USA TODAY International Edition
No experience needed for new managers
LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. – They’re mostly young by managers’ standards, media-savvy and well-versed in analytics. All five played in the majors, four of them at least 10 years. Two are fluent in Spanish.
The new wave of major league managers who will debut next season bear little resemblance to the old-school skippers of the recent past, many of them onetime marginal players who honed their craft for years in the minors before getting a crack at a big-league job. Think Bobby Cox for a point of reference.
Of the six managers taking over major league teams for the 2018 season, only the Detroit Tigers’ Ron Gardenhire, 60, has served in that capacity before.
The New York Yankees’ Aaron Boone has never even coached, having spent the eight years since retiring from playing as a TV analyst. Alex Cora also went the TV route, although he did manage winter ball in his native Puerto Rico and put in a year as a bench coach with the Houston Astros before assuming the helm of the Boston Red Sox.
Gabe Kapler, who will be guiding the Philadelphia Phillies, managed one season at Class A in 2007, then played three more years in the big leagues. The Washington Nationals’ Dave Martinez and the New York Mets’ Mickey Callaway have considerable coaching experience but have never called the shots at any pro level.
And none of them has been handed a low-profile club tucked away in a laidback market.
Boone and Cora will be locking horns in the game’s fiercest rivalry as the reinforced Yankees look to unseat the Red Sox as American League East champs. Kapler will find out first-hand how reasonable Phillies fans can be. Martinez is tasked with reaching the National League Championship Series, at the very least. Callaway is being counted on to revive the Mets’ once-vaunted rotation.
No pressure.
As the line between managers and statistically-driven front offices has blurred in recent years, teams have sought new field leaders more willing to implement advanced metrics into their decision-making while displaying the human touch required to deal with a 25man roster and serving as the first line of defense with the news media.
If the clubs have to forsake experience in exchange for those skills, well, the new fellows can learn along the way.
“Maybe some of the older-school guys were reluctant to adapt to some of the analytics, and now I think some of the organizations are bringing in some younger guys that they can start along those lines,’’ said the Oakland Athletics’ Bob Melvin, a 14-year manager who has adjusted to the new approach.
Among the newcomers, only Martinez (53) is older than 44, and he has a youthful demeanor after spending the last 10 years as bench coach for the innovative Joe Maddon, the last three with the Chicago Cubs. Maddon, in fact, often relied on Martinez as his liaison with players, having him relay directives they might not feel comfortable receiving from the head man.
In seeking a successor to Dusty Baker, who won back-to-back division crowns but failed to get the Nationals past the first round, the club attempted to strike a balance between the new and old guard.
“I came from two organizations that thrive on the analytics, Tampa and Chicago,’’ Martinez said. “I think what separated me was my ability to really focus on the baseball aspects as well, kind of being a hybrid. As much information as I get, I still have to think about the players and how much information we want to give to an individual, and how to present it to players. That’s the key.’’
The Martinez and Cora hires tripled the number of Latino managers in the majors, as they joined the Chicago White Sox’s Rick Renteria in those ranks. Not only can they communicate with their Latin players in their native tongue, but also represent their teams in two languages.
During the season, the manager is the only member of the club required to talk to reporters twice a day, a task that has grown in importance as media scrutiny increases with the proliferation of news outlets.
Cora and Boone, who will be managing teams they used to play for, worked as ESPN commentators. That experience shows in their comfort level in front of the cameras, and Cora sees it as a way of paying dues for their current gigs.
“People think that that's an easy job, it's just get behind that desk and put that tie on and just talk baseball. It doesn't work that way, man,’’ Cora said. “The way I see it, that prepares us for this. … (To) deal with players, deal with scouting reports, obviously deal with media, the front office, I think it was a good school for us.’’
The lively Callaway and the intense Kapler bring avant-garde concepts to their jobs.
Callaway, the Cleveland Indians’ pitching coach the last five seasons, is an advocate of hydration and insists pitchers should throw more to condition themselves for the season, rather than reducing their workloads for fear of injury.
Kapler, 42, is a fitness freak who may be in better shape than half his players when they show up to spring training. As the Los Angeles Dodgers’ director of player development since 2014, Kapler got the team to switch to organic food and wrote a blog about nutrition and lifestyle.
He’s planning to bring those same ideas to the land of the cheesesteak.
“The philosophy and the strategy is educate, educate, educate,’’ Kapler said. “Present our players with the best possible options, the most nutrient-dense options, and then say, ‘Here are how these nutrients work in your body and how they have a chance to make you a more effective baseball player. Now go choose. You're grown-ups.’’’
That’s probably something the Phillies never heard from Charlie Manuel, but then again, it’s a new era.