The San Francisco Giants and Washington Nationals are among the teams that have made some outside-the-box choices to be their new managers, and those decisions have actually “offended” people around MLB.
While the MLB offseason has begun and free agency will be a huge topic in the months ahead, there have already been some big decisions around the league. Over the last few weeks, nine different clubs have picked replacements for their fired or departed managers. Although that is not uncommon nowadays, this year was different than others.
Several clubs around the game made some unusual decisions with their recent hires. The Los Angeles Angels hired Kurt Suzuki to replace Ron Washington. However, they gave the former special assistant to their general manager a one-year deal. SF Giants team president Buster Posey made history by making Tony Vitello the first person ever to go from a college manager job to the pros.
The San Diego Padres surprisingly made former reliever turned front office assistant Craig Stammen their new manager after Mike Shildt retired. And the Washington Nationals made 33-year-old coach Blake Butera the youngest MLB manager in over 50 years.
Those hirings, and some others, surprised many in and around the game because they continued the trend of going away from more proven coaches and assistants for inexperienced and controllable options. And it seems that doesn’t sit right with many around the league.
Some around baseball ‘bothered’ by new hires from SF Giants, Los Angeles Angels
“It is troubling to me that people that deserve a chance are getting ignored,” The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal told the Foul Territory Show. “I am hearing people in the industry — not all people, but some — that this is bothering them. That this, to them, was kind of offensive, quite frankly.
“I don’t know if I would go that far but it raises the question of why take these risks with unproven managers? One from completely outside professional baseball, when you have qualified candidates all over the place.”
It should be noted, though, that several teams did hire more proven candidates. The Atlanta Braves are replacing Brian Snitker with bench coach Walt Weiss. The Minnesota Twins are hiring former Pittsburgh Pirates manager Derek Shelton, and the Baltimore Orioles made highly respected Cleveland Guardians associate manager Craig Albernaz their new skipper.
