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Reds’ Managerial Search Enters Second Round

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The Reds are well into their search for a new manager, as has long been anticipated. Interim skipper Jim Riggleman took over after Bryan Price was fired and was at the helm for most of the 2018 season, but the club is determined to consider an array of candidates before naming the next full-time dugout leader. As we did last year with other openings of this kind, we’ll use this post to track the early developments in the hiring process in Cincinnati.

Latest Update — Oct. 20

  • Per Fox Sports’ Jon Morosi (Twitter link), Giants VP of Player Development and former MLB third baseman David Bell is the now the favorite to be offered the job.
  • The Reds informed Jim Riggleman today that he will not return as manager, according to William Ladson on Twitter.

Earlier Update — Oct. 17

  • Ausmus and Girardi are also still under consideration, per Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic (via Twitter). Both are slated for additional interviews, MLB.com’s Mark Sheldon adds on Twitter. It seems they’ll join Bell to make up a group of three finalists, per Jon Heyman of Fancred (Twitter link).
  • The Reds conducted interviews with the 12 candidates listed below and won’t speak with anyone else, per John Fay of the Cincinnati Enquirer. ESPN’s Jerry Crasnick tweets that there’s a growing sense that David Bell “has the inside track,” though he notes that Rocco Baldelli’s interview went “extremely well,” too, placing Baldelli “strongly in the mix.”

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Twins Complete First Round Of Managerial Search

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The Twins have embarked upon a search for a new skipper after the somewhat surprising decision to remove Paul Molitor from the post. He had been a holdover appointee from the prior front office regime. The current hiring process, then, will represent the first opportunity for chief baseball officer Derek Falvey and GM Thad Levine to install their own preferred voice in the dugout.

As we have done with other openings of this kind, we’ll use this post to track the early developments in the hiring process in Minnesota.

First-Round Interviews

  • The Twins have interviewed Astros bench coach Joe Espada, tweets MLB.com’s Jon Morosi. (Fancred’s Jon Heyman had previously noted the Twins’ interest in doing so.) Espada is in his first season as Alex Cora’s successor in that role, and he’s already drawn reported interest from the Angels and the Rangers in their own managerial searches.
  • Cubs bench coach Brandon Hyde has interviewed with the Twins, per 1500 ESPN’s Darren Wolfson (Twitter link). The 45-year-old served as the Cubs’ first base coach for three years prior to ascending to bench coach. He has five years of minor league managing under his belt and has been tied to numerous managerial postings around the league.
  • Rays field coordinator Rocco Baldelli has interviewed, too, Wolfson tweets. Still just 37, he’s spent four years on the Rays’ staff since retiring as a player earlier this decade. Baldelli’s role as field coordinator was created in advance of the just-completed campaign and represented an expansion of his duties, seemingly to encompass some more forward-thinking approaches for the famously experimental organization.
  • Giants bench coach Hensley Meulens has interviewed with the Twins, per Wolfson. Meulens has been a popular candidate in previous managerial searches and has 15 years of coaching experience –mostly as a hitting coach. The Curacao native has also managed Team Netherlands in the World Baseball Classic.
  • Wolfson adds that current Twins bench coach Derek Shelton has also interviewed. He has ample experience in MLB dugouts, but only just finished his first season in his current role. Hired away from the Blue Jays, where he functioned as a quality control coach, Shelton spent the prior dozen years as a hitting coach with the Rays and Indians.
  • The Twins have already held a meeting with hitting coach James Rowson, per La Velle E. Neal III of the Minneapolis Star Tribune. While his coaching background is somewhat specialized in the hitting arena, Rowson has obviously drawn positive attention from the front office. As Neal describes it, he’s an “ebullient” presence in the clubhouse.

Expected To Interview

  • Also per Neal, the Twins would like to host chats with recently retired David Ross. A long-time backstop, Ross played as recently as 2016, wrapping up his playing career with the World Series-champion Cubs.

Other Potential Candidates

  • The Twins at least performed some background work on Brewers bench coach Pat Murphy, Wolfson (via Twitter). Murphy is obviously tied up for the moment assisting manager Craig Counsell in the Milwaukee organization’s postseason run. The former interim Padres manager has held the Brewers bench coach position since the 2016 campaign.
  • Wolfson also tabs Indians bench coach Brad Mills as a name to watch. (Twitter link.) His prior experience with Falvey, who came over from the Cleveland front office, certainly makes Mills an obvious potential candidate. Whether he’ll be asked to interview isn’t yet known. With the Indians’ season just drawing to a close, though, that seems reasonably likely to take place.

Not Under Consideration

  • The Twins had reportedly hoped to chat with recently retired big leaguer and current MLB Network analyst Mark DeRosa, per Neal, but “DeRo” is happy in his current role and is not pursuing managerial openings despite interest from multiple clubs, per reports from Morosi and Heyman (Twitter links).

Quick Hits: Managerial Openings

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Make your pick for the most appealing managerial opening here, but while you mull your options, catch up on the latest rumblings…

  • The Rangers managerial job is Michael Young’s if he wants it, per Bob Nightengale of USA Today. The former Rangers infielder is one of many ex-Rangers currently serving as special assistant to GM Jon Daniels, along with Ivan Rodriguez, Darren Oliver, and Colby Lewis. Theoretically, Young would provide philosophical continuity with the previous regime as well as the front office. Conversely, he’s been looked at before, withdrawing himself from consideration before the hiring of Bannister in 2014, and there’s no indication he has any more interest in the position now. MLB TV analyst Mark DeRosa and Yankees third base coach Phil Nevin – Young’s teammates on the 2006 Rangers – continue to pop up as potential alternatives.
  • The Reds hope to have their new skipper in place by the end of the World Series, per Nightengale. Next on the interview docket: Rays bench coach Charlie Montoyo and Giants bench coach Hensley Meulens will be brought in this week, reports Bobby Nightengale of the Cincinnati Enquirer.  Meulens served as Bruce Bochy’s right-hand man last year after eight season as the Giants’ hitting coach. The Curacao native managed the Netherlands for two World Baseball Classics and has been considered a manager-in-waiting for a few seasons – interviewing with the Tigers and Yankees last winter, added Mark Sheldon of MLB.com. Charlie Montoyo managed Rays affiliates for eighteen years before coaching third base at Tropicana from 2015-17 and – like Meulens – moving to the bench for 2018. Along with their internal candidates, the Reds have interviewed Joe Girardi, Brad Ausmus, and current Giants VP of player development David Bell, as it appears the Reds search is beginning to take shape. It’s no surprise that they’ll want their new manager installed before the offseason bonanza begins, as they plan to be aggressive in going after pitching. If they can secure a clear, strong voice in the dugout and a few extra arms for the mound, the Reds will have accomplished their two primary offseason goals.

Giants Notes: Avisail, Coaches, Ramos, Hamilton

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Here’s the latest out of San Francisco…

  • The Giants “checked in” on Avisail Garcia as part of their search for outfield help, NBCSports.com’s Alex Pavlovic reports.  The White Sox outfielder is coming off a breakout season, and he’d fit the Giants’ needs as a right-handed hitter who comes at a relatively inexpensive price (arbitration-controlled through 2019).  Garcia and Jose Abreu stand out as Chicago’s two biggest remaining veteran trade chips.
  • Also from Pavlovic’s item, he reports that the Giants were going to install Phil Nevin as their new bench coach if Hensley Muelens had been hired as the Yankees’ new manager.  Once New York hired Aaron Boone, Nevin ended up being the one leaving for the pinstripes, taking a job as the Yankees’ new third base coach.  Some Giants officials feel Meulens will only be with the team for another season, as another club will hire him away for a managerial position.
  • Talks between the Giants and Reds about Billy Hamilton failed to materialize since the Giants balked at moving Heliot Ramos, The Athletic’s Andrew Baggarly reports.  Ramos has been a hot commodity this winter, as reportedly just about every team the Giants have engaged with in trade talks has asked about the 2017 first-rounder.  While the Reds would have to drop their asking price, Baggarly doesn’t think San Francisco has given up on pursuing Hamilton, as an improved outfield defense would go a long way towards helping the Giants again become competitive.

Yankees Have Made Managerial Hiring Decision

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6:49pm: Meulens is remaining in San Francisco, Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle hears. (Twitter link.) In conjunction with the other reports, that would appear to suggest that Boone is the choice.

6:10pm: New York has made its decision, Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic tweets, though it’s still not clear whether it’ll be Boone or Meulens.

5:00pm: Thomson has been informed that he will not get the job, Joel Shermanof the New York Post tweets. Likewise, Beltran has been told he’s no longer under consideration, Tim Brown of Yahoo Sports tweets.

2:42pm: It is “likely” that either Boone or Meulens will receive the nod to become the next Yankees skipper, according to Bill Madden of the New York Daily News. Beltran was also among the group that “made the strongest impressions,” per the report, but Madden reasons that he is unlikely to get the job since he just wrapped up his playing career.

Meanwhile, Thomson is said to be a “leading candidate” to join the Phillies as their bench coach, per Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic (Twitter link). WFAN’s Sweeny Murti had reported recently (via Twitter) that Thomson was interviewing with Philadelphia.

8:09am: The Yankees will not conduct any further interviews as they seek to fill their managerial vacancy, general manager Brian Cashman tells reporters (Twitter links via Ken Davidoff of the New York Post). The Yankees will not conduct a second round of interviews with the six candidates that have sat down with the team, either, Davidoff adds.

The latest development in what has been one of the lengthiest managerial searches in recent memory means that one of Rob Thomson, Hensley Meulens, Eric Wedge, Chris Woodward, Aaron Boone or the recently retired Carlos Beltran, who interviewed for the post yesterday, will be the Yankees’ new skipper. Unless Wedge is the ultimate selection for the Yankees, they’ll head into 2018 with a rookie skipper. More surprising is the fact that two of the final candidates, Boone and Beltran, have never even coached at the professional level.

To this point, none of the six has been characterized as any sort of favorite, though ESPN’s Andrew Marchand hears from two sources that Boone did quite well in his interview (Twitter links). Marchand also notes that he’s heard a positive review for Meulens and one for Beltran following their respective interviews as well.

Thomson, who served as the Yankees’ bench coach since 2015, would be a familiar choice for both the players and the front office. The Yankees may risk the possibility of losing him to another organization if he doesn’t ultimately get the managerial nod, as WFAN’s Sweeny Murti reported (on Twitter) this week that Thomson was also interviewing for the Phillies’ currently vacant bench coach position.

Meulens played with the Yankees from 1989-93 and has served as the Giants’ hitting coach dating back to 2010 (including in each of San Francisco’s three World Series-winning seasons). The Curacao native speaks five languages, including Spanish, Dutch and Japanese, which would serve him well as he communicates with a diverse group of players on the Yankees’ roster.

Wedge managed the Indians from 2003-09 and the Mariners from 2011-13 but hasn’t been in a big league dugout since the conclusion of that Seattle tenure. He spent two years serving as an ESPN analyst in the interim before taking a player development job with the Blue Jays prior to the 2016 season.

Woodward, the Dodgers’ third base coach, was on the Mariners’ coaching staff from 2014-15 and has been in his current position with the Dodgers since the 2016 season. He’s previously worked as a minor league infield coordinator (also with the Mariners) since retiring as a player back in 2012.

Neither Boone nor Beltran brings any field experience to the table, though that certainly doesn’t disqualify them as serious candidates for the job. Beltran only recently announced his retirement from a 20-year playing career that may very well culminate with enshrinement in Cooperstown. Boone has been a mainstay on ESPN since 2010 and enjoyed a solid 12-year playing career that included one of the most famous home runs in Yankees franchise history.

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