Like the winter wind, multiple managerial changes occur every off-season.
While it’s normally the usual suspects – a last-place finish or impatient ownership – to blame for a change in bench bosses, that was not the case this winter when championship teams and large market, storied-franchises brought in new skippers.
To what extent these changes have improved the fortunes of these clubs is up for debate.
1. Ozzie Guillen, Miami Marlins
In this age of managers blurting clichés on a nightly basis during their post-game media conferences and using stale strategy from "the book" as an out when things don’t break their way, Guillen has been a breath of fresh air.
He was a cocky, scrappy little player with the White Sox, Orioles, Braves and Devil Rays, bursting on the Major League scene by winning the 1985 A.L. Rookie of the Year by a substantial margin over Brewers’ lefty Teodoro (Teddy) Higuera.
Guillen also played against the Jays in the 1993 ALCS as Toronto won in six games before defeating the Phillies to defend their World Series title. As a player, Guillen was above-average but not a star. As a manager, he was reporter’s dream: always giving colourful post-game quotes – win or lose – and never being afraid to call out his players.
And with English being his second language, there was always an interesting choice of verbiage, sprinkled with a liberal coating of expletives. Now, after eight seasons as the manager of Chicago’s "other team," Guillen takes his act right into the heart of baseball cool this season as the new manager of the newly-named Miami Marlins, playing in their new stadium with a .524 regular season win percentage and the 2005 World Series title on his resume.
He also grabs the reigns of a team that already has 2009 N.L. batting champ Hanley Ramirez, a pair of top young sluggers in 23-year-old Logan Morrison and sky’s-the-limit 21-year-old Giancarlo "Mike" Stanton, an ace in Josh Johnson that, when healthy, reminds some of Roy Halladay and another starter – Anibal Sanchez – with a no-hitter scratched off his bucket list. Rock solid lefty Mark Buehrle follows Ozzie to South Florida, joined by top-shelf closer Heath Bell, three-time all-star shortstop Jose Reyes, and reclamation project Carlos Zambrano. Watching the Marlins track down the Phillies should be one of the top stories of 2012.
Your move, Senor Guillen…
2. Bobby Valentine, Boston Red Sox
Everybody around the game knows what really went down in Boston last season.
Terry Francona, who delivered two World Series championships to title-starved New England baseball fans, was undermined by pitchers not scheduled to throw that day by sitting in the clubhouse drinking beer and noshing on fried chicken.
To what extent that led to the September collapse is up for debate, but the bottom line is that the inmates ran the asylum at Fenway Park and ‘Tito’ had to pay, along with GM Theo Epstein. History may show however that they caught a break when the boat pulled up and let them get off the Titanic. Ben Cherington now takes over from Epstein, who has been entrusted with lifting the Chicago Cubs’ curse.
The new face of the Red Sox franchise is Valentine, who skippered the Mets to a World Series appearance in 2000, but has done little else in North America.
Sure, he had some success in Japan, winning a league series title in 2005, but he was relieved of his duties there twice. He stayed around the game, as an analyst for ESPN including a stint on Sunday Night Baseball.
He becomes the 45th manager in the long and storied history of the Red Sox and he might very well be the right guy at the right time in Boston.
He has no problem stepping in front of the cameras to answer the tough questions when things aren’t going well. But this a roster in flux, with closer Jonathan Papelbon taking big, free-agent money from the Phillies and team captain Jason Varitek retiring.
Bobby V has already stoked the rivalry fires with the Yankees by trying to bait Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez into a war of words in the media.
Looks like the start of an interesting summer at the top of the A.L. East.
3. Mike Matheny, St. Louis Cardinals
No manager has bigger shoes to fill than Matheny, managing for the first time in the Majors and taking over the defending World Series Champion St. Louis Cardinals from Tony LaRussa.
But not only does Matheny have to worry about filling LaRussa’s massive cleats, he also inherits a team that is now missing Albert Pujols, who switched leagues after signing a 10-year, $240 million free agent contract with the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.
Matheny, who retired in 2007 due to on-going symptoms of post-concussion syndrome, was a steady, workman-like catcher for 13 seasons (including 1999 with the Blue Jays) and was a four-time Gold Glove winner.
He has been around the Cardinals franchise in an advisory role since retiring and should have a good handle on the current personnel. It will be interesting to see how he manages around the massive void left by Pujols’ defection, but what he can count on is excellent starting pitching, led by another ex-Jay in Chris Carpenter.
Managing in a division that is suddenly average with Prince Fielder gone Milwaukee via free agency to Detroit, Matheny has the horses to make it back to the playoffs.
Even if he doesn’t however, he’ll likely get a mulligan from the great baseball fans of St. Louis who remember him from his playing days with the Cardinals (2000-04).
4. Robin Ventura, Chicago White Sox
Things will be a little easier for the former Sox third basemen, taking over a team not expected to do much, not with the Tigers projected by all to blow the doors off the A.L. Central.
General manager Kenny Williams accepted the resignation of Ozzie Guillen before the season was even over, a perfect indication that things needed to be blown up on the South Side.
If you’re going to start from scratch then why not bring in a guy with zero managing experience to grow with the players.
The fact that the Cubs are also taking a big step with the arrival of Theo Epstein should keep the White Sox well under the radar, allowing them to regroup with little pressure. It will be interesting to see what style that Ventura designs for his team. As a player, Ventura never lived up to the athletic prowess that he rolled out of college with following a then-record 58-game hit streak, eclipsing Joe DiMaggio’s 56-game MLB mark.
But he did play the game hard and right, best remembered for charging Nolan Ryan after a beaning only to get wailed upon. And after teammate Jack McDowell got one-punched by former Blue Jays’ right fielder Mark (Hard Hittin’) Whiten, he ran over Pat Borders on a play at the plate to exact some revenge.
It’s likely that the 2012 edition of the pale hose will be taking on some of their new skipper’s attributes.
That would be a welcome change to the fans who watched their team slowly tune out Guillen and went into sleepwalk mode over the last couple of seasons.
It’s a tough way to learn the managing game.
5. Dale Sveum, Chicago Cubs
On the north side of Chicago, long suffering Cubs’ fans also have a new bench boss to rail on. Sveum had success managing in the minors in the Pittsburgh Pirates chain and was named the Top Managerial Prospect in the Eastern League in 2003 by Baseball America.
Since then, he has served as the Red Sox third base coach under Terry Francona (2004-05) when they won their first World Series title since 1918 back in 2004. He then joined the Brewers coaching staff, first as bench coach where he took over from Ned Yost for the final 12 games of the 2008 season, and then as third base coach under Ken Macha and Ron Roenicke.
In Chicago, Sveum takes over from Mike Quade after Theo Epstein came in and began yet another rebuild after Cubbies finished fifth in the N.L. Central, 20 games under .500.
Already offensively challenged, the Cubs lost 54 home runs from 2011 with the departures of corner infielders Aramis Ramirez and Carlos Pena. Things are so bad, the Cubs have been picked by many to finish behind the Pirates, who haven’t been above .500 since 1992.
There is no shot that these "lovable losers" can surprise, even with big stars Albert Pujols and Prince Fielder leaving for big money deals with deep pocketed A.L. teams.
