I think he has personality and has previous experience. I am afraid of another Ausmus situation too tbh. Safe hire might work (see your Aliva post).
Can somebody post this article? https://www.detroitnews.com/story/s...opens-up-health-sudden-retirement/5992786002/
McClendon's previous experience is not good and he's going to be 62 going into next year. If Avila and Ilitch go through this process and land on McClendon, they are far more tone deaf on where the fan base is with them than even I currently believe. And I'm setting a pretty high bar there. I'm not worried at all about an Ausmus situation. Mainly, I think Ausmus walked into a much, much, much more talented roster, but a far more difficult team to manage for a first-time guy. Especially with where the FO was at the time from an analytics standpoint. Our current situation is far better set up for an Ausmus-like candidate to succeed over the long haul than he was.
We have officially interviewed a lot of people, which likely means either a) we didn't have much of a plan going in and are just hoping someone blows us over; or b) are just wasting time pretending to look at guys until we talk to/hire Cora or Hinch.
Knowing how Detroit sports have gone in recent years, they're probably thinking it's the latter, but will miss out on both guys and will have to go back and interview a bunch of people again due to Avila napping through the interviews the first time.
would have to believe that some of these guys are being interviewed for potential bench positions and not the manager
Not 100% his choice, would think Avila will have a lot of input on who fills out the coaching staff. What's the hierarchy of coaching positions in baseball? Is it considered a promotion to go from a hitting coach to 1st, etc.?
I don't think Avila would be interviewing potential bench coaches or anything that he would push on a new guy. Anyone without managing experience is probably going to need to provide a short list in terms of people he'd want to hire for the various positions, though, and as a GM that becomes part of how you view that candidate as a first time manager. What I'm not sure on is how it works in MLB in terms of coaching positions and being to pull guys from other teams. In the NFL, you can potentially hire another team's QB coach as your OC, for example. I'm not sure how often MLB teams might allow their hitting coach, for example, to leave to become a bench coach, or something like that.
Hitting and pitching coaches are much more high profile, but I'm not sure they really help that much in terms of getting a managing job. Seems like you get pigeon holed in those roles, sometimes, as a pitching coach who doesn't know how to deal with hitters, or vice versa. In terms of becoming a managerial candidate, I think being a bench coach is the clear #1 stepping stone, and then everything else seems somewhat equal.
I would be okay if he he goes back to this facial hair... I have no interest if he has no facial hair...
The previous quotes from Avila early in the search made it sound (at least to me) like they were going to do the online interviews, and then they would meet in person with a group of finalists (likely 2-3 people). No clue if that's still the plan, but I would think they would still do that. I think I'd especially want to meet Hinch/Cora in person, along with the owner, considering the storm that's going to rain down whenever they're hired by someone. Not saying don't hire them, but everyone is going to be in that one together and you best know what you're getting into and have all the info you need.
From that group, I'm probably going... George Springer Joc Pederson Jason Castro Andrelton Simmons Drew Smyly I have no clue what kind of value Simmons has.
I think Hinch is a great manager from a tactical standpoint, but I still go back and forth whether I want him or not. Most of it is the cheating scandal, but I just like coaches who have put the time in getting opportunities. Especially minority coaches who never seem to get these chances. I've talked myself into just about all of them at this point. La Russa in Chicago would be one of the biggest train wrecks in sports, though. I can't imagine that guy with his mentality managing that clubhouse with those personalities (and I don't mean that in a bad way). Just seems like a culture clash from the jump and everything Chicago has built towards with this group would be in serious trouble. It's just an absurd risk with very, very little reward from the White Sox point of view.
I really want Thames at this point because it’s baseball and I just really don’t care that much about who the manager is. I am fine if the Tigers play the role of villain though.
I'm still team Lombard or Thames as my favorites. The Hinch thing is weird, partly because baseball is so much crazier than other sports with the reactions to this stuff. By pretty much all accounts, Hinch wasn't the mastermind there. He just didn't stop it. What he did wasn't as bad as what Belichick has been caught doing 3-4 different times, and I'd hire Belichick in a heartbeat for the Lions. If we hire Hinch I'll be fine with it and probably agree he's the best candidate. Like I said, I just like new guys getting opportunities because it seems to happen so infrequently in MLB and NBA searches.
McClendon. Not even close. Because, at the very least, I know McClendon isn't going to have issues with players who aren't white based on how they act on the field. La Russa's ego is also enormous (in fairness, he's a HOF manager so it probably should be), and no one is telling him what to do. McClendon wouldn't do anything the org didn't tell him to do.
It's not my money, but I'd be all over Brad Hand, who was recently waived by Cleveland. He's due $10M next season and they're hoping someone claims him so they don't have to pay the $1M termination cost of their team option. He's still really good and it's only one year. I don't think we'll do it because Ilitch sucks and there's uncertainty, but he'd have a chance to be a huge trade chip in July if he's healthy.
What’s the likelihood we hire somebody we haven’t interviewed yet and their last name is not Cora/Hinch?
I have not seen it reported that we have interviewed Redmond or Fredi, yet. My pessimism won't allow me to count those guys out.