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Kapler, Wathan Among Finalists For Phillies Manager

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The Phillies have an opening in the dugout after surprisingly removing Pete Mackanin from that role and transitioning him to a front office role. Philadelphia had extended Mackanin just four months earlier, making the decision all the more unexpected. We’ll track the majority of the managerial chatter pertaining to the Phils here over the course of the search and update accordingly as the hunt progresses…

Finalists

  • If the Phillies opt for a manager with Major League experience, ESPN.com’s Buster Olney tweets that the “industry expectation” is that John Farrell will get the job.
  • MLB.com’s Todd Zolecki reports that Dodgers director of player development Gabe Kapler is also a finalist for the position, along with Wathan. Both impressed the Phils with their first interviews, and it sounds as if the Philadelphia brass will conduct one more round of interviews with this pair (and any other yet-unknown finalists) before making a final decision.
  • The Phillies are “zeroing in” on Triple-A skipper Dusty Wathan for the job, per Nightengale (via Twitter). He’ll join Kapler, at the least, in a second wave of interviews. Wathan only briefly cracked the majors as a player, but has once again climbed the minor-league ladder since moving to the coaching ranks with the Phillies back in 2008.

Will Interview/Have Interviewed (Still Under Consideration)

  • Recently fired Red Sox manager John Farrell interviewed for the position on Oct. 25, reports Zolecki. It’s not yet clear whether Farrell’s sitdown with the Phils will result in another interview.
  • Dodgers director of player development Gabe Kapler is also slated for an interview, as Zolecki reports. Kapler took his position with Los Angeles after missing on the team’s managerial opening, but has continued to be cited as a possible candidate elsewhere ever since.
  • The Phillies already have one strong internal candidate in Jorge Velandia, reports Jim Salisbury of CSNPhilly.com. Currently a special assistant to GM Matt Klentak, Velandia interviewed for the opening on Wednesday and is a “strong candidate,” according to Salisbury, though other interviews are sure to be conducted with external candidates. Nonetheless, Salisbury writes that the 42-year-old Velandia is well versed in player development and has embraced the analytical side of the game. His work with Klentak and the rest of the front office should bode well for communication. He’s spent time on the Phillies’ big league coaching staff in the past and has also spent six seasons as a manager in the Venezuelan Winter League.
  • Current Phillies third base coach Juan Samuel has also interviewed for the opening, as Bob Brookover of the Philadelphia Daily News recently reported. Samuel, 56, has been on the Phillies’ coaching staff since 2011 after coming over from the Orioles, where he worked with Andy MacPhail, who was then the Orioles’ president and now holds that same role with the Phillies. Samuel spoke to Brookover about his own openness to incorporating more data-driven decisions into on-field decisions. “If you have something available to you that gives you an advantage over other clubs, you should definitely use it,” he said.
  • Both Salisbury and Brookover list Triple-A manager Dusty Wathan as another internal candidate that is expected to interview. It’s not known yet whether the 44-year-old has interviewed, but he’s spent the past 10 seasons managing at various levels throughout the Phillies’ system, so he obviously has plenty of familiarity with the Phillies’ homegrown players and a number of the front office execs that have been with the club for an extended period of time.

Preliminary Candidates (Interview Status Unknown)

  • The Phillies have spoken with Mariners third base coach Manny Acta, Jon Heyman of FanRag writes (and clarifies on Twitter). Acta, who managed the Nationals from 2007-09 and the Indians from 2010-12, was in the running for the Mets’ job before it went to Mickey Callaway.
  • In addition to a few of the other names already covered here, Heyman hears that the Phils have some level of interested in Red Sox bench coach Gary DiSarcina and possibly former Tigers manager Brad Ausmus. Boston is in the midst of its own managerial hiring process, with the club leaving coaches like DiSarcina free to explore their options with other organizations.
  • The Phillies are interested in speaking to Rockies bench coach Mike Redmond, per Heyman. There’s been no definitive word of an interview, but the former Marlins manager has been building his dugout resume since calling it quits as a player back in 2010. At 46, he’d give the Phillies a considerably younger voice than they’ve had under recent skippers like Mackanin, Ryne Sandberg and Charlie Manuel.

Not in the Mix/No Longer in Consideration

  • Ryan Lawrence of PhillyVoice.com reported recently that the Phillies won’t consider bench coach Larry Bowa or former GM Ruben Amaro Jr. for the post. Klentak has stated a desire for a “new voice” and a “new style” in the dugout, Lawrence notes, which wouldn’t be accomplished with the 71-year-old Bowa. As for Amaro, while he’d been previously connected to the role and is reportedly on the Tigers’ radar, Lawrence definitively characterized the chances of Amaro being on the team’s radar as nonexistent.
  • USA Today’s Bob Nightengale tweets that Phil Nevin is no longer in the running after interviewing recently. FanRag’s Jon Heyman tweets that Athletics third base coach Chip Hale, who also interviewed for the Philadelphia vacancy, has been eliminated from the running as well.
  • Indians pitching coach Mickey Callaway interviewed for the post but has since been hired as the new manager of the Mets.

NL Notes: Callaway, Marlins, Peralta, Hickey

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While the Mets had intended to conduct a second round, the team jumped at the chance to hire Mickey Callaway as manager after his first interview, Marc Carig of Newsday writes. He stressed a need to engage the team’s players as “human beings and individuals,” while GM Sandy Alderson cited a need to establish “rapport [and] empathy.” In other news relating to the hiring situation, Carig also notes (Twitter link) that the club interviewed Mark DeRosa before reaching its decision. The long-time big leaguer currently works for MLB Network; his candidacy had not previously been reported.

Here’s more from the National League:

  • Trimming payroll down to a reported $90MM obviously represents a big challenge for the Marlins. The challenge is made all the more difficult, Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald writes, by the state of the team’s rotation. With some paring of veteran assets seemingly all but inevitable, it seems likely that the team will look to bring back some new arms if at all possible. Of course, the organization will surely still be looking to rely on internal options to fill out the staff. A team source had some rather harsh words for two such candidates, telling Jackson that promising youngster Dillon Peters “needs to lose weight” and charging that the struggling Adam Conley fails to accept instruction and “thinks he has all the answers.” Neither of those two southpaws produced appealing results in 2017, though the former drew a ton of groundballs in his first 31 1/3 MLB frames (and was also quite good at Double-A) while the latter had quite a lot of success in the prior two seasons.
  • The Reds’ pitching staff has easily been the worst in baseball over the past two seasons, but there are certainly some useful pieces in place. MLB.com’s Mark Sheldon takes a look at one such pitcher, southpaw reliever Wandy Peralta. The 26-year-old was a pleasant surprise in his rookie campaign, working to a 3.76 ERA in 64 2/3 frames with 7.9 K/9 against 3.3 BB/9 to go with a 54.2% groundball rate. Peralta has a diverse slate of pitch offerings — a pair of big fastballs along with a slider and change — that he utilized nearly equally in 2017. Given the number of questions marks among Cincinnati hurlers, hopes are obviously high that Peralta will continue to cement his status as a solid bullpen asset.
  • The pitching coach carousel seems to be a particular area to watch in the coaching ranks this offseason, with Jim Hickey among the notable names on the market. Per MLB.com’s Carrie Muskat, via Twitter, the former Rays pitching coach held a chat with the Cubs today. He has also already engaged with the Giants and Cardinals, she notes.

Mets Hire Mickey Callaway As Manager

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4:49pm: The contract includes a team option for a fourth season, per Mike Puma of the New York Post (via Twitter).

11:00am: The Mets have announced Callaway’s hiring. There’s a press conference set for Citi Field at 4pm ET today.

OCT. 23, 8:40am: The Mets are expected to announce Callaway’s hiring this afternoon at Citi Field, tweets Mike Puma of the New York Post.

OCT. 22, 1:37pm: Callaway is taking the job, Marc Carig of Newsday tweets.

12:43pm: The Mets have offered their managerial job to Indians pitching coach Mickey Callaway, according to Joel Sherman of the New York Post. The two sides are finalizing Callaway’s contract, Sherman adds (Twitter link). It’ll be a three-year deal, Jon Heyman of FanRag reports (on Twitter).

Mickey Callaway

The 42-year-old Callaway emerged as the top candidate for the job earlier Sunday, beating out Mets hitting coach Kevin Long, Mariners third base coach Manny Acta and White Sox third base coach Joe McEwing for the position. Callaway “stood out” from the rest during his interviews with Mets brass, Sherman tweets. The club’s hope is that Long will stay on as part of Callaway’s staff, per Sherman (on Twitter).

Callaway, who also drew interest from the manager-needy Phillies, developed an excellent reputation during his five-year run as the Indians’ pitching coach. In what will go down as Callaway’s final season on manager Terry Francona’s staff, the Indians boasted one of the most successful pitching staffs of all-time.

As was the case in Cleveland, Callaway – a major league pitcher from 1999-2004 – will have an opportunity to work with a slew of gifted hurlers in New York. Despite the immense talent on hand, though, the majority of Mets pitchers dealt with injuries and posted poor performances in 2017 during a 70-92 season that led to previous manager Terry Collins’ ouster. Aside from Jacob deGrom, who was his typical excellent self, none of the Mets’ top starters stayed healthy. Noah Syndergaard missed most of the season, while Matt Harvey, Steven Matz and Zack Wheeler mostly turned in ineffective showings when they were physically able to take the mound. Meanwhile, fellow starters Robert Gsellman, Seth Lugo and Rafael Montero failed to distinguish themselves as rotation locks for 2018.

In addition to trying to turn around the fortunes of the Mets’ pitchers next season, Callaway will oversee a position player group that also had a less-than-ideal 2017. The Mets’ premier hitters, Yoenis Cespedes and Michael Conforto, endured injury-shortened years, and the latter could miss a portion of next season after undergoing shoulder surgery in September. Still, the expectation is that those two will continue to serve as the Mets’ offensive centerpieces going forward. There are questions elsewhere, though, most of which center on the team’s infield alignment. Amed Rosario is a lock to start at shortstop, but it’s not yet clear who will earn the lion’s share of playing time at first, second or third base.

The Mets’ roster issues will be up to general manager Sandy Alderson to figure out in the coming months, but he’ll obviously work to put his first-time manager in position to succeed right away. Despite their miserable campaign, the Mets aren’t far removed from being one of the National League’s most formidable teams. They earned playoff berths in each of the two prior seasons, including a World Series appearance in 2015, and will attempt to return to relevance under Callaway in 2018.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Latest On Mets’ Managerial Opening

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SUNDAY: Long and McEwing are now out of the running for the job, per Newsday’s Marc Carig, who suggests that Acta and Callaway look like the top candidates at the moment (on Twitter). However, Sherman tweets that Acta is also out of contention, adding that there are “strong indications” the Mets will go with Callaway. They’ll announce their choice Monday, according to Sherman (Twitter links).

FRIDAY: The Mets are aiming to wrap up their managerial search this weekend with the hope of announcing a new hire before the World Series begins next Tuesday, and they’ve identified current Mets hitting coach Kevin Long and Mariners third base coach Manny Acta as the top two candidates, Joel Sherman of the New York Post reports. Long has been perceived to be the favorite for much of the search, per Sherman, but Acta made a strong impression and is now viewed as a “legitimate possibility” as well.

New York has also interviewed the likes of Astros bench coach Alex Cora, White Sox third base coach Joe McEwing and Indians pitching coach Mickey Callaway as part of the team’s ongoing search, though multiple reports have indicated that Cora is the heavy favorite to become the next manager of the Red Sox. Both McEwing and Callaway are still “under consideration,” per Sherman, but he characterizes both Long and Acta as more likely options.

Acta is the only party involved in this search with prior managerial experience at the Major League level. The 48-year-old spent two and a half seasons as the Nationals’ manager from 2007-09 before the team rose to prominence in the National League East and was named manager of the Indians the following offseason. Acta has never guided a club to the playoffs, although in fairness to him, the teams he’s managed were never exactly viewed as strong postseason contenders entering the season.

In addition to his six seasons as a big league manager, Acta has managed in the Dominican Winter League and managed the Dominican Republic’s team in the 2006 World Baseball Classic. Acta carries nearly a decade of Major League coaching experience as well — two years of which came as the Mets’ third base coach under Willie Randolph. A native of the Dominican Republic, Acta’s fluency in Spanish would be beneficial in communicating with Latin American players on the Mets’ roster.

Long, 50, has never managed in the Majors but has experience doing so at the minor league level. He also brings to the table 11 seasons as a Major League hitting coach (2007-14 with the Yankees, 2015-17 with the Mets). The New York Post’s Mike Puma has previously reported that Long “has earned the confidence of team officials for his communication skills and grasp of analytics,” though by all accounts that report came prior to Acta’s interview. Long’s contract expires on Oct. 31, though Sherman notes that he has been promised a job for the 2018 season, as has assistant hitting coach Pat Roessler.

Notably, Sherman adds that Dusty Baker, who will not return as the Nationals’ manager in 2018, “almost certainly will not become” part of the Mets’ search for a new manager after the Nats announced their decision to move on earlier this morning.

Mets Complete Five First-Round Managerial Interviews

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The Mets formally removed Terry Collins from his post as manager earlier this month, shifting him to a front office role and embarking on a search to replace the longest-tenured manager in franchise history. Since that time, they’ve been connected to a flurry of names, some speculatively and others more definitively. Reportedly, the Mets began interviewing candidates earlier this week.

As we’ve done with the Tigers, Phillies, and Red Sox, we’ll house all of the managerial chatter for the Mets in one place and update accordingly as candidates either further their case or are removed from consideration. Here’s where the Mets’ search stands, at present:

Latest Updates

  • The Mets appear to have wrapped up their first round of interviews, per Marc Carig of Newsday (via Twitter). New York doesn’t have plans to meet with Indians coach Sandy Alomar Jr., though Mike Puma of the New York Post hears Alomar or even other candidates could conceivably still enter the picture.
  • What is clear at this point is that there’s a slate of five candidates to have completed first-round interviews: Joe McEwing, Kevin Long, Alex Cora, Mickey Callaway, and Manny Acta. As Evan Drellich of the Boston Herald writes, though, the expectation remains that Cora will end up getting the Red Sox’ job, which would potentially knock the field back to four. There’s no indication as of yet as to which of these candidates will be brought back for a second meeting, though Puma says that process will begin next week.

Will Interview/Have Interviewed

  • White Sox bench coach Joe McEwing has had his interview, as Mike Puma of the New York Post recently reported (via Twitter).  The former big league utilityman has been in the Chicago organization since 2008, working as a minor league coach and manager before being promoted to the big league coaching staff; McEwing served as the bench coach last season after five years as the Sos third base coach.
  • Mets hitting coach Kevin Long has interviewed for the position, as Mike Puma of the New York Post first reported. Long has minor league managerial experience in addition to 11 seasons as a Major League hitting coach (2007-14 with the Yankees, 2015-17 with the Mets). Long, Puma writes, has earned the trust of the Mets’ front office with his communication skills and grasp of analytics. He’s not currently signed beyond the 2017 season. [Update: Long has had his interview, Newsday’s Marc Carig tweets.]
  • ESPN’s Marly Rivera reports that Astros bench coach Alex Cora is part of the Mets’ first wave of managerial interviews (Twitter link). Cora has experience managing in winter ball in addition to his current role as Houston’s bench coach and is a coveted managerial candidate; he’s also reportedly set for an interview with the Tigers and has been connected to the Red Sox as well.
  • The Mets sat down with Indians pitching coach Mickey Callaway on Wednesday, per Mike Puma of the New York Post (via Twitter). Previously, we had learned that the team was “expected to show interest” in Callaway, as Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic tweeted. Callaway is regarded as one of the game’s best in his current role, but he’s beginning to garner managerial interest around the game as well.
  • New York is also interviewing Manny Acta, per ESPN.com’s Buster Olney (via Twitter). Acta is currently the Mariners’ third base coach — a position he once held with the Mets — and has previously skippered the Nationals and Indians.

Not in the Mix/No Longer in Consideration

  • While the Mets had “serious interest” in recently dismissed Tigers manager Brad Ausmus, according to Peter Gammons (Twitter link), that was evidently not reciprocal. Ausmus has decided not to pursue the position. Former White Sox skipper Robin Ventura, too, is said not to have much interest in the opportunity. (Ventura tells Puma that he was not specifically rejecting interest from the Mets. Rather, he is “not pursuing any of the [current managerial] openings,” he says.) Likewise, Dodgers bench coach Bob Geren and A’s third base coach Chip Hale aren’t under consideration, per Marc Carig of Newsday. Those potential candidates were among the preliminary names under consideration, as listed by Carig (with FanRag’s Jon Heyman, the New York Post’s Mike Puma, and Kristie Ackert of the New York Daily News also reporting).
  • One other previously cited possibility, Indians first base coach Sandy Alomar Jr., is not presently scheduled to meet with the team as it moves to second-round interviews, Carig tweets. But it’s at least theoretically possible still that he or others could yet be considered, Puma writes.
  • Carig reports that the Mets don’t have interest in pursuing recently fired Red Sox skipper John Farrell (Twitter link).
  • Rays third base coach Charlie Montoyo, who had previously been rumored to be in the mix for the job, is not a consideration according to Puma (on Twitter).

Central Notes: Cain, Royals, Tribe, Cards, Tigers

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The Royals will be reluctant to invest significant money in an outfielder who’s on the wrong side of 30 over the winter, which makes a potential Lorenzo Cain exit seem more likely, Rustin Dodd of the Kansas City Star writes. For his part, the 31-year-old Cain (32 next April) realizes his terrific tenure with the Royals could be on the verge of ending. “They all know where I stand as far as coming back to KC,” the impending free agent said. “They know I would love to come back here. I said it in the spring, and I’ll say it again now. But at the same time, everyone has to do what’s best for themselves. No one knows what’s going to happen.” Cain has been outstanding since debuting in earnest with the Royals in 2011, including this year (.301/.364/.442, 15 home runs, 26 stolen bases across 643 plate appearances), and was a key component of an AL pennant winner in 2014 and a World Series champion the next season.

More from the Central divisions:

  • Indians pitching coach Mickey Callaway will be a popular managerial candidate in the coming weeks, Jerry Crasnick of ESPN.com tweets. “He’s on everybody’s list,” one executive said of the 42-year-old Callaway, who has been the Tribe’s pitching coach since 2013 and is now in charge of arguably one of the best staffs in baseball history. If Callaway does become a manager in the offseason, it’ll be with the Phillies, Tigers or Mets, barring an unexpected firing elsewhere.
  • Jose Martinez will have an opportunity to win the Cardinals’ first base job in 2018, manager Mike Matheny suggested to reporters, including Rick Hummel of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, on Saturday. “He’s going to fight for it. I don’t know why he couldn’t (be the regular first baseman),” said Matheny, who also named Luke Voit as a candidate for the role. The majority of the work at first this year has gone to franchise linchpin Matt Carpenter, but he could shift back to second/third base next season. Like Carpenter, Martinez has been one of the Cards’ top offensive players in 2017. In his first extensive action in the majors, the 29-year-old rookie has batted an excellent .306/.377/.517 with 14 home runs in 306 PAs. Voit, a 26-year-old rookie, has hit .252/.308/.441 in 120 PAs.
  • Royals left-hander Danny Duffy will undergo surgery Tuesday to remove “loose bodies” from his elbow, per Dodd (Twitter link). Duffy landed on the disabled list Aug. 27 with an elbow impingement, though he did return in mid-September to make three more starts. In the first season of a five-year, $65MM contract extension, Duffy logged a 3.81 ERA over 146 1/3 innings, to go with 8.0 K/9 against 2.52 BB/9.
  • The Tigers announced some additions to their scouting staff and analytics department on Friday, as Jason Beck of MLB.com details. Most notably, the Tigers promoted former utilityman Don Kelly to a full-time scouting role. An eighth-round pick of he Tigers in 2001, Kelly played in Detroit from 2009-14 and, upon his retirement last winter, joined its baseball department on a trial basis.

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