Hinch might have been on L.A.’s side
Dodgers had their eye on him when he was a minor league catcher.
The Dodgers could see that A.J. Hinch was destined for a starring role beyond his playing days.
Hinch, now drawing raves for his work as the Houston Astros’ manager, had not even finished his playing career when he hit the Dodgers’ radar as a possible candidate for an executive job.
In 2004, Hinch was a triple-A catcher in the Philadelphia Phillies’ organization. Paul DePodesta, then the Dodgers’ first-year general manager, considered Hinch in his search for a minor league director.
“I don’t want a clone of me as the farm director,” DePodesta told The Times then. “Someone with a playing background would be very attractive.”
Hinch, who played one more year at triple A before retiring, said he never did get an offer from the Dodgers. However, he said, he had conversations with contacts in many organizations, trying to his next career move.
“When you don’t hit a slider consistently, you’re not going to play very long,” Hinch said before his Astros defeated the Dodgers 5-1 to win the World Series. “And there’s only so far personality can take you as a backup catcher.”
Hinch has been the Astros’ manager for three seasons, and this year has gone better for him than for DePodesta.
When the New York Mets advanced to the World Series in 2015, DePodesta was their vice president of player development and scouting. The NFL’s Cleveland Browns hired him two months later, as their chief strategy officer, in attempt to revive the dormant franchise using the principles of “Moneyball.”
The early results resemble an NFL version of tanking. The Browns are 0-8 this season and 1-23 since DePodesta’s arrival.