Who will be the next manager?

Who SHOULD be next manager of the Red Sox?

  • Ron Roenicke

    Votes: 62 18.6%
  • Carlos Febles

    Votes: 14 4.2%
  • Dustin Pedroia

    Votes: 12 3.6%
  • Jason Varitek

    Votes: 62 18.6%
  • Billy McMillon

    Votes: 19 5.7%
  • Brad Ausmus

    Votes: 19 5.7%
  • Gene Lamont

    Votes: 5 1.5%
  • Tony Pena

    Votes: 13 3.9%
  • Bam Bam Meulens

    Votes: 51 15.3%
  • Someone Else

    Votes: 76 22.8%

  • Total voters
    333

Mugsy's Jock

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Grabbed the nine names out of the thread that seemed the most plausible to me, although YMMV. Was frustrated there was no room for worthy suggestions Bruce Bochy, Mark Quataro, Tim Hyers, Brad Ausmus, Dale Sveum or Mike Cubbage. I could not bring myself to include Buck Showalter or Bobby Valentine, even in jest.

If another meaningful name emerges in the next day or two, I'll dump one of the low vote-getters and update the poll. Will keep an eye on the thread for suggestions.

Thought the Mike Lowell idea was genius -- commands respect, even-tempered, can handle media, regarded as a knowledgable player, Spanish-speaking, Red Sox icon. I know his one-on-one fielding work with Devers was well-regarded. But no experience and as far as I know has never expressed interest in managing, so I left him out too.
 
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BuellMiller

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I'm not saying it would ever happen (either I'd want him to do it, he'd want to do it, or the FO would want it), but more of a question around the CBA...but say this week Pedroia has a setback with his knee and decides he won't be able to play again. The Red Sox name him interim manager. Could they convert his player salary to a manager salary, thus paying him the same, but removing the money from the luxury tax calculations ? (I guess he'd have to officially retire). Or even if he was not the full manager, but some Schrute-like Assistant to the Manager. Again, purely hypothetical...
 

czar

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I'm not saying it would ever happen (either I'd want him to do it, he'd want to do it, or the FO would want it), but more of a question around the CBA...but say this week Pedroia has a setback with his knee and decides he won't be able to play again. The Red Sox name him interim manager. Could they convert his player salary to a manager salary, thus paying him the same, but removing the money from the luxury tax calculations ? (I guess he'd have to officially retire). Or even if he was not the full manager, but some Schrute-like Assistant to the Manager. Again, purely hypothetical...
My guess is the acceptable way to do this would be to have Pedroia retire, thereby freeing the money on the player salary side, then immediately sign him to some off-field (managerial, assistant, etc.) contract that matches his current salary.
 

Salem's Lot

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I'm not saying it would ever happen (either I'd want him to do it, he'd want to do it, or the FO would want it), but more of a question around the CBA...but say this week Pedroia has a setback with his knee and decides he won't be able to play again. The Red Sox name him interim manager. Could they convert his player salary to a manager salary, thus paying him the same, but removing the money from the luxury tax calculations ? (I guess he'd have to officially retire). Or even if he was not the full manager, but some Schrute-like Assistant to the Manager. Again, purely hypothetical...
No. Furthermore, the last thing that this organization needs while their already under a league investigation is to attempt to do something that is clearly in violation of the CBA. They are stuck with Pedroia’s salary on the CBT books. We all have to accept it and move on.
 

PhabPhour20

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I'm not saying it would ever happen (either I'd want him to do it, he'd want to do it, or the FO would want it), but more of a question around the CBA...but say this week Pedroia has a setback with his knee and decides he won't be able to play again. The Red Sox name him interim manager. Could they convert his player salary to a manager salary, thus paying him the same, but removing the money from the luxury tax calculations ? (I guess he'd have to officially retire). Or even if he was not the full manager, but some Schrute-like Assistant to the Manager. Again, purely hypothetical...
I can't answer the CBA question which is interesting as a thought experiment. But...

It can't be Pedroia after the Apple Watch thing. Sorry. He's my favorite player in baseball history, but he's tainted and they cannot appear to be anything but 100% against any form of cheating.
 

Eddie Jurak

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Related question: given that there is no chance that Cora walks away from this unscathed, shouldn’t the Red Sox put him on administrative leave right now (or just fire him?) and start a manager search?
 

Max Power

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Related question: given that there is no chance that Cora walks away from this unscathed, shouldn’t the Red Sox put him on administrative leave right now (or just fire him?) and start a manager search?
There's no reason they shouldn't be putting out feelers right now for a new manager. Getting rid of Cora isn't a prerequisite for doing so. It feels like we'll know his fate in the next couple of weeks and a manager search would never have reached its conclusion by then anyway.
 

sheamonu

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Pedroia is a logical choice (for interim) even if there is no monetary benefit. You can't really expect a first class manager to take on an interim role, Pedroia is exceptionally baseball smart, he knows the players (who respect him), he would be padding his resume for a position within the organization or elsewhere and it would sit well with the fan base. On the other hand - if you are going to fire Cora and go with a full time option then you have to look to the pool of available talent. Assuming you treat La Russa, Baker and Bochy as too old/never unretiring - who has the pair of sure hands that you can turn this team over to?.
 

YTF

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There's no reason they shouldn't be putting out feelers right now for a new manager. Getting rid of Cora isn't a prerequisite for doing so. It feels like we'll know his fate in the next couple of weeks and a manager search would never have reached its conclusion by then anyway.
Spring training also starts in the next couple of weeks. Not a bad idea to have your manager in place, making contact with his players, setting his coaching staff, get to know the organisation, etc... before the start of camp
 

24redsox

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Spring training also starts in the next couple of weeks. Not a bad idea to have your manager in place, making contact with his players, setting his coaching staff, get to know the organisation, etc... before the start of camp
Agreed 100%. It's just a matter of time before Cora is canned.
 

NDame616

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Pedroia is a logical choice (for interim) even if there is no monetary benefit. You can't really expect a first class manager to take on an interim role, Pedroia is exceptionally baseball smart, he knows the players (who respect him), he would be padding his resume for a position within the organization or elsewhere and it would sit well with the fan base. On the other hand - if you are going to fire Cora and go with a full time option then you have to look to the pool of available talent. Assuming you treat La Russa, Baker and Bochy as too old/never unretiring - who has the pair of sure hands that you can turn this team over to?.
I assure you, having a current player on the Red Sox be the manager is not "the logical choice"
 

The_Powa_of_Seiji_Ozawa

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Though unlikely, Pedroia taking over for Alex Cora would bring his career full circle, from the time people were calling for Pedroia to be benched during his rookie year in favor of Alex Cora.
 

cornwalls@6

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I think this needs to be someone from outside of the organization, or more to the point, outside the big league club. I know Roenicke seems like a logical choice, at least on an interim basis, but if he's in anyway implicated in what the Sox were doing, and it defies believability to think he didn't at least have knowledge of it, I don't think he's a viable option. I think that goes for anyone who's been in the dugout over the last two years. Don't really have a name in mind, but I think that's where the search should be directed.
 
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JimD

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Just to throw a name out there, what about Gary DiSarcina?
Farrell's bench coach during the Apple watch saga. Right or wrong, I think they need to avoid anyone who was around for that.
 

uncannymanny

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Perusing some of the recent candidates:

Hensley Meulens
Mark Loretta
Bochy?

Not a great time of the year to be looking.
 

bohous

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Farrell's bench coach during the Apple watch saga. Right or wrong, I think they need to avoid anyone who was around for that.
Yeah, I didn't make that connection that was the same year. The reason I mentioned him was because he has the Boston connection, but still clean of the current fiasco. I agree that being complicit (or even appearing to be) in the Apple Watch business would be a bad look.
 

InsideTheParker

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Perusing some of the recent candidates:

Hensley Meulens
Mark Loretta
Bochy?

Not a great time of the year to be looking.
I remember being impressed by Meulens during one of the off-season tournaments. According to wikipedia, it must have been the Baseball World Cup in 2011. As he's interviewed for and not made the cut by several mlb teams, I'm sure he'd leap at the chance to manage the Sox. It's hard to imagine Bochy wanting to relocate to Boston at this stage of his life, but I'm always being surprised by the doings in sport.
 

uncannymanny

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I remember being impressed by Meulens during one of the off-season tournaments. According to wikipedia, it must have been the Baseball World Cup in 2011. As he's interviewed for and not made the cut by several mlb teams, I'm sure he'd leap at the chance to manage the Sox. It's hard to imagine Bochy wanting to relocate to Boston at this stage of his life, but I'm always being surprised by the doings in sport.
Same here. He seemed like an on-the-cusp candidate, but at this point we can move too soon on a promising guy.
 

SoxJox

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Pedroia is a logical choice (for interim) even if there is no monetary benefit. You can't really expect a first class manager to take on an interim role, Pedroia is exceptionally baseball smart, he knows the players (who respect him), he would be padding his resume for a position within the organization or elsewhere and it would sit well with the fan base. On the other hand - if you are going to fire Cora and go with a full time option then you have to look to the pool of available talent. Assuming you treat La Russa, Baker and Bochy as too old/never unretiring - who has the pair of sure hands that you can turn this team over to?.
Not that I think he's an attractive candidate, but La Russa isn't retired - at least not as an executive. The Angel's hired him as a senior advisor last Fall.
 

YTF

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In one of the other threads Jason Varitek was mentioned several times as a possible candidate to replace Cora. I have no idea whether or not he has any desire for the job, but I wonder how he might be as pitching coach. His detailed game prep is legendary and from all that I recall the pitching staff loved throwing to him which tells me that he related well to his pitchers. He serves as a special assistant these days as does Pedro who works with pitchers in the spring and periodically during the season. Outside of the qualities I think/hope Tek would bring to the position, I'm curious if he could get Pedro a tad more involved. Special mentoring projects projects perhaps. I'm guessing if Bloom has any say in Cora's replacement we're looking toward a young, analytics type. Let a guy like Tek focus on the pitching staff and supplement what the manager brings in terms of analytics.
 

absintheofmalaise

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Matt Quatraro, currently the bench coach in Tampa, will be a strong candidate if/when a new, non-interim manager is hired.
IIRC, it's usual to have an agreement that you won't hire coaches/FO people from your last team when you get a new position with another team. Because this would be a promotion would that not be in play in this situation?
 

oumbi

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IIRC, it's usual to have an agreement that you won't hire coaches/FO people from your last team when you get a new position with another team. Because this would be a promotion would that not be in play in this situation?
Negotiations are always possible.
 

Harry Hooper

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Though unlikely, Pedroia taking over for Alex Cora would bring his career full circle, from the time people were calling for Pedroia to be benched during his rookie year in favor of Alex Cora.
Terrific.

Hold a raffle for the benefit of the Jimmy Fund and the Red Sox Foundation. The holder of the winning ticket gets to manage the team this year. They could raise millions.
 

JimD

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Given the unusual circumstances, the Rays should be willing to negotiate with Bloom for Quatraro's services.
 

snowmanny

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I’m still on team Farrell. He won two division titles and lost in 2017 but it was to that cheater Alex Cora who then stole his job. Farrell was much beloved on this board IIRC. Or maybe that was someone else. No matter. Fair is fair.
 

Eddie Jurak

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nvalvo

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Pedroia is a logical choice (for interim) even if there is no monetary benefit. You can't really expect a first class manager to take on an interim role, Pedroia is exceptionally baseball smart, he knows the players (who respect him), he would be padding his resume for a position within the organization or elsewhere and it would sit well with the fan base. On the other hand - if you are going to fire Cora and go with a full time option then you have to look to the pool of available talent. Assuming you treat La Russa, Baker and Bochy as too old/never unretiring - who has the pair of sure hands that you can turn this team over to?.
Pedroia was involved in the Apple Watch incident.
 

TonyPenaNeverJuiced

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It's hard to imagine the Sox doing a full-blown managerial search between now and the season starting, let alone spring training. Even "putting out feelers" would be a lot to do/ask. Bringing in someone from outside the organization would be tough - do you let them pick their own staff? Do you consider the entire previous staff tainted and let them have free reign? Again, hard to picture in a short time-frame and with questions still hanging over the team for punishment.

So if Cora goes down/Sox take him out before punishments, I would have to think the option is an internal one. I love the idea of Pedroia, but do we have anything other than pure speculation to say 1. this could happen 2. he would want it? (Also, as noted above, he's not scott-free in these scandals).

And do you risk naming someone from the current staff if they are "tainted" in the scandal? I don't know if you can name Roenicke if there's even a slight chance he's involved or knew about the scheme. Same goes for everyone coach in the last two years.

My hope (not a guess) would be Billy McMillon. Long-time org guy, knows the young guys, managed almost every Sox drafted player on the MLB roster. If we need stability and quickly, I think that's the direction to go, and it seems he wants to be an MLB manager (article form 2018).