Archive for the ‘Manager Search’ Category

Assuming Google Translate has it right– and it seems pretty right based on what little Spanish I can use my common sense to figure out– Enrique Rojas of ESPN Deportes is pointing us away from Manny Acta as the winner of the Jays’ current managerial search:

#BlueJays ahora enfocado en escoger un nuevo manager. Toronto no ofreció el cargo a Manny Acta.

— Enrique Rojas/ESPN (@Enrique_Rojas1) November 19, 2012

Manny Acta se encuentra en República Dominicana con su familia. Es muy probable que Acta trabaje en TV en 2013.

— Enrique Rojas/ESPN (@Enrique_Rojas1) November 19, 2012

In English, what he’s saying is as follows:

“# Bluejays now focused on picking a new manager. Toronto did not offer the job to Manny Acta.”

“Manny Acta is in the Dominican Republic with his family. Acta is likely to work in TV in 2013.”

That’s a shame, I think. So Felipe Alou it is, right?

Or whoever. Just as long as, y’know, it’s not Jim Tracy. Or… shit, maybe the fact that the Jays “did not offer” it to Acta doesn’t mean that they will not offer it. I mean… how the hell should I know?

Crotch grab in the direction of @stivbators for the link.

Mark Zwolinski of the Toronto Star seems convinced that the Jays will be making an announcement of some kind today, be it official confirmation of the Cabrera signing, The Trade, a new manager– or perhaps some combination of all three.

Most importantly, Zwolinski reports that Mike Hargrove, who we’d heard was possibly a strong candidate sometime around last call last night from Bob Elliott– as well as Danny Knobler of CBS Sports, as I detailed in an earlier post– has not been contacted by the club.

Then he lays a real nugget on us:

Acta, meanwhile, has not returned emails or calls from insiders in Cleveland, leading to the belief that he may possibly be sitting on some kind of news.

So… this all continues to make sense, right?

And what a king hell of a thing it would be for the Jays to turn go for one giant orgy of an announcement press conference– Acta (or whoever manages), Cabrera, Johnson, Reyes, Buehrle, Buck, Bonifacio, and Izturis.

But for now, we continue to wait.

In other managerial news, Shi Davidi tweets that Marty Brown will continue to manage the club’s Triple-A affiliate, making the move from Las Vegas to Buffalo, where he was the International League’s manager of the year in 2004, leading the Bisons to the title.

So… there’s that.

Sometime in the vicinity of last call last night, Bob Elliott of the Toronto Sun laid down this deliciously frenzied tweet on us:

Jays have phoned former Mariners executives and others asking ??? about former Seattle manager Mike Hargrove Next Blue Jays MGR?

— bob elliott (@elliottbaseball) November 19, 2012

The former Mariners manager also managed the Orioles to four straight fourth place finishes in the early 2000s, following a tremendously successful run with Cleveland, in which his team won five straight division titles and made two World Series appearances, losing to the Braves in 1995 and the Marlins in 1997.

Gee, it’s almost like his success was somehow tied to the amount of talent on his club.

Danny Knobler of CBS Sports has heard the same, and says that the Jays have “told some people that they would prefer to hire a veteran ‘with an edge,’ according to one source.”

Does that make Hargrove the leading candidate now? I’m not quite buying it.

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Artist’s rendition of AA if he’d started growing a beard at the time he fucking knew he needed a manager.

Alex Anthopoulos isn’t in any kind of rush to hire a new manager, apparently. So says the GM himself according to the latest at Sportsnet from Shi Davidi.

“We’ll pick it back up after the GM meetings,” Anthopoulos told him of the manager search. “You can’t force the process or rush the process.”

Um… you can’t?

I’m pretty sure you totally could, Alex. Though I do grasp the subtext, which is that this is a ridiculously important hire for the club, and for Anthopoulos himself.

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And the next manager of the Toronto Blue Jays is… Lawrence Fishburne?

According to a team release from Cleveland, the Clevelands have “finalized” Terry Francona’s coaching staff, with Sandy Alomar Jr. remaining as bench coach, and ex-Jay– and now former Jays advanced scout– Kevin Cash joining the club as their bullpen coach.

For some reason, this has rustled some of the tourist trolls out from under their bridge, as a TSN.ca story continues to report, at the time of this writing, that “the Toronto Blue Jays can scratch Sandy Alomar’s name off their list of potential managers for 2013,” while Steve Simmons of the Toronto Sun has yet to bother to correct this currently hour-old tweet, despite information to the contrary being readily available:

Scratch Sandy Alomar’s name from Blue Jays managerial candidates. He’s returning to Cleveland as bench coach. #iswallachtheguy?

— steve simmons (@simmonssteve) October 31, 2012

Fortunately for all of us, there’s Sportsnet’s Shi Davidi:

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Welp. So much for the “tightly held secret” list of additional candidates for the Jays’ managerial vacancy– or at least one of them, as Jack Magruder of Fox Sports Arizona gives us another name for our list:

#Dbacks give Toronto permission to speak to 3B coach Matt Williams about managerial opening

— Jack Magruder (@JackMagruder) October 29, 2012

An interesting name, for sure. And as MLB.com’s Bernie Pleskoff tweets, the current manager of the Salt River Rafters of the Arizona Fall League, meaning Jays AFL prospects like Jake Marisnick and HELLO KEVIN PILLAR! are playing for him.

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