2014-2015 Manager Shuffle

[Edgy MD]

Gardenfired.

One of only two men to hold that job since 1987.

[Frayed Knot]

If only he hadn't diverted so much of his attention to Japanese women's soccer.

[Valadius]

One of the better managers in the game, IMO. Not always given the best players to work with.

If I were the Mets I would try and scoop him back into the organization immediately, should no managerial offers appear for him.

[Lefty Specialist]

Maybe Sandy shouldn't have been so hasty about saying Terry was coming back.

[Edgy MD]

He should have at least asked Terry how he feels about Japan Women's Soccer.

[Frayed Knot]

The biggest problem with Gardenhire is that he was like 6-134 vs the Yanx during his time with the Twins ... OK that record might not be entirely accurate but it seems to be the case and it only got worse during playoff match ups.

My personal opinion on the guy is that you don't last that long without being at least decent and that he probably relates well to players. But whenever I'd watch games with him at the helm I'd find myself scratching my head at some of his moves. Can't remember what specifically I didn't like and the SSS caveat has to be considered since I obviously don't sit around watching that many Minnesota games - but if I'm Sandy I'm certainly not altering my 2015 plans just because Gardy is suddenly available.

[Edgy MD]

Yeah, you fire Terry because you've lost faith in Terry, not because there's suddenly a big difference-maker floating around.

[Benjamin Grimm]

I'd fire Terry if a big difference maker became available, but I doubt that there are any potential managers who could clearly fit that description.

[Edgy MD]

I'm not sure any would. It strikes me as fool's gold to think they are. Even one who pushed all the right buttons in one organization could be dead wrong in another. That's why I think, if you're OK with the bird in the hand, trust that.

[Frayed Knot]

TEAM	MANAGER	SIGNED THRU	STATUS
METS	Terry Collins	2015 + option for '16
BRAVES	Fredi Gonzalez	2015
PHILLIES	Ryne Sandberg	2016 + option for '17
NATIONALS	Matt Williams	2015 + options for �16 + �17
MARLINS	Mike Redmond	2015
CARDINALS	Mike Matheny	2017
PIRATES	Clint Hurdle	2017 + option for �18
CUBS	Rick Renteria	2016 + options for �17 + �18
REDS	Bryan Price	2016
BREWERS	Ron Roenicke	2015 +option for �16
DODGERS	Don Mattingly	2016
GIANTS	Bruce Bochy	2016
PADRES	Bud Black	2015
DBACKS	Kirk Gibson	2014	Fired Sept �14
ROCKIES	Walt Weiss	2016
RED SOX	John Farrell	2016
YANKEES	Joe Girardi	2017
ORIOLES	Buck Showalter	2018
BLUE JAYS	John Gibbons	2015 + option for �16
RAYS	Joe Maddon	2015
TIGERS	Brad Ausmus	2016 + option for �17
INDIANS	Terry Francona	2016
ROYALS	Ned Yost	2015
TWINS	Ron Gardenhire	2015	Fired Sept �14
WHITE SOX	Robin Ventura	2014
ANGELS	Mike Scioscia	2018
RANGERS	Ron Washington	2014	Resigned Sept 2014
MARINERS	Lloyd McClendon	201?
ASTROS	Bo Porter	�-	Fired Spet 2014
ATHLETICS	Bob Melvin	2016

[TransMonk]

Ventura signed an extension back in January that looks like it will keeps him in Chicago thru 2016....though the internet references with details are sketchy at best.

http://www.sportingnews.com/mlb/story/2014-01-25/contract-extension-in-hand-robin-ventura-plots-white-sox-improvements

[Guest Mets Guy in Michigan]

I thought that job was his for life.

[metirish]

I honestly don't see any manager that would have made the difference or done better than Terry did this season with this squad, unless you think Terry cost the Mets games this season?

[Frayed Knot]

And we have the first vacancy filled of the off-season as Houston wastes no time in naming A.J. Hinch to run their dugout.
Hinch managed the DBacks for just over a year back in 2009-10 to no particular distinction (89-123). Most recently he was a VP with San Diego.
The Houston GM Jeff Luhnow is known to be a SABRE-type guy so one would guess that Hinch impressed him in that field someway.

TEAM	MANAGER	SIGNED THRU	STATUS
METS	Terry Collins	2015 + option for '16
BRAVES	Fredi Gonzalez	2015
PHILLIES	Ryne Sandberg	2016 + option for '17
NATIONALS	Matt Williams	2015 + options for �16 + �17
MARLINS	Mike Redmond	2015
CARDINALS	Mike Matheny	2017
PIRATES	Clint Hurdle	2017 + option for �18
CUBS	Rick Renteria	2016 + options for �17 + �18
REDS	Bryan Price	2016
BREWERS	Ron Roenicke	2015 + option for �16
DODGERS	Don Mattingly	2016
GIANTS	Bruce Bochy	2016
PADRES	Bud Black	2015
DBACKS	Kirk Gibson	2014	Fired Sept �14
ROCKIES	Walt Weiss	2016
RED SOX	John Farrell	2016
YANKEES	Joe Girardi	2017
ORIOLES	Buck Showalter	2018
BLUE JAYS	John Gibbons	2015 + option for �16
RAYS	Joe Maddon	2015
TIGERS	Brad Ausmus	2016 + option for �17
INDIANS	Terry Francona	2016
ROYALS	Ned Yost	2015
TWINS	Ron Gardenhire	2015	Fired Sept �14
WHITE SOX	Robin Ventura	2014
ANGELS	Mike Scioscia	2018
RANGERS	Ron Washington	2014	Resigned Sept 2014
MARINERS	Lloyd McClendon	201?
ASTROS	Bo Porter	Fired Sept 2014	AJ Hinch - Hired Sept 2014
ATHLETICS	Bob Melvin	2016

[Edgy MD]

Candidate to get the Diamondbacks job (and possibly fired two days later): Joe McEwing.

[HahnSolo]

Bud Black will return for his ninth season as Padres manager, despite just two winning seasons in his first 8. His only hint of the postseason came in his first year, when the Padres lost that famous Matt Holliday slide game in a play-in at Coors Field. Also lost the NL West title on the final day of the 2010 season.

But his record over the last four years has been positively Terry-esque (71, 76, 76, 77 wins), making it at least somewhat surprising that he was brought back.

[Edgy MD]

Twins hero Doug Mientkiewicz and Twins hero/Minnesota homeboy Paul Molitor up for the Twins job.

We could have two Hall-of-Fame players as managers at once.

[MFS62]

Edgy MD wrote: Candidate to get the Diamondbacks job (and possibly fired two days later): Joe McEwing.

Randy Johnson said he's hoping Joe gets it, so he won't have to face him in an old timers' game.

Later

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

Chip Hale to the Chief being interviewed by Twins. Boston bench coach Torey Lovullo also a candidate.

GM Dan O'Dowd & assistants out of Rockies' front office. O'Dowd had been there 15 years.

[Edgy MD]

Not all the assistants go, though, as his replacement was the team's development director.

Got to think this refuels all the trade-Tulo-and-Gonzalez fires. This guy presumably wouldn't be as wedded to those two guys.

Following that logic, it's hard to avoid the image of Tulowitzki in the Bronx. He'll wear 22 and #2lo will become, like, a thing.

• Everything he does won't be credited to him so much as a noble continuing of Jeter's legacy, a living tribute to the standard bearer of standard bearers.
  
• Everything he fails to do will be a blasphemous disgrace upon Jeter's position/name/digit, and if he doesn't perform well, he'll be hated like A-Rod.

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

I get the impression the Monforts are about as competent as the Wilpons.

The call for some sort of change grew louder and louder from fans this season. Monfort even received emails from angry patrons; he responded by saying that if the fans weren't happy with the bad baseball they were witnessing, maybe they shouldn't come to Coors Field. And that perhaps the city wasn't deserving of a major league team anymore. He later softened his stance. It was Monfort himself who raised expectations by predicting a 90-win season in the spring.

Only Fred would say, "well if you'd only come to CitiField to begin with we wouldn't suck so much!"

[Gwreck]

ESPN reporting that Chip Hale was hired by Arizona.

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

Aw crap. They are going to kill us.

[Frayed Knot]

TEAM	MANAGER	SIGNED THRU	STATUS
METS	Terry Collins	2015 + option for '16
BRAVES	Fredi Gonzalez	2015
PHILLIES	Ryne Sandberg	2016 + option for '17
NATIONALS	Matt Williams	2015 + options for �16 + �17
MARLINS	Mike Redmond	2015
CARDINALS	Mike Matheny	2017
PIRATES	Clint Hurdle	2017 + option for �18
CUBS	Rick Renteria	2016 + options for �17 + �18
REDS	Bryan Price	2016
BREWERS	Ron Roenicke	2015 + option for �16
DODGERS	Don Mattingly	2016
GIANTS	Bruce Bochy	2016
PADRES	Bud Black	2015
DBACKS	Kirk Gibson	2014 -- Fired, Sept 2014	Chip Hale hired for 2015-16
ROCKIES	Walt Weiss	2016
RED SOX	John Farrell	2016
YANKEES	Joe Girardi	2017
ORIOLES	Buck Showalter	2018
BLUE JAYS	John Gibbons	2015 + option for �16
RAYS	Joe Maddon	2015
TIGERS	Brad Ausmus	2016 + option for �17
INDIANS	Terry Francona	2016
ROYALS	Ned Yost	2015
TWINS	Ron Gardenhire	2015	Fired Sept �14
WHITE SOX	Robin Ventura	2014
ANGELS	Mike Scioscia	2018
RANGERS	Ron Washington	2014	Resigned Sept 2014
MARINERS	Lloyd McClendon	201?
ASTROS	Bo Porter	Fired Sept 2014	AJ Hinch - Hired Sept 2014
ATHLETICS	Bob Melvin	2016

[Edgy MD]

Jeff Passan @JeffPassan Sources: John Hart has turned down the Braves' offer to be GM. For now, Atlanta focused on AGM John Coppolella and Royals GM Dayton Moore.

Who doesn't want to be a GM? Who doesn't want to be a a GM of a healthy and an almost perennially contending team?

John Hart doesn't, which is a curiosity. Maybe he feels like all their contracts to second- and third-year players has locked them in too much for the next five years and he would either not be able to build his own squad, or would have to set the team back a few years in order to undo that strategy. I dunno.

Be interesting to see them go after the Royals' GM just as the Royals are wrapping up their most successful season in 29 years.

[Edgy MD]

And how about the Dodgers, stealing Andrew Friedman from the Rays, while still keeping Ned Coletti?

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

Jeff Passan @JeffPassan Sources: John Hart has turned down the Braves' offer to be GM. For now, Atlanta focused on AGM John Coppolella and Royals GM Dayton Moore. Who doesn't want to be a GM? Who doesn't want to be a a GM of a healthy and an almost perennially contending team? John Hart doesn't, which is a curiosity. Maybe he feels like all their contracts to second- and third-year players has locked them in too much for the next five years and he would either not be able to build his own squad, or would have to set the team back a few years in order to undo that strategy. I dunno. Be interesting to see them go after the Royals' GM just as the Royals are wrapping up their most successful season in 29 years.

I get the sense that in general a lot of organization are rethinking how they do shit as a lot of best-laid plans seems to have gone kablooey this year especially. The so-called "good teams" are out of the playoffs, and a lot of clubs that were nominally trying like the Braves and Jays and MFYs were just so meh.

Moore is Braves stock as I recall.

[seawolf17]

Knew I should have applied for the Braves job.

[batmagadanleadoff]

John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: I get the sense that in general a lot of organization are rethinking how they do shit as a lot of best-laid plans seems to have gone kablooey this year especially. The so-called "good teams" are out of the playoffs, and a lot of clubs that were nominally trying like the Braves and Jays and MFYs were just so meh.

Not just this year. The wild card format has profoundly altered the formula for trying to win a World Series. Before the wild card, a front office needed to build a team that, on paper would be expected to win about 95 games in order to have a reasonable chance at the WS crown. 95 wins is about what it took to win a division. But with the wild card in place, a team with less than 90 wins could be expected to play the wild card round. This is a significant change in team construction because those marginal wins above, say, 87 or 88, are the toughest to acquire. And those marginal wins are not as important as they were pre wild-card, if you believe that post-season baseball is a coin-flipping crap-shoot.

Big market, heavy spending teams like the Yankees and Dodgers might be disappointed in qualifying as a wild card, given their payrolls. But the new dynamic is great news for the present Mets who, because of their disastrous finances, can't compete economically with the other big market teams.

Me, I think baseball playoffs are a total crap-shoot, no matter who's playing whom, so I don't see anything as having gone "kablooey".

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

Plans go kablooey, not results. I am also leaning your way on the unpredictability of it all,