108 Stitches is, the linked column isn't and no, I don't clear all my cookies, just the Globe ones.
Potential Red Sox manager candidates
- Thread starter The Gray Eagle
- Start date
I think Cora would do great for the kids. He has this way of making everyone comfortable and happy. He kept Manny in line. I get this feeling that Xander, Mookie and JBJ all beat themselves up too much at times, especially Xander. Maybe losing Papi's personality could be replaced by Cora.
This was mentioned by Pete Abe or Speier in the Globe today, and that there was no personality in the clubhouse this year to keep things light in these situations. (And that Lovullo was one of those personalities)
Neither part of that commentary would surprise me at all, nor the implication that keeping clubhouse culture lively is something the Sox will be thinking about as a factor in their manager hire.
I’d bet Brock Holt was trying to be that guy... but it’s not like he was gonna tape Sale to a pole in the dugout when he was concussed.
I also recall Vazquez providing some of that mood lift throughout parts of the season.
"Stay loose." That's what Papi said was one of the keys to being a good hitter. Or he said something like that. Either way, I put it up on my fridge as a daily reminder. It's also a key to leading a good life. It's harder to be good at something if you're miserable while doing it.
I don't like the idea that our core young players are getting high strung, distracted, and not reaching their potential because they don't have a "stay loose" Big Papi style leader, they have a "lets take everything too seriously" David Price style leader instead. That can't be good for the sports psyche.
We hate intangibles here, but the managerial position and club leadership should be concerned with creating the right outlook, as Tito would say, "Not getting too high or too low."
By the way, I am not in any of these clubhouses and I know nothing, but you've all sold me on Alex Cora.
I don't like the idea that our core young players are getting high strung, distracted, and not reaching their potential because they don't have a "stay loose" Big Papi style leader, they have a "lets take everything too seriously" David Price style leader instead. That can't be good for the sports psyche.
We hate intangibles here, but the managerial position and club leadership should be concerned with creating the right outlook, as Tito would say, "Not getting too high or too low."
By the way, I am not in any of these clubhouses and I know nothing, but you've all sold me on Alex Cora.
Really? I agree that Showalter is a wound-too-tight jerk but he also is bad enough at bullpen management that he is infamous for costing his team the AL Wild Card game last year. I would have hoped that -at the very least- that disaster of a performance would have ended any talk of Showalter and bullpen savviness.
http://mlb.nbcsports.com/2016/10/05/buck-showalter-cost-the-orioles-the-al-wild-card-game-by-not-using-a-healthy-zach-britton/
You have expressed dislike for Ausmus, at least twice. I know little about him. What specifically are your concerns?
Not sure what RC's concerns are, but from what I've read there are a legitimate reasons to be concerned about how Ausmus will cope with the Boston media, as he apparently struggled mightily to cope with what he perceived to be the incessant negativity of the Detroit press.
I'm a bit surprised by the amount of Alex Cora love here. As you suggested, most of the support is based on personality, temperament and other intangibles, which are great qualities for a bench coach. I sense that it has a lot to do with him being the shiniest toy in the box. I mean, he seems like a great guy and I agree he would probably keep a loose clubhouse but I'm not sure I'm ready to turn over the keys to a guy whose entire coaching resume is 2 years as a bench coach. Maybe if we were in rebuilding mode but with a team that should still be in contention for the foreseeable future I would prefer a guy who isn't learning on the job.
I just don't think he's anything special. Gammons always genuflects at the feet of anyone who went to a prestigious college. So fucking what? He didn't seem very bad or very good managing the Tigers just . . blah. I vaguely remember a few moves by him that I thought were bad but not enough so that I think of him as a stooge. I just don't think there's anything in particular to recommend him if you don't gasp at that fact of him attending this or that school.
Oh, I think that choice was nuts, too and to me it was especially stunning for Showalter. Because on the typical regular season game against the Sox he always seemed to have an idea what the hell he was going to do. And, unlike Farrell, he seemed to be able to watch a pitcher and see, fairly quickly, that he just didn't have it that night.
Dombrowski interviewing Alex Cora over the weekend.
https://www.bostonglobe.com/sports/redsox/2017/10/14/dave-dombrowski-expected-interview-alex-cora-for-red-sox-managerial-opening/46wkCt2z0ZVdB929oVHWuN/amp.html
https://www.bostonglobe.com/sports/redsox/2017/10/14/dave-dombrowski-expected-interview-alex-cora-for-red-sox-managerial-opening/46wkCt2z0ZVdB929oVHWuN/amp.html
This is my concern as well. I don't really think the "hire a recent player with no experience" trend has gone that well. Ventura, Ausmus, Cash, Matheny all have been mediocre to bad.
I think some of the love Cora gets on SOSH also has to do with the fact that his Major League coaching experience has been in Houston, widely considered the most analytically -minded team in all of baseball. The hope is that Cora could be a manager who is not only good at managing the personalities in the clubhouse but also open to and familiar with a more analytical approach.
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Dave Roberts, Torey Lovullo and Paul Molitor have had some success as first time managers. And Matheny has been at the helm of a team that's finished 1st in his division three times, 2nd twice and had his first bad season in 2017. Characterizing him as "mediocre to bad" is going to require some attempt to back that claim up.
While I like the notion that Cora may be analtyically-minded, the bigger concern is whether there's analytics for him to work from. Dave Cameron reports that the Red Sox have fallen behind the curve in that regard over the last few years, and given the departure of so many baseball ops folks from the Theo/Ben legacy seemingly without replacement, I feel like the concern is real.
But even without the leading edge analytics, if Cora is less a hunch guy and more a play the percentages guy, I'd take him over guys who come with an old-school reputation, even if they have more practical experience in the job.
Cora does have experience managing in the winter leagues in addition to his time in the Houston dugout. That's certainly a step up from the never coached at all guys like Ventura or Matheny.
But even without the leading edge analytics, if Cora is less a hunch guy and more a play the percentages guy, I'd take him over guys who come with an old-school reputation, even if they have more practical experience in the job.
Cora does have experience managing in the winter leagues in addition to his time in the Houston dugout. That's certainly a step up from the never coached at all guys like Ventura or Matheny.
Can’t speak for others, but living in Ann Arbor, I see more Tigers games than any other team besides the Red Sox. Ausmus seems like an okay guy, but his teams lack spark. That’s a clubhouse leadership thing, but if there’s not a team leader player lighting fires under teammates, it’s a manager’s job. Ausmus’s bulllpen management is highly suspect, but that may be because the Tigers usually have a shitty bullpen. Third, I think Ausmus will get eaten alive by Boston sportswriters. In short, he’s not a terrible choice, but not an upgrade either.
I don't really undetrstand how this is something Cameron would be of knowledge to. Fangraphs doesn't have this level of access, do they?
I'm not taking issue with Cora as a first time manager but that he lacks much coaching/managerial experience at all. Both Molitor and Lovullo both had years of coaching experience. Roberts and Matheny are the obvious exceptions but Roberts also inherited a very talented team that had won the division their previous 3 years. I guess using those 2 as a reference Cora would also be inheriting a pretty good team with recent winning division records but its asking a lot of somebody so green to come into an environment like Boston and win immediately.
Gammons has been marketing Cora as a manager since his time on the Red Sox. I think that's part of the reason he seems to be emerging as a leading candidate among the fans (here and elsewhere). As noted above Gammons can be biased to a fault. Membership in his Special People™ club is a membership for life. That said I do hope that Cora is the guy. Outside of the Gammonsverse he seems a well regard, smart baseball guy.
This tweet from MLB's StatCast guy is par for the course when people are talking about Alex Cora.
This tweet from MLB's StatCast guy is par for the course when people are talking about Alex Cora.
If he were alive, I think Gammons would pump Lowell George for the RS job.
Seems to be a desire in the organization to lighten up the clubhouse. When does this guy get his interview?
I should have known about the winter leagues managing experience. That is quite reasssuring then.
What isn't reassuring is your first paragraph. But it would explain why the Red Sox starting pitchers have been uniformly among the worst performers in the playoffs for 2 years running.
A Dominican paper says he will be interviewed Sunday for the Sox job.
http://www.proceso.com.do/noticias/2017/10/14/alex-cora-será-entrevistado-para-puesto-dirigente-de-medias-rojas
http://www.proceso.com.do/noticias/2017/10/14/alex-cora-será-entrevistado-para-puesto-dirigente-de-medias-rojas
Maybe a sign they want to go fast and have a manager and coaches before free agency starts.
Maybe they can get this guy:Seems to be a desire in the organization to lighten up the clubhouse. When does this guy get his interview?
Ninety percent — or more — of a manager’s job happens behind closed doors. Personality, temperament and “other intangibles” are to me exactly the qualities a manager should have. As others in this thread have pointed out, some smart, personable, good-communicator types with little managerial experience have been quite successful and some haven’t. Ron Gardenhire has loads of managerial experience but no one seems to be clamoring to hire him.
From what I glean from various stories, Farrell wasn’t fired because of his bullpen usage or lineup construction. He was fired because the clubhouse was splintered and players didn’t know where they stood with him or what their roles were.
The job is called “manager” not “tactician.”
At this point, as long as it's not Ausmus or Gardenhire or someone like them, I'll be happy enough with it. Someone younger and not only able, but willing to utilize what the analytics department has to offer is necessary to compete in MLB today. I don't think any team with someone like Ausus at the helm can hope to be truly competitive.
This is where I am as well. I'm still concerned about this move overall, but if it's someone like Cora, I feel like there is reason for optimism.
They should really get a room.
Cora! Cora! Cora! for me please. Then get Otani a ticket on the next aircraft carrier headed this way.
Cora! Cora! Cora! for me please. Then get Otani a ticket on the next aircraft carrier headed this way.
Given the clarity of that tweet, someone may have hacked into PG's twitter account.
When making deals, Dombrowski does tend to move with dispatch. Hiring a manager is not the same as trading for a player, though.
If Cora really is as hot a candidate as he appears to be, and if DD really wants him, I expect him to move very, very quickly.
Welp.
Sources: #RedSox have asked permission to interview #Dbacks’ Gardenhire. Interview with #Astros’ Cora is today, per @Dan_Shaughnessy.
Sources: #RedSox have asked permission to interview #Dbacks’ Gardenhire. Interview with #Astros’ Cora is today, per @Dan_Shaughnessy.
I don't understand the interest in Gardenhire. Maybe he took a course in Sabermetrics and he can now bring that element to managing, but sure of that I don't see the appeal. Anybody able to give a glass half full interpretation to this?
Hire Farrell?
Seriously, I have no idea what Gardenhire brings to the table. If the top two candidates come down to Gardenhire/Ausmus, then this organizing is turning back the clock on FO/Manager. And not in a good way.
Well, this hire will give us some insight into Dombrowski. If he hires Gardenhire/Ausmus, then he really just wants "his guy" in there.
This is why I opposed firing Farrell. I think Cora has a chance to be an upgrade, but there is almost limitless downside.
Managerial hires are terrifying turning points, for too little benefit: a good one helps slightly and a bad one is catastrophic.
Managerial hires are terrifying turning points, for too little benefit: a good one helps slightly and a bad one is catastrophic.