MLB Managerial News and Notes
In between games of the NLCS and ALCS, there have been a couple of managerial moves around baseball. Let’s take a look at the managerial happenings around the majors.
St. Louis Cardinals Bring Back Tony LaRussa
The Cardinals announced on Monday that LaRussa, or TLR as all the cool kids say, signed a one-year contract for 2011 with a mutual option for 2012. Every keeper league owner who has Colby Rasmus just kicked a wall.
As I have always thought, the key to a LaRussa-managed team isn’t LaRussa, but pitching coach Dave Duncan. Duncan was offered a contract but has not signed one yet.
Having Duncan take these scrubs at a low cost and turn them into serviceable pitchers allows the Cardinals to spend money on offense. If he is not there to turn these pitchers' careers around, the whole operation goes up in smoke.
I am also guessing that LaRussa’s 2012 option will hinge on Albert Pujols returning to the Cardinals. If he doesn’t come back, there isn’t a snow balls chance in hell LaRussa is going to come back and manage a rebuilding team.
Chicago Cubs Retain Mike Quade
In a very surprising move, the Cubs removed the interim tag from Quade and signed him to two-year contract with a club option for 2013. Quade’s contract is expected to be worth between $1.8 and $2 million, according to a Major League source.
Quade led the Cubs to a 24-13 record after Lou Piniella resigned as manager. I think Quade is in a rough spot.
This will be Quade’s first full-time managerial job at the Major League level, and he will have a team in 2011 that is littered with a ton of bad contracts. I have a hard time seeing the Cubs finishing .500 in 2010.
I don’t put much stock into what Quade did with the Cubs during the final 37 games. You never judge a player or a team by what they did in September when two-thirds of the teams are out of it and playing with minor leaguers.
The surprise out of all this is that fan favorite Ryne Sandberg didn’t get the job. The Cubs did Ryno a favor by not giving him the job. His legacy would have only been damaged as manager of this team.
Seattle Mariners Hire Eric Wedge
Coming off one of their worst seasons in franchise history, the Mariners are hoping Wedge can turn things around. Wedge will try to restore order in Seattle like he did for the Indians in the early-2000s.
I have always liked Wedge as a manager, and I think his biggest challenge is to restore some order in the clubhouse. Terry Francona is a great manager, not because of his X’s and O’s, but because he manages the Boston Red Sox clubhouse better than any manager manages his clubhouse in baseball.
Wedge won’t have the same egos to manage in Seattle, but he needs to find a way to bring this team together. If he can do that, he should be all right.
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