No managerial speculation
Hi all.
We’ve received a couple of requests in email and in the comments to other articles asking us to speculate on possible managerial replacements for Melvin. Now that (I know you’re all shocked) the rest of the local media’s now agreed on the “Melvin’s a fired man walking” story, there’s a lot of speculation on who’s available, who’s good, and so on.
I’m not going to speculate on this until he’s actually fired. He will be fired, but I’d like to put off the “who’s next” for a while. It just seems… it doesn’t seem right, and there’s nothing to be gained from speculating on a possible replacement a couple weeks early.
That’s my thought, though — Dave and Jason may well post a detailed breakdown later today on their thoughts on who might replace Melvin.
Comments
11 Responses to “No managerial speculation”
i know this is presumptuous to say the least, but has anybody, anywhere mentioned edgar?
Lyle,
I’m sure people have mentioned Edgar. I’m not sure it’d be a good idea right away, plus he’s said he plans on spending time with his family for awhile. And it’s highly unlikely they’ll hire a manager with absolutely no coaching experience, even in the minors…
That said, I think it would be fun to see what would happen with Molitor as manager and Edgar as hitting coach.
That’s probably too much inexperience, but heck, it’s not Melvin….and bring in Bone as the bench coach.
Ha!
What makes you think Molitor’s going to be a good manager? A HOF career? How many titles has Frank Robinson won?
If you’re basing it on his work as the Mariner batting coach…well, I don’t see anything that impresses me.
I don’t see why we should import ANOTHER cipher as a field manager. At least Rohn’s done it before.
I appreciate you guys holding back. Let lesser blogs run rampant with rumor-riddled speculation. Maintain your credibility by not playing that game.
Whoa there eponymous…
I thought I made it clear that my suggestion was whimsical at best. I was just playing around. I’ll try to more clear.
Molitor’s not the guy I’d want running the show. And, if anyone’s going to offer him a job it’s probably Toronto.
As for Frank Robinson, given the hand he’s been dealt in Montréal, I think he’s doing a great job.
I’m not sure it matters who manages the team on the field if Bavasi keeps giving him lousy players. Anyone who won’t descend into Melvin’s Pavlovian bunting and bullpen management founded in risk-aversion tending toward paranoia should be vaguely capable.
I do not think Molitor’s performance as hitting coach has enhanced his managerial credentials. Given that no one on the team has hit as well as expected this year. No one. Other than Ichiro, who did it despite Molitor’s coaching.
You’d think even with dumb luck that someone would have done better than expected.
Although DMZ doesn’t want to post possible managerial candidates, I have no problem doing so, in rough order of prefence:
Don Baylor: he has experience, and wasn’t a bad skipper at all. From what little I know of him, he seems like a bit of a stern manager. He was the first manager of the Rockies, and guided them to the best four-year record for an expansion team. He also managed the Cubs for 2 1/2 years. The team was horrible when he got them, improved to a winning record in the second year, and he was let go after they were loosing in his third season. The guy has had success as a skipper. He was also a very successful player, with an MVP trophy and was on seven teams that made it to the postseason, including the world series. He is defanitely the most high-profile choice that is without a job right now.
Dan Rohn: He has been great as the mananger of the Raniers, but is very short of big-league experience. I think that he would be a good, cheap choice, but would probably be best as a bench coach or in some other capacity first.
Jimy Williams: NO! Why? The Astros are tying to get Baylor to replace Williams. Actually, the Astros are trying to get Baylor to replace the guy who replaced Williams. Do you see where I am going here?
Tony Pena: If KC cans him, he would be a good skipper. His team sucks, so you can’t hold that against him. He is a players manager, but has a lot of credibility. I like him.
Sleepers:
Tom Kelly: he is probably not going to manage any team. But he did great great things with the Twins. He is an elite manager. He would be the perfect candidate.
Lou Pinella: this is totally impossible, but would be the best thing that the M’s front office could do to convince the fans that they are doing everything to get better. Pay him a ton, convice him that we are going to sign some decent players, then prove it to him by signing Beltran, Beltre, Pavano, and Lowe. If he came in and saved the M’s for a second time, he would become perhaps the biggest Seattle Sports icon.
Beyond that, I would think that the new manager should be able to pick his managerial staff. But I think that Edgar would make an awesome batting coach. The M’s might be smart to get a new pitching coach also. Perhaps Molitor could be the bench coach.
Don Baylor? You’ve got to be kidding me. You think MELVIN bunts too much? Baylor was a bunt happy, play for one run guy in COLORADO, for God’s sake, where curveballs go to be 3 run homers. That and he leaves starters in WAY too long…ugh, we’re screwed if we get Baylor. Totally screwed.
If Jimy Williams or Terry Collins is hired as manager, then that would be the biggest slap in the face to Mariners fans.
But I’m used to being slapped in the face. So expect the M’s to screw this up.
You don’t want Baylor, he’s as anti-sabermetric as they come.