DODGERS Who will be the next MANAGER?

nah son...

Batting Coach: Mark McGwire Juan Rivera
Pitching Coach: Rick Honeycutt Darren Dreifort
Asst Pitching Coach: Ken Howell Carlos Perez
1B Coach: Davey Lopes Jerry Sands
3B Coach: Ron Roenicke Garrett Anderson
Bench Coach: Tim Wallach Milton Bradley
Bullpen Coach: Chuck Crim Guillermo Mota
Bullpen Catchers: Rob Flippo and Steve Cilladi Brett Mayne and Chad Kreuter
Catching Coach: Steve Yeager Jason Phillips
Trainer: Stan Conte Jason Repko

 

re-fixed

 

A deeper look at Dave Martinez as Dodgers' managerial candidate
by Eric Stephen | True Blue LA — 90 minutes ago

Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman said last week he planned to "definitely" have a manager in place by baseball's winter meetings, which run from Dec. 7-10 in Nashville.

We briefly discussed a group of potential candidates last week, and also discussed what the Dodgers front office would look for in their next skipper.

Now it's time to dig deeper into the candidates, beginning with current Cubs bench coach Dave Martinez.

The tie to the Dodgers for Martinez is Friedman, who hired him as a spring training instructor in 2006. After two seasons with that job, Martinez became the bench coach in Tampa Bay under manager Joe Maddon. Martinez also oversaw the Rays' baserunning and bunting.

The Rays went to the World Series in Martinez's first year in the dugout in 2008, and made four postseason appearances in seven years. Martinez followed Maddon to Chicago after the 2014 season, so that duo saw the playoffs in five of eight years working together.

"For me, there’s no question that I’m ready [to be a manager]," Martinez told Gordon Wittenmeyer of the Chicago Sun-Times in September. "It’s just getting the right opportunity."

Martinez, 51, played for 16 major league seasons as an outfielder for nine different teams. He has no managerial experience in the majors or minors, though his eight seasons as bench coach has Maddon thinking Martinez is ready for a step up.

"When he comes to the ballpark every day, he walks in the door as though he’s going to manage the game," Maddon told Patrick Mooney of CSN Chicago in October.

More Mooney:

"He understands all the numbers that are out there," Maddon said. "He understands people. He’s really good at tough conversations. He’s very straight up, straightforward and upfront. That’s really vital. You have to have those ‘Godfather’ days, man. Sometimes you just got be very blunt and honest with somebody in order to get your point across. He’s got all that. He’s absolutely ready. Some team’s going to get lucky."​

Martinez has had chances before at becoming a manager. He interviewed with the Blue Jays after the 2010 season, interviewed with the Astros after 2012, interviewed with both the Cubs and Nationals after 2013, and did the same with the Rays after 2014 when Maddon left for Chicago.

"If the opportunity arises, I'm ready. I've been ready. I've been close the last couple interviews. I think it'll happen soon," Martinez told Adam Berry of MLB.com in September 2014. "I learned from being [in Tampa Bay] over the years that it takes a whole organization to become a championship team. ... I want to build relationship like that wherever I go -- with the GM, with the radio announcers, with media, with ownership, with fans, players, all that stuff. It all matters."

Dodgers general manager Farhan Zaidi said last week the Dodgers weren't necessarily looking for a sabermetric manager.

"I don’t think fluency with that stuff is as necessary as just openness to ideas," Zaidi said. "We're looking for someone that can lead."

Martinez seems to fit the bill, and was endorsed by several Rays last November to succeed Maddon, with support from Joel Peralta, Ben Zobrist, Evan Longoria and Alex Cobb, as well as third base coach Tom Foley. From Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times:

"I'm really hoping they sign Davey and give him a shot," reliever Joel Peralta said. "Not only did he learn a lot from Joe, he knows the Rays organization, he knows the Rays way. Everybody knows him, everybody's comfortable around him. He's a great guy, and I believe he can be a great manager. Joe let everyone do his own thing and play hard, and I think Davey would be the same way. I know every player is going to want to play hard for him."

So, too, has third-base coach Tom Foley, a former big-league teammate and longtime friend.

"I think he's ready," Foley said. "He sat next to Joe, and I know how he operated. He made sure to tell Joe what was on his mind, and if Joe agreed, fine, and if not, he would do what he wanted. They communicated great together. Davey is a strong presence in the clubhouse, well-respected by the staff and players. … He's a good fit."​

More Topkin:

"I still like Dave Martinez at the top of the list," Zobrist emailed. "I think Dave is ready for the opportunity to see how he can do. He has always been 100 percent into the games mentally and I know he has the baseball acumen to manage in game situations."

Cobb said Martinez "would be a great manager. He has a great relationship with all the players. Can relate to us and knows how the culture has been here." Longoria called Martinez "kind of the obvious pick" on MLB Network, also noting the continuity he would provide.​

The job ultimately went to Kevin Cash, after which Martinez resigned in Tampa Bay and followed Maddon to Chicago.

The Dodgers potentially have several coaching spots to fill, but It's hard to see Martinez leaving Chicago for anything another than a managerial job. His history with Friedman, along with his bench coach experience, will be Martinez's strongest assets in potentially joining the Dodgers.

Communication will be paramount for the Dodgers' next manager, both with the front office as well as with the players and the coaching staff. Martinez himself alluded to this in an interview with David Lauria at FanGraphs in June 2012, when asked what type of bench coach he might prefer as manager:

I don’t want somebody to sit there and say, "Yes sir, yes sir,." I’ll want a guy who is very opinionated and sees a game with his own eyes and not mine. I’ll want a guy who is ready for all situations and knows the game. I want him to know what’s going to happen before it happens. That’s what I try to do and it’s what Joe expects from me. When something happens, I want to be ready with an answer. When that opportunity arises for me — depending on the team and what they want — I might end up wanting an older guy, or it might be a younger guy. What’s important is that I want somebody who understands me and is very opinionated. I’ll want somebody who sees the game with his own eyes.​

 

Can Kapler move from the front office to the dugout?
by Eric Stephen | True Blue LA — 4 hours ago

LOS ANGELES -- It seems like Gabe Kapler's name has come up regarding the Dodgers' managerial job even before it came vacant. So it's only natural now that with Don Mattingly moving on, Kapler has emerged as the nearly consensus favorite to take over the reins in the third base dugout.

Buster Olney of ESPN called Kapler "a serious frontrunner" to be the Dodgers next manager.

Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports said the same, also tweeting, "Numerous people in industry have told me in past 24 hours that they will be surprised if anyone but Gabe Kapler is #Dodgers’ next manager."

Jon Heyman of CBS Sports notes that Kapler "is beloved by Dodgers' brass."

Dylan Hernandez of the LA Times called Kapler "the early industrywide favorite to replace Mattingly."

Bill Plunkett of the Orange County Register reported much of the same, noting it was fitting that president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman and general manager Farhan Zaidi described their discussions that led to Mattingly's departure as "organic dialogue."

Kapler, the Dodgers' director of player of development, among other things in 2015 totally revamped the food fed to the players across the minors, opting for more nutritious fare. That practice began in spring training at the major league facility as well, with organic food and no more soda.

A year ago, Kapler was an outside-the-box hire to run the Dodgers farm system, but his strengths seem suitable for managing as well.

"He's incredibly bright, he's a tremendous leader of people, and he's an exceptional communicator," Friedman said in November 2014 when Kapler was hired. "It's so hard for players, who are so mired in it, to sometimes see the bigger picture or even look at it from a different perspective. Gabe is incredibly skilled at seeing things at different perspectives."

Many of those different perspectives have been expressed on Kapler's own website, where he has opined from topics varying from showering without soap to tanning one's testicles to increase Vitamin D.

In September, Kapler compared building a winning culture to the upkeep of a home:

Promoting a long term, winning culture requires constant maintenance. We cannot allow ourselves to become frustrated or deterred from this task. Like our house analogy, gutters will need cleaning and gardens need tending. Sometimes, a fresh coat of paint is in order. We do not get angry at the garden for growing weeds or question the purpose of gutters if they’re just going to get clogged again. We understand that a harmonious living space requires this regular upkeep, and our teams do as well.

We do this by talking about our goals continually. As a team, we are pulling on the same end of the rope. Ensuring that everyone, from the most junior members to the grizzled veterans, understands and believes in the same vision leads to confidence and cohesiveness. When one person slips, we look to grab them by the shirt, pick them up and point them back on course.

Kapler exudes energy, and is open to new ideas. He overhauled the Dodgers winter development program, reducing the physical nature of the week-long event so close to spring training, instead creating what he called "a more mentally-inviting environment" with a little bit of everything major league players might encounter.

"It was actually refreshing. I never really had a sit down of this is how to deal with the media, this is how to help your career," development program participant Buck Britton described during spring training. "We had things from nutrition to sleep, we had a couple Navy SEALs talk to us, we had the sabremetrician guy for the Dodgers.

"As a player you try not to focus on [numbers]. You try to just continue what you do. I have to work on what I'm good at. But it's nice to know it's not just based on batting average, home runs. They look at how this guy can help us."

Scott Schebler talked with Pedro Moura of the Orange County Register about how, with Kapler's help, he no longer worried about his own batting average but rather became focused on hitting the ball hard, with measurable exit velocities, knowing results would eventually come.

That's a demonstrated skill of Kapler implementing a front office philosophy down to a player level. But development takes time, and getting hungry minor leaguers to buy into a different philosophy isn't the same as getting veteran major leaguers to do so.

Zaidi described Thursday what the club was looking for in a new manager.

"We're looking for someone that can lead," Zaidi explained. "Somebody that can rally the troops in that regard, somebody that's open-minded, somebody that we can have an exchange of ideas with is important, and someone who can bring a continued degree of accountability to the clubhouse is important as well."

Kapler, 40, is the youngest of the reported candidates — though Alex Cora is roughly three months younger should the Dodgers include him in their search — but he does have managerial experience. He briefly retired as a player in 2007 while in the Red Sox system to manage Class-A Greenville, where he managed 20-year-old Josh Reddick and 19-year-old Felix Doubront, among others.

"It was an exceptional learning experience for me. I got to see the game from an entirely unique vantage point for a guy who was playing," Kapler said last November, of his managing experience. "I was able to digest, sponge, analyze the game in a way that was much different than when I was a player.

"I don't want to have my heels dug in anywhere. I want to be flexible, I want to be nimble. I want to be thoughtful. Those are some of the cornerstones of my belief systems."

Kapler returned to playing in 2008 and played three more seasons, including 2009-2010 with the Rays under Friedman. Kapler was a non-roster invitee to Dodgers camp in spring training in 2011, but retired as a player after not making the team.

He worked for a year with Fox Sports, both as a television analyst and a writer before joining the Dodgers last November.

C.J. Nitkowski, who was a teammate of Kapler's with the Tigers, then with the Rangers, and again with Fox Sports, spoke highly of his former teammate upon Kapler's arrival in Los Angeles last November:

His passion, intelligence and drive told me he'd be moving on at some point and without a doubt he is hardly done. I won't be the least surprised when he is leading an organization as either a GM or field manager.

The communication and leadership skills are clearly evident in Kapler, and he's going to be an asset for the Dodgers one way or another. The only question is whether removing him from a player development role leaves a bigger hole than the one he might fill as manager.