Managerial Candidates

[Baseball fandom]

7 minutes ago, O's84 said:

I know you're joking but I wonder, has there been a player who has retired, waited the 5 years before getting elected to the HOF, then decided to play again? I doubt it but I never really thought about it before.

Remember Jim Palmer's come back. Lol. It lasted for a couple of weeks in spring training but yeah I can't think of any. I think Palmer retired after the 84 season I believe he tried to make it again in 90 

[O's84]

43 minutes ago, Baseball fandom said:

Remember Jim Palmer's come back. Lol. It lasted for a couple of weeks in spring training but yeah I can't think of any. I think Palmer retired after the 84 season I believe he tried to make it again in 90 

Can't believe I forgot about that.   Yeah, so he was elected to the HOF in 1990 and tried a comeback in 1991.  So maybe that's as close as we get.  Drungo would probably know.

[Baseball fandom]

46 minutes ago, O's84 said:

Can't believe I forgot about that.   Yeah, so he was elected to the HOF in 1990 and tried a comeback in 1991.  So maybe that's as close as we get.  Drungo would probably know.

I remember the first better he faced was a highly thought of Red Sox prospect  Phil Plantier who Palmer struck out on 3 pitches. It was like wow...I think Phil went up there hacking away at old Jim. Lol

[e16bball]

Enjoyed the manager with the best record in the AL having Gerrit Cole intentionally walk Rafael Devers (.600 OPS in the last month-plus) with one out and the bases empty in the top of the 4th.

Kick-started a meltdown for Cole, who had seen the minimum to that point. He’s now given up 7 runs and was able to record only 3 outs since the IBB — it’s been 5 hits, 2 walks, and 2 HBPs following that call.

[O's84]

54 minutes ago, Baseball fandom said:

I remember the first better he faced was a highly thought of Red Sox prospect  Phil Plantier who Palmer struck out on 3 pitches. It was like wow...I think Phil went up there hacking away at old Jim. Lol

Phil Plantier.  I remember I had a valuable card (can't remember of who) but my dad wanted to trade it with a work colleague for a minor league card of Plantier.  As you alluded to it was thought he was the next big thing.  Sure did miss on that, as did he against Palmer in Spring training.

Edited Saturday at 19:20 by O's84

[BRobinsonfan]

2 hours ago, O's84 said:

Can't believe I forgot about that.   Yeah, so he was elected to the HOF in 1990 and tried a comeback in 1991.  So maybe that's as close as we get.  Drungo would probably know.

Drungo knows all.

[Bahama O's Fan]

With Elias and Sig, forget any old school managers. Only look at names that would be cool with analytics 

[gamiliel]

46 minutes ago, Bahama O's Fan said:

With Elias and Sig, forget any old school managers. Only look at names that would be cool with analytics 

Quote

I think you are right. Moving forward it will be interesting to see how this all plays out in MLB. A guy may be all about analytics, but can he lead other men? I don't know who the O's would replace Hyde with that would make the young guys go "wow" unless it was a Francona.

 

[Jagwar]

Silly thread. Hyde is in charge of a club that has the most injuries of any O's team that I can remember going back to the early 70s. Yet the O's are still a playoff team

[ChuckS]

11 hours ago, e16bball said:

I think it’s pretty wild how much people care about the identity of the manager. And I think it’s patently insane that half the front page is “Hyde sucks” and “Hyde needs to be fired” in various forms. 

Do people really think the manager makes this much difference? Maybe if we take a look around the league, we’ll see how much better managers are changing the game for their teams. 

Who’s got the best record in the AL? Looks like the Yankees, so Aaron Boone must be doing a great job over there. Except…they’re under .500 over the last 3 months, despite a half-billion dollar pitching staff and the two best hitters in baseball. I’m sure he had good reasons for sticking with Clay Holmes in the closer role through 11 blown saves and keeping The Martian down in the minors so he could keep playing Verdugo — folks here wouldn’t have had any opinions on those. 

Okay, so the Yankees are overrated. Who’s the actual best team in the AL right now? Sure looks like it’s the Astros. Household name Joe Espada working his magic, pulling the levers to have them…exactly where Dusty Baker’s had them for the last 7 years, except worse. He’s really managed to whip all those stars on that top 5 payroll into shape.

Stephen Vogt, now there’s a guy who came onto the scene and changed his team from the ground up. Unshackled the Guardians’ offense, freed them from the restrictive old-school dictates imposed by a guy mentioned in the OP of this thread as a great candidate, and gave Steven Kwan license to soar. But wait…they’re also only .500 over the last 3 months. And they’re one of the worst hitting teams in baseball since the ASB (88 wRC+), with Kwan absolutely collapsing to a .620 OPS since July 1. Got momentary power, but lost his ability to hit for average. Oops.

But when it comes to proven managers, Scott Servais has had the Mariners in the mix for years. He’s a steady hand, he’s a strategist, he’s…well, he’s fired. The switch to Dan Wilson gave them a big spark, going from “.500” to “just barely above .500” despite a schedule soft spot. 

Bruce Bochy. Playoff managing genius. One of the greats. All he does is win. I bet his offense would never crater on him. Hope we don’t run into the Rangers in the playoffs.

Kevin Cash. Multi-time manager of the year. Pioneer of clever new strategies. All he does is win. I bet his offense would never crater on him. Hope we don’t run into the Rays in the playoffs.

The Twins and Royals are both likely playoff teams despite reasonable payrolls, so we’ve got to give a huge hat tip to the wonderful work done by…you don’t even know who their managers are, do you? One thing we can say about both of those teams is that they’d definitely still maybe be possible playoff contenders if they didn’t both get the chance to go 12-1 against the White Sox. 

Well, what about the National League then? The Dodgers and the Phillies are at the top of the heap, as they often seem to be. Their managers certainly do a great job — it’s the little things, you know? Like how to properly deploy the half-dozen or more HOFers they have on their rosters, thanks to the 2nd and 4th largest payrolls in the sport. 

I remember there was big manager news in the NL Central this past offseason, though, so let’s check in on that. The Cubs poached rising star Craig Counsell from the rival Brewers. Talk about a game changer! The Cubs gain and the Brewers lose, so it’s a classic double whammy. Quick look at the standings…hmm. The Brewers are leading by a mile and the Cubs are going home. But that’s odd, that’s exactly what happened last year when the Brewers had Counsell and the Cubs didn’t…

The Braves were the best team in baseball in 2023. Brian Snitker absolutely on top of his game, had them clicking on all cylinders. Looks like they’re out of the playoffs as of today. What a disappointment. I wonder if anything happened to make him so bad at his job now.

And just for old time’s sake, probably worth mentioning that the Mets have taken a big step forward by hiring Carlos Mendoza to replace another guy mentioned as a candidate in the OP. Hard to see 81-66 and the fringes of the playoff race as anything but an absolute triumph for baseball’s biggest payroll.

 

Hard to imagine where this Orioles team could be if we had one of those guys. Real managers. The kind of guys that would know exactly how to extract championship caliber contributions from the likes of Burch Smith, Matt Bowman, Cade Povich, Emmanuel Rivera, and Austin Slater. 

You said it many more words, but yea, baseball managers have less impact on the game than any other major sport. Baseball is a culmination of individual performances, which are largely out of a manager’s control. 

Edited Sunday at 03:35 by ChuckS

[sevastras]

14 hours ago, spiritof66 said:

Oriole legend Lew Ford led the Long Island Ducks to a 64-60 record in his first year as manager.  

How can you even type the letters that spell that name?  If he were to become the coach, the entire team would participate in mandatory satanic rituals that include sacrificing children and the mutilation of newborn puppies. I heard from a reliable source that him, who we should not name, once bit the head off a baby kitten nun before going to bat and then mouth kissed the umpire who gave him an automatic home run. 

[Can_of_corn]

5 hours ago, sevastras said:

How can you even type the letters that spell that name?  If he were to become the coach, the entire team would participate in mandatory satanic rituals that include sacrificing children and the mutilation of newborn puppies. I heard from a reliable source that him, who we should not name, once bit the head off a baby kitten nun before going to bat and then mouth kissed the umpire who gave him an automatic home run. 

Why you got to disparage Satan by grouping him with Lew Ford?

[spiritof66]

8 hours ago, sevastras said:

How can you even type the letters that spell that name?  If he were to become the coach, the entire team would participate in mandatory satanic rituals that include sacrificing children and the mutilation of newborn puppies. I heard from a reliable source that him, who we should not name, once bit the head off a baby kitten nun before going to bat and then mouth kissed the umpire who gave him an automatic home run. 

Maybe some of his apparent connections would help the team turn things around.   

I agree I should refer to him as L-- F---.

[dzorange]

14 hours ago, Jagwar said:

Silly thread. Hyde is in charge of a club that has the most injuries of any O's team that I can remember going back to the early 70s. Yet the O's are still a playoff team

With zero contributions from Holliday, Kjerstad and Mayo. This team is trotting out Emmanuel Rivera daily and now Livan Soto because all of the depth is injured.