Mariners' search for skipper set to heat up

[TellItToTheDA]

http://seattle.mariners.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20100925&content_id=15076176&notebook_id=15076178&vkey=notebook_sea&c_id=sea


Several potential candidates have emerged via various media reports, including former big league managers Bobby Valentine, former Mariners second baseman Joey Cora, a semi-finalist two years ago, Spokane native Ryne Sandberg if he doesn't get the Cubs' managerial job, and possibly Dusty Baker.

The Reds manager has often expressed a desire to work in Seattle and his contract with Cincinnati expires at the end of this season.

[JosephC]

Good topic. Who is everyone's favorites on here?

I don't want to see Joey Cora. Do we really want to see one of the last of the 1995 Mariner players get fired after another bad year of baseball? I also don't think he has what it takes to lead the Mariners. Bobby Valentine would have to be my pick. I think he has what it takes to lead the team.

[JosephC]

Also, why the heck isn't Fredi Gonzalez considered? He'd be my top choice, over Valentine.

[TellItToTheDA]

Also, why the heck isn't Fredi Gonzalez considered? He'd be my top choice, over Valentine.

Well, let's be honest, after he turned down an interview with the Cubs, it's clear that he's the super duper front runner in Atlanta. He's not coming.

I know this isn't the popular opinion, but I'm really intrigued by the idea of Dusty Baker taking over.

[clarknova]

I've heard Fredi Gonzalez has a hand shake deal to take the job over in Atlanta after Cox retires this season. Apparently it's done.

Baker? He'd be fine. He managed Barry Bonds... He can handle ego.
I'm fine with anyone that doesn't meddle with talent. That's the thing I hate about managers. A good manager for me would be someone who will let the players play and manage their neurosis on and off the field.
No Cora for the same reason as JosephC.
Sandberg? Whatever.
Bobby V? Yeah, that's fine.
Is this really all we have to choose from?

[Nateyb24]

No one comes to mind right now i want an experienced Manager who demands respect but i don't want Baker he ruins pitchers. Wouldn't mind Valentine but hes already came out and said he doesn't want to manage for us.

[TellItToTheDA]

No one comes to mind right now i want an experienced Manager who demands respect but i don't want Baker he ruins pitchers. Wouldn't mind Valentine but hes already came out and said he doesn't want to manage for us.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/thehotstoneleague/2012608619_bobby_valentine_reportedly_wou.html


Valentine is not commenting, but friends of Valentine say that it is a job that he would be greatly interested in.

[Nateyb24]

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/thehotstoneleague/2012608619_bobby_valentine_reportedly_wou.html

That was august 12th Buster Olney came out and said someone related to Valentine said that Valentine is definitley not interested in the job. But who knows maybe he changes his tune. Can't blame him with the team he would be inheriting though.

[clarknova]

http://www.daytondailynews.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/dayton/cincinnatireds/entries/2010/09/30/baker_will_sign_a_new_reds_con.html

Looks like Dusty Baker is a no go.

[clarknova]

Ken Macha is getting the axe in Milwaukee. Another name for the list, destined to be connected due to his connection to Jack via the Brewers and the fact that he has been offered the job before (managing the M's), but turned it down. Was also offered the job of "special adviser" or something to Bill Bavasi and turned that down (can't imagine why). Won two AL West championships with the A's.

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=5645745

In other managerial hilarity news. The Pirates are firing their manager (John Russell... I know, who?). Totally his fault. The front office CLEARLY gave him the talent he needed to win.

[JosephC]

How about John Farrell?


Sources have informed CSN New England that Red Sox pitching coach John Farrell may be in the running for the Blue Jays' managerial vacancy.
The Mariners are also expected to interview Farrell, who has served as the Red Sox's pitching coach since the end of the 2006 season. He has a good thing going in Boston and has declined interviews about head jobs in the past, but it sounds like he may finally be willing to move along this winter. The Red Sox could lose a few other coaches to openings around baseball.

[clarknova]

http://www.prorumors.com/2010/10/rumors/bobby-valentine-is-the-frontrunner-to-manage-the-marlins/

We'll see.

Oh, and I thought this was interesting. I think it'd be nice to see Wakamatsu land on his feet. Chicago is a rough town to manage in. You have to have a pretty tough skin. We're just whiny here, they're brutal. (I meant the press, not the fans. I won't talk trash about M's fans).

http://blog.thenewstribune.com/mariners/

[Nateyb24]

That was august 12th Buster Olney came out and said someone related to Valentine said that Valentine is definitley not interested in the job. But who knows maybe he changes his tune. Can't blame him with the team he would be inheriting though.

Ok maybe i am wrong Igoe sorry just heard on 710 theyre going to interview Bobby and 3 others one of them being Gibbins they want to hire the next manager before the world series is over unless i heard wrong.

Still surprised Valentine is going to the interview maybe there going to offer enough $$ because i can't imagine a veteran wanting to manage a team void of talent except for a few pieces.


The search for a new Mariners manager intensifies this week as Jack Zduriencik is scheduled to begin interviewing candidates. John Gibbons is expected to interview, as is former Indians manager Eric Wedge.

According to sources, there are two more names to add to the list. One is not a surprise as Bobby Valentine will indeed be considered and very well may be the front-runner.

Then there is a new name. Also interviewing this week will be former Astros skipper Cecil Cooper. An interesting name.

In addition to holding a .298 batting average over his 17-year career, Cooper held the positions of scout, farm director and bench coach for the Brewers. He also spent time as a player agent following the end of his playing career.

The Mariners hope to have a manager named before the World Series.



http://www.mynorthwest.com/category/mariners_blog_articles/20101011/Four-candidates-interviewing-this-week/

[JosephC]

I am most curious why these guys even want to interview, just to get burned at the stake like the last set of managers we've had.

[clarknova]

I am most curious why these guys even want to interview, just to get burned at the stake like the last set of managers we've had.

Shhhh! Maybe they didn't hear about that.

[clarknova]

Via Larry Stone's twitter:


Sources: Bobby Valentine was in Seattle on Monday interviewing for Seattle managerial job; Lloyd McClendon will interview this week.

I know McClendon from when he managed the Pirates. I like him. Ignore his record. He was perennially given a terrible team that had it's stars stripped each year and traded for minor league players. Nobody can coach the Pirates under current ownership to wins.... Or the M's for that matter, we just have to hope we're given better players. He's got a lot of Lou in him. He's calm but can be fiery. He once pulled a base out of the ground after getting ejected and just left with it. Took it with him into the clubhouse. His players mounted the base and put it on display.
LOL. I just checked. He has never managed a team that had a winning record! That's the thing about these guys that we should keep in mind. If he had managed the Yankees in 2001, or the M's, would he have had a losing record? I think not. Talent. Talent wins. Field managers fill out line up cards, make pitching changes, and navigate overpaid baby neurosis. I'd be stoked if we went with McClendon.

[Nateyb24]

I heard if Z was really given full reigns as to who would be the next manager it would be Simmons. ^ Probaly not but the Yankees and Red Sox have like a 2billion dollar payroll (Not really that much) so they can just buy talent when there farm isn't producing it although they have had a few good players come up but even then they spend alot in the draft because they can.

[clarknova]

^ Probaly not but the Yankees and Red Sox have like a 2billion dollar payroll (Not really that much) so they can just buy talent when there farm isn't producing it although they have had a few good players come up but even then they spend alot in the draft because they can.

Beside the point. Regardless of how talent is acquired, talent usually wins. Joe Torre didn't make the 2001 Yankees (the example I used) good. Jeter, Williams, O'Neil, Justice, Mussina, Clemens, and Rivera did. Incidentally, most of that roster was either home grown, or acquired via trade.

Derek Jeter, Mariano Rivera, Bernie Williams, Andy Pettitte, Jorge Posada, Orlando "El Duque" Hernandez, and Alfonso Soriano were all products of the Yankees system.

Roger Clemens, David Justice, Tino Martinez, Paul O'Neil, Chuck Knoblach, Ted Lilly, and Scott Brosius were all acquired via trades.

Mike Mussina signed as a free agent.

The Yankees are well known for buying up talent and overspending, but I think it's important to note that the best Yankees teams from the early part of this decade had talent acquired via the draft, international scouting, and creative trades. It's when those players started to age and decline that things got crazy trying to keep the machine rolling. The Yankees of the 1990s were average to good, and the 1980's Yankees were aweful. In 2001 They still spent slightly more than any other team, but the spent mostly on talent that they had either grown, or traded for with the exception of Mussina.

I hated them then, I hate them now, and I'll hate them until my last breath, but they were a well run team in those days that was far from the Daddy Warbucks ego machine we see today.