson have all been informed that they're no longer candidates for the Toronto manager's job, tweets Shi Davidi of The Canadian Press.  Don Baylor is also out of the running and is "not pleased about it," according to Bob Elliott of the Toronto Sun (Twitter link).
  • Ryne Sandberg, a finalist for the Cubs job, may leave the organization, a source tells Ed Price of AOL FanHouse (Twitter link).
  • Sandberg told ESPN Radio 1000 in Chicago that he would like to manage elsewhere, though he was disappointed not to get the Cubs job.
  • Daren Brown, who managed the Mariners after Don Wakamatsu's dismissal, will either manage at Triple-A or be on the major league staff next year, according to Larry Stone of the Seattle Times (on Twitter).
  • Wedge said he's looking forward to working with Milton Bradley again, according to Stone (on Twitter). "I don’t hold any grudges," Wedge said. Bradley said yesterday that he's open to Wedge's hiring.
  • Orioles manager Buck Showalter will meet with president of baseball operations Andy MacPhail and owner Peter Angelos to discuss the team's offseason approach, according to Jeff Zrebiec of the Baltimore Sun.
  • Earlier today, Jon Heyman of SI.com reported that the Mets "love" Joe Girardi and noted that the Yankees skipper lost some leverage when Quade got the Cubs job (Twitter links).

Tankersley, Others Hit Free Agency

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Taylor Tankersley and a number of others with big league experience recently hit free agency, as Baseball America's Matt Eddy reports. Joining the left-hander on the open market are Bobby Scales (Cubs), Justin Lehr (Reds), Paul Phillips (Rockies), Juan Rincon (Rockies), Hector Luna (Marlins), Anderson Hernandez (Astros), Adam Stern (Brewers), Denny Bautista (Giants), Brandon Medders (Giants), Willie Eyre (Rangers) and Sean Henn (Blue Jays).

Tankersley, the Marlins' first round pick in the 2004 draft, succeeded early in his career, but has since struggled. Still just 27, Tankersley brings a career 8.8 K/9 to the free agent market and could become a lefty specialist. He missed all of 2009 with a stress fracture in his elbow, but it wouldn't be surprising to see a team like the Diamondbacks take a flier on the former prospect.

Bautista, who turns 28 this weekend, is another interesting arm. He posted a 3.74 ERA with the Giants this year and struck out (11.8 K/9) and walked (7.2 BB/9) tons of batters in 33.2 innings. The right-hander has always walked lots of hitters, but his mid-90s fastball and ability to induce strikeouts may tempt teams looking to buy low on live arms.

Cubs Hire Mike Quade

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The Cubs signed manager Mike Quade to a two-year deal with a club option for 2013, according to the team. Quade, 53, became Chicago’s interim manager on August 23rd after Lou Piniella retired. He was the team’s third base coach from 2007-10 after managing the Triple-A Iowa Cubs for four seasons.

Iowa’s most recent manager, Ryne Sandberg, was also a finalist for the major league managerial job. Mariners manager Eric Wedge interviewed for the position and the Cubs also appeared interested in Yankees manager Joe Girardi, whose contract expires after the season.

Quade led the Cubs to a 24-13 record down the stretch, though he had never before managed in the major leagues. He has managed for 17 years in the minors, though, and got his first managerial gig 25 years ago.

Odds & Ends: Greinke, Marlins, McGwire, Daniels

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As Cliff Lee continues his domination of the Yankees, here's some news from around baseball…

Amateur Signing Bonuses: Cubs

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Time for another post in our series looking at the five largest signing bonuses each team has given to amateur players. The Cubs are up…

  1. Mark Prior, $4MM (2001)
  2. Corey Patterson, $3.7MM (1998)
  3. Josh Vitters, $3.2MM (2007)
  4. Luis Montanez, $2.75MM (2000)
  5. Bobby Brownlie, $2.5MM (2002)

You'd be hard pressed to find a team that pumped more money into high draft picks and received so little in return. Prior was undeniably special, going from USC to a third-place finish in the NL Cy Young voting within two years. His first 56 big league starts (377 innings) featured a 2.60 ERA with 10.6 K/9 and 2.3 BB/9 (removing intentional walks), but arm injuries wrecked the rest of his career. Prior last pitched for the Cubs (and in the big leagues) on August 10th of 2006. If his latest comeback attempt is unsuccessful, his career is likely to end with a 3.51 ERA, 10.4 K/9, and 3.1 BB/9 in 106 starts (657 innings).

Patterson and Montanez were the third overall picks in their respective drafts. Neither delivered on their promise, though Patterson at least managed to reach the big leagues for Chicago. He hit just .252/.293/.414 with 70 homers and 86 steals in 589 games for the Cubbies before being traded to the Orioles for a pair of minor leaguers before the 2006 season. Montanez spent six years in the Cubs' farm system before signing with Baltimore as a minor league free agent in 2007. He didn't make it out of A-ball until five years after he was drafted. Vitters, yet another third overall pick, reached Double-A at age 20 this season, but he's just a .275/.317/.435 hitter in the minors, walking only 46 times unintentionally in 1,178 plate appearances. 

Brownlie, a Scott Boras client and the 21st overall pick in 2002, pitched very well in Cubs farm system for two years before his elbow started to act up in 2005. He was shifted to the bullpen and pitched terribly in 2006 (6.33 ERA, 6.9 K/9, 4.2 BB/9), leading to his release. Brownlie bounced around a bit after that, including a stint in an independent league, but he now coaches at his alma mater Rutgers. He never reached the big leagues, but did throw 199 innings at the Triple-A level.  

Kosuke Fukudome matched Prior's signing bonus at $4MM, but he's not considered an amateur given all of his time in Japan despite having zero MLB experience when he signed.

Odds & Ends: Listach, Diamondbacks, Dodgers, Hill

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Saturday evening linkage as the Phillies and Giants kick off the NLCS…

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/10/16/SPJO1FT26N.DTL

Manager Roundup: Brewers, Blue Jays, Cubs

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Here's the latest news concerning managerial vacancies, with more to come..

Brewers

Bobby Valentine has had "conversations" with the Brewers but has yet to have a formal interview, according to the manager when he was a guest on SIRIUS XM's Mad Dog Radio yesterday.  Bobby V added that he is unsure if he'll have another interview with Milwaukee, adding that he'll have to see what the next conversation leads to. 

Meanwhile, the Brewers have asked for and received permission to talk to Nationals third-base coach Pat Listach, two baseball sources tell MLB.com's Bill Ladson.  Listach, who managed in the Cubs' farm system for four seasons, will interview with GM Doug Melvin on Tuesday.

Blue Jays

In his interview with Russo, Valentine also said that he does not expect to have a follow-up conversation with Toronto.  Yesterday we learned that the Blue Jays are looking into a whole lot of potential candidates for their managerial post.

Cubs

The Cubs are still scoping out Joe Girardi as a managerial candidate, writes Gordon Wittenmyer of the Chicago Sun-Times.  Wittenmyer also hears from a source that Eric Wedge had a strong interview with the Cubs before hooking on with the Mariners.

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