The list of candidates to be the next manager has slowly shrunk as some of them have taken jobs elsewhere. Eric Wedge, a prime candidate due to his ties to Huntington in Cleveland, has taken the job in Seattle. He was probably tops on the list for many but is now off.
Bo Porter, seemingly a wildcard candidate, known for teaching of fundamentals is reportedly is the favorite for the Marlins job. If Porter is indeed the lead for the Marlins job, then that leaves a list of:
Ken Macha
Jeff Bannister
Dale Sveum
John Gibbons
Carlos Tosca
While I really like Dale Sveum as a choice, have an affinity for Ken Macha, and understand the Jeff Bannister interview, the list is not all that inspiring. Take a look and really you see only 3 organizations truly represented there. You have the most recent top men in Milwaukee and the two of the more recent managers in Toronto that were not Cito Gaston. It is not all that diverse.
Looking at that list, I almost wish that the Bobby Valentine rumors were true as it would at least add some spice to the list.
Speaking of rumors, Buster Olney seems to think that John Gibbons is the favorite. If that is the case put me in with the chorus of fans yelling, "Why!". I mean the fact that Gibbons openly challenge one of his players to a fight is more than enough to tell me something is amiss with him. I am sure others managers have done this, but I cannot think of one that has done it as openly as Gibbons. I would think that this has disaster written all over it.
If the above list of candidates is true, then I am openly hoping for Dale Sveum to be the man.
4 comments:
I vote Dave Lopes. Look at what he has done to the Phillies running game. Imagine if he had tabata and McCutchen with Gorkys on the way.
We'd cause havoc with him as our coach. I wonder if the delay is so they can interview him and Mackanin who are still coaching for the Phillies.
No one has mentioned current Rangers hitting coach and former Rockies manager Clint Hurdle. There is a rumor that a team has contacted the Rangers for permission to speak with him.
Hurdle is semi-interesting because of his past experience managing the Rockies. Davey Lopes is a very intriguing name; I quite agree that he would certainly have a positive impact on the Pirates' badly underutilized team speed. Speed on the basepaths is one of the cheapest methods of boosting a team's offense, though basestealing in general isn't en vogue right now because of sabremetrics. I keep waiting for some team to wake up and realize that most MLB teams have badly slacked off in their ability to defend against the stolen base precisely because it's not emphasized at this point in time. I think Tabata could steal 30, McCutchen 60, and Pedro Ciriaco 40 if he got 450 at bats at short. Hernandez can fly, too, but I don't think he'll hit enough to get more than a cup of coffee in the bigs.
BTW, according to more than one report, Gibbons had fistfights and/or nearly violent confrontations with more than one player while in Toronto. Whether that should eliminate him from consideration in Pittsburgh or not is an interesting question. I think this team could use a screamer who will keep players who are apparently quite comfortable with losing, on their toes. Screamers typically wear out their welcome pretty quickly, though; only Lou Pinella and Earl Weaver among more recent skippers lasted a long time with that style of, uhhh, "relating".
But I don't think it's as open-and-shut a case as you might think. Not with this dirtbag team it isn't.
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