Does Junior come back to Seattle now??

[Casey Fisher]

Casey:

Another report added John Farrell and Rick Sweet also to the mix.

Most of these guys have a lot of minor league managerial experience and major league bench coach or coaching experience, though as reported and commented none have major league experience.

Of the ones I have known Brad Mills has about the longest resume. He and Terry Francona played together at the U of A plus with the Expos and he has been Terry's bench coach the last 5 years. I got to know him when he was in the Rockies organization at Colorado Springs as their manager for 5 years. They won the 1995 PCL Championship. He has also been a minor league manager for the Cubs and the Dodgers, major league coach with the Phils and Expos. He is a sharp guy and would do a good job.

Chip Hale is another I knew when he was in the PCL. He played for the Twins organization including the big club in 1989-90, 1993-96 and the Dodgers in 1997. He is another U of A product. Has managed in the Diamondbacks organization 2000-2005 with excellent results. He has spent the last 3 years as a coach with the Dbacks. Smart guy who has done a great job right up the ladder. If given the chance would really be an improvement for the M's.

John Farrell former Indians, Angels and Tigers pitcher. He had one really good year with the Indians, but hurt his arm. Coached at OK State 1997-2001. From 2001-06 Indians Director of Player Development. He did a superb job there. 2007-08 Red Sox pitching coach under Francona. No managerial experience which is sometimes good. A longshot if he is actually on the list.

Don Wakamatsku former White Sox catcher. Cup of coffee in 1991. Also with the Dodgers and Reds organizations. He was a good AAA catcher, but never got much of a shot. Nice guy, calm and organized. I knew him when he was in the Dodger organization and he never got a shot there. He was a manager in the Angels organization 1997-2000 where he Cal State League Manager of the Year. 2001-02 Angels Roving Catching Instructor. 2003-2007 Rangers coach. 2008 A's bench. coach. He has been in the same division as the Mariners the last 6 years at the major league level so he has a good idea what is going on in Seattle from a distance. I am sure Don would do a good job.

Joey Cora is well known to all of the Mariners fans. I knew him when he was in the Padres organization. Good heads up ball player. Played in the majors iwth the Padres 1987-89-90, Chisox 1991-94, Mariners 1995-98 and ended with Cleveland in 1998. Managed in the Mets organization 2001-02. Expos Class A 2003. White Sox coach 2004-08. Bench coach the last 3 years. He has also managed in Venezuela during winter ball. Has actual major league experience filling in for Ozzie Guillen during his suspensions.. He would be a favorite in Seattle.

Rick Sweet was reported in a different report. He has a long history with the Mariners. He played with the Padres in 1978, the Mets in 1982 and the Mariners in 1982-83. In 1984 he was the Mariners bullpen coach. Scout with the M's in 1985-86.
1987-88 Minor League Manager with the M's. He went to the Astros organization as a Manager from 1989-1995 won the championship with Tucson in 1993. 1996 Astros coach. 1997 Mets minor league manager. 1998-2000 Expos Minor league Manager. 2001-03 Portland PCL manager. 2004 Tigers Minor League manager. 2005-08 Louisville (Reds) manager. About 20 years as a minor league manager. He has done well everywhere. He may be a longshot and is not familiar with the M's current organization. Another good baseball man.

Demarlo Hale not too familiar with but remember him from playing with Red Sox and A's organizations in the 1980's. He worked for the Bucky Dent school 1989-92. Coach 1992 Red Sox minors. 1993-95 Red Sox minors manager. 2000-01 Rangers Ok City manager. 2002-04 Rangers coach. 2006-08 Red Sox coach. He was also with Francona before with the Rangers.

Jose Oquendo longtime major league infielder. He has spent almost all of his career in the Cardinals organization. 1983-84 Mets. 1986-95 Cardinals. 1997 Cardinals instructor. 1998 Minor League manager. 1999-2008 Cardinals coach. 2006 he was the manager of the Puerto Rico Team in the World Baseball Classic. He has done a good job with the Cardinals.

Randy Ready I met a few times when he first came up iwth the Brewers and Padres. The type of guy who you knew was going to stay in baseball. he played 1983-95. Brewers 83-86, San Diego 86-89, Philadelphia 1989-91, Oakland 1992, Montreal 1993 and back to Philly 1994-95. Tigers minor league manager 2002-03. Padres minor league manager 2004-08.

I think Wakamatsu, Chip Hale, Joey Cora and Brad Mills are the favorites. It might boil down to Cora and Hale. You never know what is going to happen. Any of them needs to be given time to put an organization in place and guarantee them a period of time to put a winning ball team together. The real problem is more in the front office, than with the manager. The Mariners can't jack them around like they did Bob Melvin and the GM needs to clean up the mess that Bavasi created.

Lauren

Excellent analysis Lauren... I really hope we don't get Joey Cora as our Manager. I know he was a fan favorite, but I just don't think he is the right guy that we need. I guess in the drand scheme of things, a no-name manager isn't such a bad thing. You have to get your start somewhere... Who had ever heard of Joe Maddon until this year and look what he did!!!

[Lauren A. Scrafford]

Excellent analysis Lauren... I really hope we don't get Joey Cora as our Manager. I know he was a fan favorite, but I just don't think he is the right guy that we need. I guess in the drand scheme of things, a no-name manager isn't such a bad thing. You have to get your start somewhere... Who had ever heard of Joe Maddon until this year and look what he did!!![/quote]

Casey:

Joe Maddon was pretty obscure except to the Angels where he spent his entire career before being hired as the Rays manager. He has vastly improved that team, of course it helps drafting #1 every year. He was in the Angels organization for 31 years with 12 years as a big league coach and interm manager. Of course he is a former catcher and a lot of the good managers are.

Don Watamatsu is a former catcher and like I said would be an excellent choice. I agree with you on Joey Cora...

Lauren