There are some interesting names being thrown out there for John Gibbons’ replacement
By Cam Lewis
5 years agoAs we know, the Blue Jays are moving in a new direction next season. As they navigate their rebuild and trot a bunch of Large Adult Sons out on the field, they want a hip, young, cool, analytically-inclined manager to lead the next wave of talent into the future.
Eric Wedge has always appeared to be the inevitable Gibbons replacement because the Cleveland Crew brought him in immediately as a player development advisor. That said, Wedge, who was Cleveland’s manager under Mark Shapiro between 2003 and 2009, isn’t hip, young, or cool, so I’m not sure he’s the fit the team is looking for in this role.
How about some of these other names? I know, it’s just OddsShark so it doesn’t really mean anything, but, for the sake of The Content, let’s dig through this list.
- Stubby Clapp is one we’ve talked about already. He’s won back-to-back Pacific Coast League Manager of the Year titles and he’s Canadian so a whole bunch of fans would certainly have their dick move a little at the thought of a good ol’ Canuck who probably manages like a fucken hockey coach in the dugout. Beyond the Maple Boner, the best thing about Clapp is the combination of him being a new-age manager with actual pedigree at the highest level beneath the big leagues.
- DeMarlo Hale is Toronto’s current bench coach under John Gibbons. Hale has quite a bit of experience as a manager given the fact he’s the guy who takes over after Gibby gets ejected. Do the Cleveland Boys have any interest in him and expanded role, though?
- John Schneider has worked his way up the Blue Jays system much like a prospect in his own right. Future Blue Jays did an interesting look at the Fisher Cats’ manager who has had stops in Vancouver, Lansing, and Dunedin. During that time, Schneider has worked with many of Toronto’s key prospects who will be working their way onto the team in the near future. Does it make sense to promote him along with the Large Adult Sons he’s worked with?
- Sean Casey was one of Cleveland’s stop prospects when Mark Shapiro was the organization’s farm director. I have no idea where this one is coming from.
- John McDonald is an all-time fan favourite among Blue Jays fans. He couldn’t handle the bat worth a lick but he had arguably the sweetest glove in baseball for a while there. Before McDonald played for the Jays he was in the — yep, you guessed it — Cleveland organization with Shapiro. In the past, Shapiro has praised the fuck out of McDonald for his work ethic and character. He has no managerial experience so this would be an Aaron Boone in New York situation.
- Victor Martinez is retiring at the end of the season and was a star catcher in Cleveland during the Shapiro days. Is there any merit to him becoming a manager somewhere immediately after retirement or is this just a guess akin to the Yankees interviewing a freshly-retired Carlos Beltran last winter?
- Craig Breslow is a really interesting one, actually. He’s spent two years in Toronto’s minor league system as a kind of player/coach. He’s regarded as the smartest man in baseball and he notably used analytics to try to rejuvenate his career. He certainly checks off the SABR-minded box the Jays are looking for. You have to think the organization has a plan for him given the fact he’s spent two years essentially being Smart Dad in the minors the past couple years.
- Mike Matheny, John Farrell, and Joe Girardi are on the list because they’re recently-fired managers with big league experience. None are new-school, though. But holy fuck, Farrell coming back would be funny. Hey, we were against Gibby getting a second chance and look at how that turned out!
- One name that’s missing here that I figure could be considered is L.A. Dodgers third base coach Chris Woodward. He’s a former Blue Jay infielder like McDonald without any of the fanfare but he’s a part of Dave Roberts’ stats-inclined staff and he was interviewed by the Yankees last year. He seems like one of those guys who’s going to get a managerial gig soon.
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