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White Sox Expected To Hire Josh Barfield, Brian Bannister, Gene Watson To Front Office Roles

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Diamondbacks director of player development Josh Barfield is expected to leave the D’Backs for a new job in the White Sox front office, according to MLB.com’s Scott Merkin and Steve Gilbert (X link).  Barfield will step into the role of assistant general manager, under newly-hired Sox GM Chris Getz.

Barfield isn’t the only newcomer to Getz’s staff, as USA Today’s Bob Nightengale (via X) reports that the White Sox have also hired Brian Bannister for a role in pitching development and Gene Watson for a player development job.  Bannister has worked as the Giants’ director of pitching since December 2019, while Watson was an assistant GM and VP of Major League scouting with the Royals.

Fans may know the 40-year-old Barfield best from his playing career, as he appeared in 309 Major League games with San Diego and Cleveland from 2006-09.  He continued playing in the minors and in independent ball until 2013, and then started his post-playing career as a scout with the D’Backs in 2016, moving his way up the front office depth chart until assuming his current role during the 2019-20 offseason.

Bannister is another former player, tossing 667 1/3 innings with the Mets and Royals from 2006-10.  (Notably, Getz and Bannister were teammates in Kansas City in 2010.)  Since retiring, the 42-year-old Bannister worked from the Red Sox from 2015-19 in a variety of roles, ranging from scout, to assistant pitching coach, to a more analytical front office position as a director of pitching analysis and development.  This led to a similar position in San Francisco, as Bannister worked in a uniformed on-field role except in 2022, when league rules didn’t permit Bannister to participate in his coaching role because he wasn’t vaccinated.

Watson also has some past Kansas City ties to Getz and Bannister, as Watson has worked for the Royals for all but one season from 2006-23, as Watson worked for the Angels in 2021.  A longtime scout and evaluator, Watson has also worked with the Padres, Braves, and Marlins during a career that began back in 1997.  Watson has been interviewed for GM jobs in the past, including the Angels’ opening in 2021 that eventually went to Perry Minasian, though the Halos were impressed enough to still hire Watson away from K.C. for an advisory position.

The three hires bring some fresh voices into the White Sox front office, giving Getz (who has been working for Chicago since 2016) some different perspective as he embarks on his first stint running a baseball operations department.  Getz’s promotion continued the criticism that the Sox organization is too insular in its thinking, but today’s hires act as something of a counter to the idea that the White Sox are set in their ways.  Barfield and Bannister, like Getz, are younger executives with past playing experience who perhaps have a bit more of a modern analytical approach to player development, whereas Watson brings some old-school scouting knowledge into the fold.

Royals Hire Gene Watson As Vice President/Assistant GM

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The Royals announced the hiring of veteran executive Gene Watson as vice president and assistant general manager of major league scouting, relays Alec Lewis of the Athletic. Alden González of ESPN reported Wednesday that Watson would be taking on a role in the Kansas City front office.

Watson is no stranger to the Royals, as he previously spent fourteen years in the organization as a scout and executive. He’d ascended to the role of senior director of pro scouting and assistant to the general manager before departing last December to join the Angels’ front office. Watson interviewed for the Angels’ GM job last winter and ultimately accepted a special advisor role in Los Angeles after the team hired Perry Minasian to lead baseball operations. (He also interviewed for the Astros’ GM job that eventually went to James Click the previous offseason).

Kansas City will welcome the well-respected evaluator back into the fold as part of a broader shakeup of the front office structure. On Tuesday, the Royals promoted longtime GM Dayton Moore to president of baseball operations, bumping assistant GM J.J. Piccolo up to general manager in the process.

Angels Notes: Watson, Royals, McCann, Rojas

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Gene Watson is leaving the Royals for the Angels’ front office, ESPN.com’s Jeff Passan reports (Twitter link).  Watson will be a special advisor to new Angels GM Perry Minasian, according to Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register, and The Athletic’s Fabian Ardaya recently chronicled Watson’s longstanding ties to Minasian dating back to Minasian’s childhood.

Watson has spent the last 14 seasons with the Royals, the last three as the team’s senior director of pro scouting and a special assistant to GM Dayton Moore.  Watson previously worked as a scout with the Padres, Braves, and Marlins before coming to Kansas City, and his long career as a respected evaluator put him on the radar for general manager openings in the past.  Of greatest relevance, Watson interviewed for the Angels’ job before Minasian was hired, and Watson also spoke with the Astros about their GM vacancy last offseason.

More from Anaheim…

  • The Angels were known to be suitors for James McCann, who reached an agreement with the Mets today on a four-year deal worth over $40MM.  According to Maria Torres of the Los Angeles Times, the Angels weren’t willing to offer McCann more than a three-year contract.  Given the large amount of interest McCann was generating in the free agent market, it would be interesting to know if any other teams besides the Mets went beyond a three-year offer, or if it was indeed the fourth year that clinched the signing for New York.  It remains to be seen if the Angels will pursue another catcher or if their interest in the position was limited to McCann — in regards to J.T. Realmuto, Torres figures the Halos will spend on pitching rather than direct resources towards a nine-figure deal for Realmuto’s services.
  • Longtime Angels broadcaster Victor Rojas was the most surprising name to interview for the team’s GM position, and Rojas discussed his candidacy with Bill Shaikin of the Los Angeles Times.  Previously a minor leaguer in the Angels farm system in 1990, the GM of the independent Newark Bears for two seasons, and the son of former big leaguer Cookie Rojas, the younger Rojas carried a unique resume to go along with his 11 years of calling Angels games on television.  The interview stemmed from a lengthy memo Rojas wrote after the season detailing how he would address various issues within the organization since, as he told Shaikin, “as an Angels fan, I was getting a little frustrated.”

4 More Candidates Interview For Angels’ GM Job

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After several weeks of little news about the Angels’ search for a new general manager, several names have emerged as candidate for the position.  Four new names join that already lengthy list, as Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register reports that former Phillies GM Ruben Amaro Jr. has spoken with the team, and longtime Royals executives Gene Watson, Scott Sharp, and J.J. Picollo were also part of the Halos’ first round of interviews, according to The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal (via Twitter).

Amaro is the only one of this quartet who has previously run a front office, as his stint as the Phillies’ GM from 2009-15 was highlighted by the National League pennant in 2009 and three NL East titles.  All of that success came in Amaro’s first three seasons, however, largely due to the core of talent built by Amaro’s predecessor Pat Gillick (though as assistant GM, Amaro also had a hand in that roster’s creation).  2011 was still the last time Philadelphia posted a winning record, as their 2008 championship core aged and Amaro wasn’t able to reinforce the team well enough to keep it in contention.

Since leaving the Phils, Amaro moved not to another front office job but rather coaching positions with the Red Sox and Mets.  After the 2018 season, he worked as an advisor to Mets GM Brodie Van Wagenen, and spent 2020 as a broadcaster for Phillies games.  Amaro does have some memorable ties to the Angels, as he was drafted by the team back in 1987 and he spent the first of his eight MLB seasons in a Halos uniform.

Watson, Sharp, and Picollo have all been linked to other general manager openings in the past.  Watson interviewed with the Astros last winter, Sharp was a candidate with the Giants and Mets after the 2018 season, and Picollo has been considered for front office jobs with the Twins, Diamondbacks, and Phillies.  In fact, Picollo was one of the favorites to replace Amaro as the Phillies’ GM back in 2015 before Matt Klentak was hired, and Picollo’s name has again surfaced as a possibility in Philadelphia now that Klentak is no longer in the position.

According to Rosenthal, Sharp could be the Angels’ preferred choice among the three Kansas City choices.  Sharp, Picollo and Watson have all been with the Royals since 2006, working in various positions while moving up the ladder to their current positions as assistant GM (Sharp and Picollo) and senior director of pro scouting/special assistant (Watson).

Latest On Astros’ GM Opening

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The Astros have spent a large portion of January reeling from the fallout of their 2017 sign-stealing scandal – one that cost them championship-winning GM Jeff Luhnow and manager A.J. Hinch. They’ve already replaced Hinch, having hired decorated veteran skipper Dusty Baker on Wednesday, but there’s no successor to Luhnow yet. However, the Astros continue to tack on candidates in their quest to replace him.

Houston has interviewed Royals director of pro scouting/special assistant Gene Watson and Rays vice president of baseball operations James Click for its GM role, per reports from Jeff Passan of ESPN.com and Brian McTaggart of MLB.com. Watson and Click join MLB’s senior vice president of baseball operations, Peter Woodfork, and former Giants GM Bobby Evans as known candidates for the Astros’ vacancy.

It’s notable that Evans worked with Baker when the two were in San Francisco, but there’s no indication he or anyone else is the favorite at this point. It seems the Astros will continue to take their time in finding a new GM, as Chandler Rome of the Houston Chronicle explains. For now, owner Jim Crane and a four-executive team consisting of assistant GM Pete Putila, special assistant Kevin Goldstein, senior director of baseball strategy Bill Firkus and senior director of player evaluation Ehsan Bokhari are at the helm. That quartet played a part in Crane’s decision to hire Baker, per Rome, though it’s not clear whether anyone from it will emerge as a GM candidate for the club. It may not look good if the Astros do hire an in-house GM, considering that individual would have connections to the Luhnow-Hinch regime.

As for the newest outside possibilities, Watson – a Texas native – is a two-time World Series champion (2003 Marlins, 2015 Royals) with a long scouting history who has worked in Kansas City in various capacities since 2006. The Yale-educated Click caught on with the Rays the same year Watson joined the Royals. Click has since worked his way toward the top of a Rays front office that already lost another noteworthy exec earlier this offseason in Chaim Bloom, who became Boston’s chief baseball officer.

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