Mattingly with Blue Jays ‘a great fit for me’
Don Mattingly left the Miami Marlins last September after seven seasons as manager. All parties concerned agreed the timing was right for a change.
But Mattingly was not ready to leave baseball and became bench coach of the Toronto Blue Jays two months later. At 62, he’s the new guy on the coaching staff of a World Series contender.
“I love it, I really do,” Mattingly said this past week when the Jays were at Fenway Park. “This has been a great fit for me.”
The Blue Jays fired manager Charlie Montoyo last July and replaced him with bench coach John Schneider. Triple A manager Casey Candaele was named the interim bench coach.
The Jays were 46-28 under Schneider, making the playoffs before losing in the Wild Card round against the Mariners. Schneider was retained as manager with Candaele returning to his old job.
Toronto wanted a bench coach with major league experience and Mattingly was a perfect fit given his 12 seasons managing the Marlins and Dodgers. That run included four playoff appearances.
Schneider, 43, put his ego aside and supported the idea.
“Me understanding that I’m a young manager and it’s a relatively young staff, having that kind of voice for the players has been a real big addition,” he said.
“It’s been awesome. He’s a baseball lifer and getting to know him in the offseason was great. We really aligned in a lot of different areas. He’s been a great sounding board for me and the staff but more so for the players.”
Mattingly was a six-time All-Star and nine-time Gold Glove winner with the Yankees during his playing career. He was a hitting coach and bench coach under Joe Torre with the Yankees and Dodgers, then became a manager.
Whatever the task, he brings a base of knowledge.
“We’ve got him all over the place,” Schneider said. “He’ll talk hitting. Him and I talk a lot of fundamental stuff and strategy. He’s obviously run a bullpen for a number of years [as a manager] and been a bench coach. He’s casting a wide net. He’s involved in a lot of stuff.”
Counting Schneider, the Jays have a 12-man major league staff and nine are 53 or younger. Several had major league experience, but nothing like the success Mattingly had over 14 seasons.
“He’s got a lot of knowledge and is kind of a calming presence,” shortstop Bo Bichette said. “He’s been through it all and had a lot of success. He doesn’t just help with baseball; he shows us how to be leaders and good teammates.
“I was thrilled, to say the least, just to have somebody like that to learn from. It’s something most players would never get the opportunity to do.”
Mattingly was worn down by managing and the demands off the field. Now his job is all baseball.
“This situation was what I wanted,” he said. “Talented team, a great city, and a chance to do the things I love. I like coming to the ballpark every day and working with these guys.”
Mattingly also was happy to be back at Fenway Park, where he hit his first major league home run. It was a solo shot beyond the Pesky Pole off John Tudor on June 24, 1983.
“I always loved playing here,” he said.
That prompted a story. Two days after that home run, Mattingly was playing first base when Matt Keough hit
Jim Rice in the wrist with a pitch.
“Jim was mad, but he didn’t say anything,” Mattingly said.
Keough faced the Red Sox again six days later at Yankee Stadium and hit Rice again his first time up.
“Jim got to first and said, ‘Now he’s going to pay,’ ” Mattingly said.
Rice hit a two-run homer to left field his next time up, then another two-run homer the same way when he came up the third time. The Sox went on to a 10-4 victory.
Rice finished 4 of 10 in the series with three homers, two walks, and five RBIs. The Yankees’ Kangaroo Court took notice.
“We fined Keough for waking Rice up,” Mattingly said, laughing.
Renovation has old-school touch
The Red Sox renovated the home clubhouse at Fenway Park over the offseason, dramatically changing the configuration and feel of the room. All the old lockers and couches were tossed and replaced with modern versions. Except for one very important item. Home clubhouse manager Tom McLaughlin made sure the framed black-and-white photo of Johnny Pesky
that hung in the old clubhouse for many years was safely stored away during the renovation.
This past week, McLaughlin put the photo up on a wall in the approximate location of where Pesky kept a locker before he died in 2012. That was the final touch.
Pesky was not the best or most famous player in team history. But none were more beloved.
Pesky signed with the Sox in 1940, made his major league debut in ‘42, and remained with the team until being traded in 1952. He returned as manager in 1962, a job he held for two seasons.
He came back again in 1968 and never left, working as a television and radio announcer, coach, minor league manager, and special assistant. His No. 6 was retired in 2008 because of the positive influence he had on so many people in the organization.
Now Pesky’s photo is back where it belongs.
A few other observations on the Red Sox:
■ Sox games have averaged 29 fewer minutes this season compared with last. For everyday players such as Rafael Devers and Alex Verdugo, that’s nearly three hours less on the field over the course of the six-game week. Could that lead to a Sox player missing only two or three games this season?
“That’s something that the medical staff is always on top of,” manager Alex Cora said. “But you can tell the difference.”
Cora works with the athletic trainers to determine when a player needs a day off. Performance plays a role in those decisions, too. But he expects the shorter games will lessen the need for some days off.
“We feel it as a coaching staff,” Cora said. “It’s amazing. It’s great to get home at 11. It’s refreshing.”
No Sox player has appeared in 157 or more games since Mookie Betts played 158 games and Xander Bogaerts played 157 in 2016. That could change this season.
■ Devers has been quietly showing some leadership skills.
He’s taken Brayan Bello under his wing, hooking the 23-year-old righthander up with some new clothes for road trips. Devers also arranged tickets for Triple A pitchers Bryan Mata and Oddanier Mosqueda to attend Game 1 of the Celtics-76ers series when the WooSox had a night off.
Gestures like that mean a lot to young players, especially the Latin American players who see Devers as a role model.
■ “That guy can hit,” Devers said when asked his impression of rookie Enmanuel Valdez.
Everybody seems to agree on that assessment. Valdez is on the small side (5 feet 9 inches, 183 pounds) but drives the ball when he makes contact because of his bat speed. His first major league home run was a 427-foot shot to center field at Fenway Park.
Valdez has been tried at six positions in the minor leagues and none have fit particularly well. That was why the Astros were willing to let him go in the Christian Vázquez trade.
The Sox have focused on Valdez playing second base.
“We need to work with him,” Cora said. “But he can play second.”
Timing seems to be an issue. There have been several ground balls that Valdez was a split second too early or too late to make a play on.
■ Now that Connor Wong is a significant contributor, the Betts trade is less of a disaster. But just how badly the Sox missed with Jeter Downs is becoming more apparent.
The rebuilding Nationals claimed Downs off waivers in December. He was called up from Triple A on April 11 and didn’t get into a game until April 29. Then he was optioned four days later.
Downs has a .653 OPS in 186 career Triple A games and a .436 OPS in 15 major league games. But he’s still only 24, so maybe there is some hope.
Hall of Fame nod from the Navy
The USS Cooperstown, a Freedom class combat ship, was commissioned on Saturday in New York. The ship is named in honor of the 70 members of the Baseball Hall of Fame who served during war time.
That group includes Ted Williams, and a replica of his Hall of Fame plaque was installed on the stateroom door of the first commander of the Cooperstown, Evan Wright.
A Millis native, Wright is an avid Red Sox fan who worked closely with the Hall of Fame staff to incorporate some baseball flair into the Cooperstown.
“We wanted to add some personal touches to reflect the name of the ship,” Wright said. “It’s a cool thing.”
There’s a display in honor of Bob Feller, who was a gun captain on the USS Alabama during World War II and saw two years of combat in the Pacific. Wright also had an action photo of David Ortiz put in his quarters.
“I grew up in the era of Wade Boggs and Roger Clemens and loved the golden years of Big Papi, Pedro Martinez, Mike Lowell, and those guys,” the 42year-old Wright said. “In 2004, I was coming back from deployment headed east across the Pacific and we were fortunate to be on a course where we could get the World Series on Armed Forces Radio.”
Wright was named captain of the Cooperstown in 2019 when the ship was close to being delivered to the Navy. He helped select and train the crew that took the Cooperstown from the Marinette Marine shipyard in Wisconsin through the Great Lakes Waterway to the Atlantic and down to Florida.
The maiden voyage took 4½ months as the Cooperstown stopped at five ports along the way.
“It was exciting, a great experience,” Wright said. “There’s a lot that goes into getting a ship ready for service.”
The Cooperstown will operate out of Naval Station Mayport in Florida. Freedom class ships have shallow drafts and can operate close to shore to carry out a variety of missions. The Cooperstown can carry up to three aircraft and is armed with a variety of weapons.
Wright visited the Hall of Fame as part of his preparing the Cooperstown for duty — now there’s a nice job perk — and took note of the round medallions under the plaques of the Hall of Famers who served in conflicts from the Civil War to the Korean War.
“Cooperstown is a special place,” said Wright, who is set to retire from the Navy in November and move into a second career in the corporate world. “As a baseball fan, this has been a great part of my career.”
Extra bases
Guardians manager Terry Francona
on the new rules this season and how the game is being played: “I think it’s OK. I think, like a lot of people my age, I was a little panicked at first. I remember the meeting we had at the Winter Meetings. I was like, ‘Uh-oh. This is not good.’ They kind of said, ‘Hey, the first week is tough. The second week is less tough.’ They were right on about it. We’re getting used to it. The goal was to not have it get in the way of how you play, and I think for the most part we’re there.” One goal of the new rules was to bring more athleticism into the game. Francona thinks that will take some time. “Teams can’t make themselves be more athletic,” he said. “You have who you have. I think it’s set up where if you are [more athletic], you probably have advantage because you’re limited to where you can put people. They want to see more action and I think they probably are. I think that’s true.” It was great to see Francona smiling and moving well when the Guardians were in town. He has made a lot of progress after his health issues last season . . . Bo Bichette
has a 1.008 OPS in 26 career games at Fenway Park. Maybe it’s because his parents met at the old Gold’s Gym on Lansdowne Street in 1991. “Nah. It’s just a beautiful place to play,” Bichette said. “The fans are amazing. Obviously with all the history here, I think it makes baseball fun. I like everything about it.” . . . Giants outfielder Mike Yastrzemski is on the injured list with a hamstring strain, but the injury is not as bad as was initially feared. He was off to a good start, posting an .854 OPS through 25 games . . . Xander Bogaerts
speaks four languages. So naturally he became the first player to homer in four countries in regular-season games when he went deep in Mexico on April
29. Bogaerts had previously homered in the United States, Canada, and England . . . As somebody who has long banged the drum for the Red Sox to sign David Robertson, it’s worth noting he allowed one run on seven hits and struck out 18 with three walks in his first 13‚ innings for the Mets. Robertson, who lives in Rhode Island, was signed for one year and $10 million . . . Oakland drew 5,268 fans over two games against Seattle on Tuesday and Wednesday. Is this what it will be like until the Athletics leave for Las Vegas? Hard to blame any fan for not wanting to give that franchise any support . . . UConn (ninth), Boston College (19th), and Northeastern (25th) are all ranked in the latest NCAA Division 1 poll. It would be a great thing for New England baseball to host an NCAA Regional this season. In Elliot Ballpark, which opened in 2021, UConn has a worthy venue . . . It’s not a story that has received a lot of national attention, but gaming regulators in Ohio suspended bets on University of Alabama baseball games because of “suspicious activity” involving a game against LSU on April
28. That activity came at a sportsbook located in Great American Ball Park in Cincinnati. Alabama then fired coach Brad Bohannon on Thursday. These stories are becoming commonplace. The NFL suspended four players for gambling violations last month and it’s a matter of time before it happens with MLB as gambling becomes more pervasive . . . Instead of a Red Sox birthday this week, happy birthday to the great Willie Mays, who turned 92 on Saturday. Mays never played a regular-season game at Fenway Park, but he did play eight games at Braves Field from 195152 and was somehow 1 for 28 with eight walks and only four strikeouts. After Mays, the next oldest Hall of Famers are Whitey Herzog (91), Luis Aparicio (89), and Sandy Koufax (87).