10/8 news roundup
Conor · October 8, 2008 at 7:20 am · Filed Under Mariners
Larry Stone on the GM search.
In search of a replacement for Bill Bavasi, who was fired June 16, the Mariners will interview Peter Woodfork, Arizona’s assistant general manager; Jerry DiPoto, Arizona’s director of player personnel; Tony Bernazard, New York Mets vice president of player development; Kim Ng, Los Angeles Dodgers assistant general manager; and Tony LaCava, Toronto Blue Jays assistant general manager.
Also, Joe Cowley at the Chicago Sun-Times spectulates that Joey Cora could be the next M’s manager.
The Seattle Mariners have Sox bench coach Joey Cora atop their managerial list. Cora is a huge figure in the Northwest, and now that the Sox are done for the year, the interview process will begin.
I doubt that there is any managerial list for the Mariners. That decision will be entirely in the hands of the new GM. Until a GM is hired there isn’t going to be any list.
First time “Cora” and “huge” have ever been in the same line..
Here in Portland, Cora is all anyone ever talks about. Everywhere I travel in the Northwest, the question is the same: “hey, did you hear that Joey’s coming back?”
Well, maybe not.
How is Cora a huge figure in the NW? My two foremost memories of him are his emotions after we were eliminated from the playoffs and the fact that at one point he caught Knoblauchitis and could no longer throw to first from second. I know the ladies tended to like him and think he was cute. I’m not getting the “huge figure” reference. I’d reserve that for Bone and Edgar, at least.
But the question isn’t whether or not he is huge in the NW, but if he’d make a good manager or not? What do you guys think?
um.
“boy, did you see that throw Cora airmailed past Segui? that was huuuuuuuuuge!”
well, the guy is a columnist in Chicago… Joey was featured in a number of the commercials– maybe that gave him a higher profile…
I’m more interested in the actual interview picks. It’s pretty much the list that USSM has been posting all along, but those lists were posted without a lot of commentary. Any thoughts on the picks and how good/not they will be. Any detailed analysis on the final five? I’m looking for updates to the wider survey posted a couple months ago.
I wouldn’t draw from this that these are the only five people they’re interviewing…
OK, but it is five we know about.
Larry Stone has it
Thanks – I missed that.
here is Stone
“The Mariners are expected to talk to more candidates next week as they aim for an announcement shortly after the World Series.”
You know, I wasn’t a big fan of some of his in-game decisions, but Riggleman sold me on giving him a full season with the way he handled the Burger Chef and Ichiro sagas.
Managers generally don’t account for much in the way of wins or losses. If this team had potential to contend, I may feel different as you want to protect as many wins as possible. However, since they will stink, I’d rather have a guy I know will make sure our young impressionable players don’t think it’s ok to throw your teammates under the bus.
Riggleman handled those situations the best we could have hope for. So, I say give him 2009.
I told you that Joey Cora could be the next coach, but all I do is get mocked. Which is fine with me. Being mocked can make being right so much better :). For GM I’m not to big on the Tonys but Peter, Kim and Jerry could be fun. All these names just sounds like the Seattle version of the Brady Bunch.
My money is on Ng.
1) They want to go something different.
2) We have a large female fan base. (I remember it as being the largest % female fan base in baseball)
3) This is the biggest signing we will have this year. This will make the biggest splash.
4) Takes care of that noisy Stat head community.
5) Shows they will try anything to win.
6) And if it doesn’t work….. Well she….
Carlos Silva is a ” huge figure ” in the northwest. Joey Cora, nah.
I hope Riggs gets it. Give him a one-year deal to help with the re-build, and when you finally have a team worth managing, if he has proven that he isn’t up to the task, you go out and find someone who is.
If they hire a first year manager like Cora would be, I doubt he’d do well with such a young, rebuilding team.
But you never know.
I would love Manuel, just because of his post-game interview after Santana threw 120+ pitches and all he could say about his performance was that Santana was “gangsta.” I was in tears. Hillarious…
I’m afraid of the possiblility/probability that inherent sexism among the scouts and other parts of the organization would make her ineffective. And THAT ineffectiveness would make her depend on Lincoln/Armstrong to ram her decisions home–and that dependency would be attractive to them.
yay! a new Mariner Mailbag!!!!
you do? really?
I’m afraid of the possiblility/probability that inherent sexism among the scouts and other parts of the organization would make her ineffective
back in June when he took over, he told reporters that he often uses the expression, “Gangstas on the field, ladies on the bus.”
Woodfork and DiPoto sound good…they worked with Boston and Arizona, two of the best run franchises in baseball…
Thanks msb…I hadn’t heard that one…that’s awesome as well…Manuel is rad…
well, apparently Cora is the story today;here, here and here
I try to ignore Heyman (and it’s generally pretty easy when he’s doing things like anointing Betancourt as the inheritor of Jeter’s GG based on one game’s observation) but he does chime in with
I’m afraid of the possiblility/probability that inherent sexism among the scouts and other parts of the organization would make her ineffective. And THAT ineffectiveness would make her depend on Lincoln/Armstrong to ram her decisions home–and that dependency would be attractive to them.
If Lincoln and Armstrong were that shrewd and capable of thinking that far ahead, the M’s wouldn’t be in this mess in the first place. Which is not to say you might not be right, just that if they hired her it wouldn’t be with that in mind.
I could probably live with Joey Cora as long as he’s willing to give players a kick in the pants ocassionally in the clubhouse (yes, I am talking metaphorically). Of course, this will be up to the new GM more than anyone else.
As for the GM slot, I don’t know about you guys, but I’ve got a gut feeling that Kim Ng is the best choice for this job right now.
Wow. Not a single “There’s no crying in baseball” yet. You show incredible restraint.
I’m beginning to think that the majority of journalists just make things up in order to fill space. I’d like to know how that reporter from the Sun-Times knows that Cora, of all people, is on the top of the M’s managerial list. And, as previously stated in this thread, Cora is far from a huge figure ’round these parts. Just a bunch of fluff if you ask me.
I’m surprised no one’s mentioned Bobby V yet… I read recently he’d be interested in returning to MLB if the Mets job opened up and I know the M’s have mentioned him before.
The whole being able to speak and relate to Japanese culture thing probably wouldn’t hurt either.
Let Joey come back and coach under him. I agree that it’s asking too much of a first time manager to handle whatever the M’s are about to give them.
is it likely the M’s would pay the more than $4M (plus endorsements) that Valentine makes in Japan?
Maybe, maybe not.
It’s just that they’re blockheaded about BASEBALL matters, not personnel matters. I can well believe that they can suss out the people dynamics and think she’d be more tractable.
Doubt the M’s would match the $4M, but there’s nothing that says he couldn’t go back to Japan later on if he wants more money. He’s won it all over there, and I’d imagine he’d take a bit less to come back to MLB for at least a spell to give it another shot.
well, up to this point, he’s talked to teams about managerial openings and never been willing to take a discount
Gah. Cora as manager would be yet another pandering nod to the mid-90s, dipstick homer element. Not interested in that at all. That has the stink of the current front office all over it.
Me, too, but it ain’t gonna matter if you have a good GM in place.
Well, maybe if Joey had ever wrestled professionally in a midget class, he might’ve been considered “huge”.
Meanwhile, Fox Sports.com has a story today on Tim McCarver ripping Manny for his “despicable acts” while with the Red Sox — as if one of the worst play-by-play guys in the business should be throwing stones.
does being crap at baseball analysis equate to pushing an old man to the ground?