Category Archives: Management

September 23, 2024

For Whom the Bell Tolls

The Reds fired manager David Bell:

Bell, 52, received a three-year contract extension in July 2023 after the surprising Reds surged into contention following a 100-loss season in 2022. With an exciting young core that included shortstop Elly De La Cruz and a cadre of talented arms, the Reds were expected to be in play for a National League Central title.

Instead, they faltered, with injury and underperformance leading to a 76-81 record and fourth-place standing.
ESPN.com

Bell’s teams were around .500 for most of his time there, with one really poor season in 2022. Given all the injuries this season, 76-81 isn’t all that bad.

Sometime teams don’t need steady. Sometimes teams need a manager who will criticize things that other teams see as good.

I suspect the Reds success next season will depend on how healthy they get, rather than who they hire.

September 16, 2024

More Cora Discipline?

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Red Sox manager Alex Cora may be in trouble over a missed attempt to hit Aaron Judge with a pitch:

One day after Red Sox manager Alex Cora seemed to admit his team tried to intentionally hit Yankees star Aaron Judge with a pitch after Rafael Devers was punked early in Saturday’s game, Major League Baseball is investigating the batter.

The league is looking into if the Red Sox violated any rules when right-hander Brayan Bello threw a pitch behind Judge in the sixth inning of Saturday’s 7-1 win. It’s possible Cora and Bello could face league discipline in the form of warnings, fines or suspensions.
MassLive.com

Or could it be more? This would not be the first time Cora flouted the rules of the game. He already lost time from his managerial duties due to cheating. Will MLB see this as an isolated incident or a second strike?

August 22, 2024

Servais’s Services No Longer Needed

The Mariners fired manager Scott Servais:

Dan Wilson, the longtime Mariners catcher who had been serving as a coordinator in the organization’s minor league system, will step in as the interim manager, sources said.

“We believe that we need a new voice in the clubhouse,” general manager Jerry Dipoto said. “Dan knows our team and has been a key member of our organization working with players at every level over the past 11 years. He is well respected within and outside of our clubhouse and we are confident he will do a great job in leading our group over the final six weeks of the season and moving forward.

“I do want to thank Scott for all his efforts here in Seattle over the past nine seasons. He has poured his passion into the team and our community and I know I speak for the entire Mariners organization in thanking him for has hard work.”
ESPN.com

The Mariners, scoring less than four runs per game, fired their hitting coach as well. The team only has three batters with decent OBPs, and none of them have over 200 AB. Cal Raleigh owns the highest slugging percentage on the team at a paltry .436, and makes a ton of outs.

The AL West was ripe for the Mariners to win this year, and the team blew it. Servais takes the fall.

August 8, 2024

White Sox Change Socks

The White Sox fired manager Pedro Grifol:

With their season trending toward historically awful, the Chicago White Sox have fired manager Pedro Grifol, the team announced Thursday. Grady Sizemore has been named the interim manager for the rest of the 2024 season.

“As we all recognize, our team’s performance this season has been disappointing on many levels,” GM Chris Getz said in a statement. “Despite the on-field struggles and lack of success, we appreciate the effort and professionalism Pedro and the staff brought to the ballpark every day. These two seasons have been very challenging. Unfortunately, the results were not there, and a change is necessary as we look to our future and the development of a new energy around the team.”

The White Sox also fired bench coach Charlie Montoyo, third-base coach Eddie Rodriguez and assistant hitting coach Mike Tosar. In their places, Doug Sisson (bench coach), Justin Jirschele (third-base coach) and Mike Gellinger (assistant hitting coach) have been promoted.
CBSSports.com

When Grifol was hired, he was described as a man who is detailed oriented, smart, and a good communicator. I posed this question, however:

What I find interesting is that the Royals did not promote him. This may not be a knock against Grifol; sometimes a team really wants to go in a new direction and just clears out the staff. From reading the article, he does seem very talented, and it’s seldom a good idea to allow talented individuals to get away.
BaseballMusings.com

Maybe the Royals knew something the White Sox didn’t. There were a number of posts on culture issues in the Chicago clubhouse last season.

Sizemore was a pretty good hitter and an okay outfielder. I’m not sure what he can do with the team; there’s not a lot of talent left. He needs to find a way to win 13 more games.

August 1, 2024

Smashing the Ball

2 Replies

In 2023, the Cleveland Guardians hit 124 home runs, the fewest in the American League. On Thursday night they hit three homers in a 10-3 rout of the Orioles to bring their season total to 123. That’s in the middle of the pack in the AL but a huge improvement over the previous season. It’s a big reason they are scoring 4.64 runs per game, up from 4.09 R/G in 2023.

This was new manager Stephen Vogt‘s philosophy coming into the season:

Stephen Vogt examined the roster when he was hired as the team’s new manager in November and concluded the Guardians should not be last in the Majors in home runs, as they were in 2023 when they homered 124 times.

“We’re going to work on improving swing speed and swing decisions to swing at pitches that we can do damage on and really put an emphasis on it,” Vogt said in November. “There’s not much more you can do, but we’re hoping to get a lot more power and impact the baseball a lot better.”
MSN.com

The players bought into the philosophy, and the Guardians own the best record in baseball.

July 24, 2024

Cora Extended

The Red Sox and manager Alex Cora agreed on a three-year contract extension. Part of Cora wanting the deal had to do with his family:

Cora said his wife, Nilda, and their children are happy living in Boston.

“I promise you, this decision was more based on the comfort of my family than my professional career,” he said.
Boston.com

That’s great. One thing free agency gave players was the ability to play where they wanted to play, even if that wasn’t going to be for the highest salary. Good to see managers making the same decisions.

April 16, 2024

Herzog Passes

Former manager, GM, and Hall of Famer Whitey Herzog died:

A crew-cut, pot-bellied tobacco chewer who had no patience for the “buddy-buddy” school of management, Herzog joined the Cardinals in 1980 and helped end the team’s decade-plus pennant drought by adapting it to the artificial surface and distant fences of Busch Memorial Stadium. A typical Cardinals victory under Herzog was a low-scoring, one-run game, sealed in the final innings by a “bullpen by committee,” relievers who might be replaced after a single pitch, or temporarily shifted to the outfield, then brought back to the mound.
ESPN.com

My thoughts go out to his family and friends.

The obituary talks about “Whitey Ball” as if that was the only game Herzog could play. Herzog understood what the part would give and take, and molded his team to fit the park. Had he been managing in a homer friendly stadium, I suspect his teams would have been loaded with power hitters, with a very good OBP batter ahead of them.

I suspect Herzog was the last person to combine the manager and GM roles, which he did for the Cardinals from 1980-1982.

While much of the attention Herzog gets comes from his time in St. Louis, the Royals went 410-304 under him, a .574 winning percentage. Overall Herzog finished with a .532 winning percentage, a great average for modern times.

March 31, 2024

The Man Passing Through

David Laurila’s weekly notes column contains this gem:

Who was the first person to throw a pitch on a major league mound that was measured by TrackMan? According to Winning Fixes Everything, Evan Drellich’s book about the Houston Astros’ emergence as a controversial data-driven organization, the answer is Sig Mejdal. Now Vice President/Assistant General Manager for the Baltimore Orioles, Mejdal was in the St. Louis Cardinals front office at the time, and as “the most athletic person around” upon its installation — Busch Stadium was the first MLB ballpark to have the system — he was chosen to give it a whirl. What Sig’s spin rate was is unknown.
FanGraphs.com

I need to start making a list of retirement projects, and one should be writing a biography of Mejdal. Might he be the most influential front office person in the game since Branch Rickey? He certainly generated more success than Billy Beane, who we all associate with the start of the current analytics regime. I don’t know how much the average fan knows about him, but he’s fascinating individual. In another ten years, we should have a clearer view of what he accomplished for the game.

March 16, 2024

Marmol Extended

The Cardinals front office likes Oliver Marmol and extended his contract through 2026. Here is John Mozeliak on the signing:

“We believe that he’s the right person for this job,” Mozeliak said. “And we’re excited to know who will be here for the for the next few years. So it was important to us to get this done. We’re glad it’s behind us and we look forward to the future.”

…

“Given the fact that the roster we’ve assembled we believe is going to be competitive, has a chance to be exciting, and we just didn’t want something — if we have a stumble or get off to a slow start, all of the sudden, everybody’s looking over their shoulders,” Mozeliak said. “It’s just not fair to everybody involved. So the timing of this, as we started thinking more and more about it, had to be dealt with now and not something midseason or at the end of the year.”
ESPN.com

The offense projects to be much better than last season, and that gives Marmol a good chance to look good as the team improves. Of course, if the team finishes last again, Cardinals might be stuck with a contract they don’t want.

February 10, 2024

Shot Across the Bow

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A couple of Mets players wonder why Billy Eppler was singled out for using the Phantom Illjured List:

Tommy Hunter, who pitched for the Mets from 2021-23, which included two years under Eppler’s tenure, said his old boss did not do anything much different than other GMs he played for.
NYPost.com

MLB sent a message here. They know that GMs use the IL improperly, and I suspect that improper use grew over time to the point that the game needs to rein in the practice. The league picked a high profile target, the GM of a New York team, to send a message to the rest of the league.

I also suspect that Eppler received just one year because he talked. MLB probably obtained a much better picture of the mechanisms GM use to fake the injuries, so the league can be better prepared to spot these in the future.

A reminder that in any type of transaction, the optimum amount of fraud is not zero. Stopping fraud requires adding friction to transactions, and two much friction can bring the process to a halt, or at least make the process so costly as to be inefficient. It looks like MLB is trying to keep the friction low by issuing a serious warning.

February 9, 2024

Like Being a Spinal Tap Drummer

Major League Baseball suspended former Mets GM Billy Eppler for faking disabled list injuries:

It was determined that Eppler was involved with improper use of Injured List placements, including the deliberate fabrication of injuries; and the associated submission of documentation for the purposes of securing multiple improper Injured List placements during the 2022 and 2023 seasons.

…

MLB said its investigation concluded that the pattern of conduct was at Mr. Eppler’s sole direction and without any involvement of Mets ownership or superiors.
NYPost.com

If one GM is doing it, I wonder if any others are under investigation. On the other hand, the Mets do a poor job of vetting their front office leaders:

Eppler’s two immediate predecessors, Jared Porter and Zack Scott, were both fired for off-the-field issues.

I wonder what we will find out about David Stearns? Of course, the law of averages says he’ll survive.

February 3, 2024

Low Cost Champion

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The Twins agree to a one-year contract with Carlos Santana to play first base.

The addition of Santana could help replace some of the offensive production that Minnesota lost when it traded second baseman Jorge Polanco to Seattle on Monday. The switch-hitting Polanco batted .255 with 14 homers and 48 RBIs in 80 games last season.

The Twins are looking to go back to the playoffs for the fifth time in eight years. They won the AL Central in 2023 and swept Toronto in the wild-card round before they were eliminated by Houston in their AL Division Series.
ESPN.com

The Twins appear to be pursing a strategy of trying to produce a playoff berth at the lowest possible cost. They are playing in a weak division, and if a team reaches the playoffs, good luck can carry the squad a long way. Keeping costs low allows them to make necessary moves at the trade deadline to try to improve the team for the post-season.

This is the opposite of the Dodgers strategy where they build a dominant team that will plow through the regular season, get a bye in the first round, and get home field through the playoffs. Note that starting in 1987, the Twins and Dodgers have the same number of World Series titles.

I think this is a great example of teams finding the best path through a changing baseball landscape. The last CBA somewhat designed to get teams to spend more money on players, and one way was to give more teams a shot at making the playoffs. This is working in the AL East and AL West, but in weak division like the AL Central, the incentive is not there. Why spend to go from 86 wins to 90 wins if 86 wins might get you in the door? That’s a savings of $40 million (Valuing a free agent WAR at $10).

So more teams in the playoffs doesn’t necessarily mean more money spent to get to the playoffs. I’m curious to see how this strategy plays out.

December 28, 2023

My Uncle Drove a Pinto

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Bronx Banter declares the Dodgers the new Evil Empire:

No one was the least bit surprised when the Dodgers signed Shohei Ohtani, but there were some audible gasps when word of the $700 million contract — by far the largest ever — was announced. It was a big number, but it didn’t really change the expected narrative of the post season. The Dodgers got their man, and soon the Yankees would get theirs.

Everything changed, however, when we learned that Ohtani would be deferring a staggering 97% of his salary. The Dodgers were getting a Rolls Royce for the price of a Pinto, so why not go shopping for a Maserati?

By following up the Ohtani deal with Yamamoto, the Dodgers did more than just strengthen their rotation while stealing a pitcher from the Yankees. They announced to the baseball world that they are the new Evil Empire. Not satisfied with being the best regular season team in baseball over the last several seasons and apparently no longer willing to subject themselves to the random chance of the postseason, the Dodgers used their deep pockets and their deep farm system to bolster a team that won 100 games in 2023.
BronxBanterBlog.com

Most of the economic restrictions on signing players over the years (bonus babies, the amateur draft, free agent compensation, taxes on salary, slot bonuses) were there to stop the Yankees from spending freely to win. I suspect the next round of restrictions will be aimed at the Dodgers.

December 21, 2023

Marginal Action

Most of the transaction action this winter involved players at the margins rather than stars. The two big deals for Shohei Ohtani and Juan Soto are dwarfed in volume by the Braves acting as player broker in trades and teams signing players at the margins. These are players who by themselves will not turn a team into winners, but should have some quality that improves the club.

The Royals and Pirates lead the way here. For example, the Royals signed Hunter Renfroe while the Pirates brought in Rowdy Tellez. Neither cost a lot of money, but both fill the role of a hitter who can smash the ball. The Royals signed Michael Wacha, while the Pirates used the Braves clearing house to obtain Marco Gonzales. Neither blows batters away, both have a bit of an injury history, but both keep free passes to batters low.

The Royals also appear to be going the Tampa Bay route of grabbing up relievers to build a better bullpen.

Note that these kind of moves by the Pirates and Royals indicate the youngsters are ready to play. A good rebuilding strategy is to leverage poor seasons into good draft choices, watch those players develop, then fill in the holes with non-star free agents. Usually teams let the youngsters play at the MLB level before making that final move (think the Twins of the 1980s and the Indians of the 1990s), but the Royals and the Pirates may more confident of their young talent.

I don’t know if it will work, but the fact that these two teams are spending this way makes me a bit more optimistic about their chances for the 2024 season.

December 19, 2023

Middle Depth

Raising Matt Cain notes that the Giants are deep at catcher after signing Tom Murphy.

Regardless, the catcher position seems to be in good shape. The Giants have a trio of young players and added a seasoned, part-time slugger to the mix. We all know FZ likes to make lots of moves around the margins that aren’t exciting but are necessary.
RaisingMattCain.Blogspot.com

A good catcher can bring a decent return of talent. Depth at any of the positions up the middle is good for a club, as it gives them flexibility in reworking the roster, either by trading for needed talent or moving players to less demanding defensive positions.

December 12, 2023

Dodgers Flexibility

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Tim Dierkes breaks down the reasons behind the large deferrals in the Shohei Ohtani contract with the Dodgers. He notes that it’s not a luxury tax dodge on the part of the Los Angeles:

The collective bargaining agreement has a section for calculating the CBT hit for a contract that includes deferred money. According to reports, that calculation works out to a $46M average annual value and accompanying CBT hit for the Dodgers and Ohtani. As you can see here, $46M tops Max Scherzer’s previous AAV record of $43,333,333.33. It’s $6M beyond Aaron Judge’s $40M AAV, which was the highest for a player on a deal of more than three years.

Not only is $46M a record AAV, but it’s entirely in line with expectations. MLBTR predicted a $44M AAV for Ohtani. Most other prognosticators were in that range. The median Ohtani AAV prediction of the other six outlets we’re tracking was $45,984,849. It would be almost impossible for Ohtani’s luxury tax AAV to have met expectations any harder.
YardBarker.com

The article also presents examples of what would be a tax dodge. For example, if a team offered a 30 year old player a 14 year contract, MLB would step in since it would be unusual for a player to last that long in the majors. The extra three or four years would simply be there to lower the AAV.

The bottom line is that this really isn’t a $700 million contract. If Ohtani wanted the money over the next ten years, he would have received something closer to $450 million.

In the late 2030s, the Dodgers are going to have over $80 million a year going out in deferred salaries to Ohtani, Mookie Betts, and Freddie Freeman. The Dodgers must think the sport is going to grow enough that they can pay that money for nothing and still be competitive. The Dodgers front office is full of very smart people, and I would say that projection bodes well for the health of the sport.

December 9, 2023

The Flipping Braves

The Braves appear to be operating as a player exchange, trading for players they don’t want, then finding value for them elsewhere:

The Atlanta Braves acquired infielder David Fletcher and catcher Max Stassi from the Los Angeles Angels for first baseman Evan White and left-handed reliever Tyler Thomas on Friday, the team announced, continuing a money-juggling effort in the wake of a previous trade.

At the beginning of the winter meetings, Atlanta dealt for outfielder Jarred Kelenic and a pair of higher-paid players: White and pitcher Marco Gonzales. During the meetings, the Braves flipped Gonzales and his $12 million salary to Pittsburgh along with cash in exchange for a player to be named later.

White, who is owed $17 million for the remaining two guaranteed seasons and the buyout on his contract, was the latest to move — and is unlikely to be the last. Stassi, sources said, will almost certainly be traded as well, with Atlanta already boasting a pair of catchers (Sean Murphy and Travis d’Arnaud) and Stassi owed $7 million in 2024.
ESPN.com

You sometimes see this on a small scale, usually in a three-way trade. Or you see teams take a bunch of non-prospects in a salary dump. The Braves, however, are taking players with value, and then finding a trading partner that needs that value. They help improve other teams a little bit while improving themselves even more.

For all the talk of analytics in the game, the Braves front office might have the best understanding of the economics of the game. This allows them to constantly improve while keeping their payroll reasonable. The results have been impressive.

December 5, 2023

Trout Tank

The Angels say that Mike Trout won’t be traded:

Minasian responded to the annual questions about Trout’s future with the underachieving Angels by providing the same answer he has given in past years — and the same answer given by owner Arte Moreno’s previous general managers.

“Mike Trout will not be getting traded, 100%,” Minasian told MLB.com and other outlets.
Chron.com

I would think Trout would welcome a trade to a team with a chance of winning. If not this season, I suspect that will happen sooner than later if the Angels keep failing to win.

December 4, 2023

Gaming the Tax

MLB is considering rules that would prevent the kind of waiver wire salary dump the Angels executed in 2023 to get under the luxury tax threshold. :

While baseball executives with other teams understood the strategy — and some agreed with the Angels’ decision to offload as much salary as possible — there was some queasiness within the industry about this becoming a regular late-season practice for failing teams, with a flood of established players suddenly being given away, sources told ESPN.

The issue was discussed at the GM meetings in November, sources told ESPN, and it was decided then that more data was needed — at least another season of evidence, to determine whether the Angels’ salary dump was precedent for more of the same by other teams, or if the Angels’ waiver choices in 2023 were a one-off event.
ESPN.com

If it winds up working, it won’t be a one-off event. The problem, of course, is that people will game the system, and the more complex the system the more creative they will get at finding flaws they can exploit. The answer may be less rules, not more, but that’s now how organizations tend to work.

December 3, 2023

Leyland to the Hall

The Contemporary Baseball Era Committee of the Hall of Fame selected manager Jim Leyland for induction. Leyland received 15 of 16 votes:

Nominees needed to be named on at least 12 ballots for enshrinement. Falling just short was former manager Lou Piniella, who was named on 11 ballots. Executive Bill White was listed on 10 ballots. Also considered were managers Cito Gaston and Davey Johnson, umpires Ed Montague and Joe West, and executive Hank Peters.
ESPN.com

While Leyland led the Pirates to the playoffs and the Marlins to a World Series title, the Tigers were the only one of his four teams with a winning record for the length of his tenure. When Leyland had the players, he could bring them into the playoffs. He wasn’t a miracle worker, however, and when the Pirates and Marlins lost their talent, not even a great manager could help.

Congratulations to Leyland on a well deserved honor. I’m a bit disappointed that White and Johnson did not make it.

December 3, 2023

Winter Wonder Land

The baseball Winter Meetings begin today and run through Wednesday. Expect some news this week in what has so far been a quiet off-season

November 21, 2023

Shildt Returns

The Padres hired Mike Shildt to manage the team. The former Cardinals skipper spent the last two seasons in the Padres organization, and spoke about the late Peter Seidler’s hope for a Word Championship:

Shildt has been in the organization for two years and said he met often with Seidler “to talk baseball, talk life, talk community, talk charity. What a beautiful soul, as everybody knows. I was very blessed to have gotten to know such a fine gentleman. There was such a pure goodness about him.

“I’m going to be a big part in helping carry his vision for the San Diego Padres moving forward to ultimately us winning a first World Series championship,” Shildt added. “That’ll be one way we can remember the great legacy of Peter Seidler.”

Shildt has been a senior advisor to the major league staff and player development department with the Padres since 2022. His familiarity with the team’s top minor league prospects could be a bonus in guiding a big league roster led by stars Fernando Tatis Jr., Juan Soto, Manny Machado and Xander Bogaerts.
ESPN.com

He managed the Cardinals well, with a .559 winning percentage in parts of four seasons and three playoff appearances. He had some differences with the Cardinals front office which led to his firing. Maybe his time working in the Padres organization will help him avoid that. It seems to me like this is a very good move for San Diego.

November 16, 2023

Fake Excitement

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Dylan Hernandez of the Los Angeles Times puts a damper on the Angels introduction of Ron Washington as the new manager:

More than 100 people packed the fourth-floor room at Angel Stadium. The overwhelming majority of them, however, were team employees, who were basically called upon to be seat fillers. They applauded when Washington was presented. They laughed at the jokes he told. They gave him a standing ovation when it was over.

There was nothing convincing about the spectacle because the purported excitement over the next season described by Randazzo doesn’t exist. Nothing has changed. Regardless of whether they re-sign Shohei Ohtani, the Angels are still the Angels. Whatever excitement they are projecting is entirely make-believe, and everyone knows it.
LATimes.com

His main thesis involves the health and cost of Mike Trout and Anthony Rendon. Even if healthy, both careers are on the downside. Trout at least has hit well when he plays, but even he saw a big drop-off in power last season.

The last ten years of baseball in Anaheim should be a lesson for all clubs on how to not run a ballclub. The Angels wasted one of the greatest talents ever to play the game.

November 14, 2023

Dr. Hyde

Brandon Hyde of the Orioles won the AL Manager of the Year Award for 2023. In Hyde’s case, this might very well be a multiyear award, as he and the front office leadership built a team from scratch.

It’s probably why he beat Bruce Bochy for the award. The Rangers brought in Bochy to take a team ready to compete to the title. Hyde nurtured the Orioles to this point. Sometimes a team needs a different leader to take them from developing to winning. Hyde accomplished both, and that’s a big reason he won.

November 14, 2023

If the Schu Fits

Skipper Skip Schumaker of the Marlins wins the NL Manager of the Year Award for 2023.

This election marks the seventh time in the NL and ninth time overall that the award went to someone who was in his first full season as a major league manager. The other first-year NL winners were the Astros’ Hal Lanier (1986), the Giants’ Dusty Baker (1993), the Marlins’ Joe Girardi (2006), the Nationals’ Matt Williams (2014), the Dodgers’ Dave Roberts (2016) and the Diamondbacks’ Torey Lovullo (2017). There have been two first-year winners in the American League, the Rangers’ Jeff Banister (2015) and the Twins’ Rocco Baldelli (2019). 

Schumaker is the third Marlins manager honored, joining Jack McKeon (2003) and Don Mattingly (2020).
BBWAA.com

It seems that making the playoffs with the Marlins is a ticket to the award. Only Jim Leyland was left off. Congratulations to Shumaker on the honor!

The article notes how often Craig Counsell came in second in recent years. There is an old British sitcom called Chef! In one episode, the chef goes to France for a cooking competition. At the end, they are announcing the award for individual dishes, and the chef keeps coming in second. He is a bit disappointed, but because all of his dishes were excellent, he wins the overall prize for the competition! That’s Counsell’s contract.

November 14, 2023

Standing Pat

The Brewers appear to be ready to elevate bench coach Pat Murphy to manager:

Murphy joined the Brewers as Counsell’s bench coach prior to the 2016 season. He previously coached Counsell at the University of Notre Dame.

Murphy also coached at Arizona State University. He then entered the professional ranks as a Special Assistant to Baseball Operations for the San Diego Padres. Murphy managed the Padres’ Class A Short Season and Triple-A teams before being named interim manager after the Padres fired Bud Black midway through the 2015 season.

The Padres went 42-54 under Murphy, and the club dismissed him at the end of the season. He makes his official return to a managerial role eight years later, although he did fill in for Counsell on two occasions when he attended the high school graduations of his sons.
BrewCrewBall.com

Murphy never made the majors as a player, but did pitch briefly in the minor leagues.

Reports have Milwaukee bringing in Rickie Weeks as the bench coach. His MLB experience as a player should complement Murphy’s lack of such. I suspect the split of duties would be Murphy as the strategist and Weeks and the personnel manager.

November 13, 2023

Coach Bloat

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The Blue Jays hired the former bench coach DeMarlo Hale as associate manager. None of the articles I’ve seen explain the role of an associate manager, but it appears to be bench coach with a better title. Of course, the Blue Jays have Don Mattingly as a bench coach, but he is also now the offensive coordinator.

Please allow me to put on my grumpy old man hat for a minute. When I was young, teams used a manager and four coaches; first base, third base, hitting, and pitching. The Rays list twelve coaches under manager Kevin Cash. That nearly a coach for every two players on the active roster.

Management bloat in general is a bad sign for organizations. A sure sign of that happening is the invention of new titles so that people can be promoted. Sometimes this happens due to growth. I saw this at ESPN, as he ranks of the higher level producers swelled, but ESPN was about to create a second network (and more), so the bloat was relieved by the expansion. I don’t think baseball is going to 60 teams anytime soon.

November 12, 2023

Internal Promotion

Reports on Sunday say the Astros will promote bench coach Joe Espada to manager, replacing Dusty Baker:

This will be the first managerial position for the 48-year-old Espada, who has been Houston’s bench coach since 2018.

Espada began his coaching career in the Marlins organization, working in the minors until moving to the big-league club as the third base coach in 2010.
Chron.com

Espada never made the majors. Drafted in the mid 1990s, he was a middle infielder who hit like a middle infielder. In the minors he posted a good batting average and a good on-base average, but never hit for power. He moved to coaching at an early age, and now he leads the field operations of an extremely good team. I suspect it was worth the wait.

The Astros scheduled a news conference for Monday to make the hire official.

November 10, 2023

Maxed Out Astros

The Astros reached their salary limit:

The Astros are deeply unlikely to raise the franchise’s $230 million 2023 payroll past the $250-million mark for 2024, making them poor suitors for top-line free agent options such as Aaron Nola or Jordan Montgomery. Players likely to earn over $12-15 annually (such as Marcus Stroman, Eduardo Rodriguez) are also out of Houston’s price range. But dive a little deeper, and a few enticing options could emerge. Would Houston look to revive the career of former Yankees’ hurler Luis Severino? Could converted reliever Seth Lugo be Houston’s latest shrewd addition? Fall past the top, say, dozen-or-so top pitchers available in free agency, and the list of affordable and intriguing options is deeper than one might expect.
Chron.com

In 2023, the Astros ranked fourth in salary and supported that with the seventh highest attendance in the majors. The Astros have a very good team as is, so standing pat and filling in holes can work as a strategy.

The critical payroll decisions take place at the end of the 2024 season. Both Jose Altuve and Alex Bregman see their contracts expire, which would take over $50 million off the payroll. Altuve will be in his mid-30s at that point, while Bregman’s decline will just be starting. Smart teams would let both go to free agency and allow some other organization to pay for their declines. I suspect the Astros will follow the Braves model, saying goodbye to their veterans, and finding younger and/or cheaper talent to fill the holes and keep the team competitive.

November 8, 2023

Washington Leads Again

The Angels hired Ron Washington to manage the team:

Washington, 71, last managed in 2014, when he resigned from the Texas Rangers, where he’d found significant success — including two World Series appearances — over eight seasons.
ESPN.com

Washington owns a winning record as a manager, taking the Rangers to four 90 win seasons and two AL Pennants. The Angels, of course, have to hope that one time mistakes are behind him.