5 candidates to take over the Braves after Bobby Cox
Earlier today we offered 5 reasons Bobby Cox should step aside. Some of you then asked the logical follow-up: OK, genius, who would you hire to replace him? Here, presented in order of preference, is my short list:
1. Brad Mills, Red Sox bench coach: He has apprenticed beside Terry Francona, who’s the second-best manager in baseball — Minnesota’s Ron Gardenhire is the best — and who was Mills’ college roommate. He’s steeped in the Sox system of numbers-crunching, which would surely delight the stat geeks on DOB’s blog, and has been known to use the word “sabermetrics” in conversation.
2. Jose Oquendo, Cardinals third base coach: He’s considered the first choice to succeed Tony La Russa in St. Louis, but nobody’s sure when La Russa will leave. Oquendo is a key player liaison, having built an alliance with the taciturn Albert Pujols. (Ah, but you’re asking: Could he get along with Yunel Escobar? Probably.)
3. Dave Duncan, Cardinals pitching coach: There’s a spotty history for pitching coaches as managers. Roger Craig was a good one, Ray Miller less good. (And Leo Mazzone, the best pitching coach ever, never got a managerial sniff.) But the belief in St. Louis is that Duncan, La Russa’s longtime No. 2, wants out: He’s said to be angry at the local media over the treatment of his son Chris, whom the Cardinals traded to Boston last month. And it’s worth noting that Duncan wasn’t actually a pitcher himself. He was a catcher for the Oakland A’s of the early ’70s.
Loading ...4. Terry Pendleton, Braves hitting coach: If the Braves stay in-house, he’s the guy. He’s respected by the players — Jeff Francoeur’s flight to Texas for instruction shouldn’t be viewed as a consensus opinion — and beloved by the brass. He’s a hard worker who played under two of the best managers ever in Cox and Whitey Herzog, and he’s also a bit of a hard nose. (He rides a Harley!) Which, coming after the gentle ways of Bobby Cox, might not be a bad thing.
5. Scott Ullger, Twins third base coach: If Gardenhire is the best — and he is — why not grab his chief lieutenant? Ullger is a lifer in the Twins’ system and has managed in the minors. Plus, you have to admire a guy whose official bio reads: “Experience: A lot.”
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553 comments Add your comment
Joe Simpson the Great
September 21st, 2009
3:47 pm
Maybe the Braves could get those Tom Emanski tapes to manage the team. I bet Fred McGriff would endorse that move.
Ryan
September 21st, 2009
3:47 pm
Anybody but TP!
Mike
September 21st, 2009
3:48 pm
Manny Acta, Manny Acta, Manny Acta. And promote Botelho and Dismuke from Gwinnett to be the pitching coach and hitting coach respectively.
Adam
September 21st, 2009
3:48 pm
What about Bobby Valentine?
Mark Bradley
September 21st, 2009
3:48 pm
What about Tom Emanski himself? With Crime Dog as hitting coach?
Mark Bradley
September 21st, 2009
3:49 pm
I say it again: Bobby Valentine has never finished first with a team in the Western hemisphere.
Michael Irvin
September 21st, 2009
3:50 pm
How about Dr. Lou Holtz, sir?
Mark Bradley
September 21st, 2009
3:51 pm
If it took Dr. Lou off ESPN, that’d be worth it.
Shamus Thacker
September 21st, 2009
3:52 pm
If I were Frank Wren I’d go to the Jackson Diagnostic and Classification Center. I’d find the biggest, toughest, scariest, smelliest, inmate, in the whole joint. I’d allow him to motivate by patrolling the bench with a shank.
Greg (Ed) Norton, our shi__iest player, would suddenly draw comparisons to Rod Carew.
FEAR, the greatest motivator of them all!
WORLD SERIES HERE WE COME!!
jim
September 21st, 2009
3:52 pm
Gardenhire gets credit for having a small-market team competetive each year, but as much credit should go to the GM and scouting department that has surrounded him with the likes of Johan Santana, Joe Mauer, Justin Morneau, Hunter, Nathan, and several other lesser known players like Cuddyer who are pretty good complementary players. The AL Central is usually the least competetive division in the AL which also doesn’t hurt.
Head on straight
September 21st, 2009
3:53 pm
There is no reason for Cox to retire this year. But if he does the best choice is Ned Yost. He turned around a dreadful Brewers franchise (I still can’t believe they fired him in the middle of the wild card chase) and he’s supposedly a Cox clone. Writing his name multiple times in all-caps should help get my point across.
NED YOST NED YOST NED YOST NED YOST NED YOST NED YOST NED YOST NED YOST NED YOST NED YOST NED YOST NED YOST NED YOST!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Mark Bradley
September 21st, 2009
3:54 pm
You know, Shamus, there really aren’t many tough-guy managers nowadays. I don’t even think Sweet Lou qualifies.
Joe Simpson the Great
September 21st, 2009
3:54 pm
With the Crime Dog as hitting coach everyone on the team would have that one handed helicopter follow through and a cool mustache.
Mark Bradley
September 21st, 2009
3:55 pm
Not to mention a series of fire outbreaks in the press box.
cdog
September 21st, 2009
3:56 pm
MARK, TERRY PENDELTON WOULD BE IDEAL FOR THE JOB. HE HAS PLAYED IN TWO WINNING ORGANIZATION IN ST.LOUIS UNDER HERTZOF AND THE BRAVES UNDER COX. HE SHOULD HAVE LEARNED SOMETHING FROM THE TWO GREAT MANAGERS PLUS WITH HIS TALENT AND ABILITIES, HE WOULD BE THE PERFECT FIT. HE KNOWS THE PLAYERS AND THE ORGANIZATION.
Kurdt Kobain
September 21st, 2009
3:56 pm
Follow the Falcons model and raid the stable and successful Boston club. Mills or Ullger would be great.
curtis jones
September 21st, 2009
3:57 pm
To improve on our current Cox funk, I would
A) Look for anyone with a pulse, and
B) Go outside the Braves organization
Sonny Clusters
September 21st, 2009
3:58 pm
How about some ex-Braves players? David Justice. Greg Olson. Wicky. Reitsma. Kolb. Reardon. Senor Smoke.
Chino Cadahia . . .
cdog
September 21st, 2009
3:58 pm
IF PENDELTON IS HIRED, I HOPE HE WOULD BRING BACK LEO MAZONNE AS HIS PITCHING COACH. THE BRAVES SUFFERED WHEN HE LEFT.
Mark Bradley
September 21st, 2009
3:59 pm
Cdog, I don’t think Pendleton should be ruled out of anything just because Francoeur struggled. TP’s a fine baseball man. A fine man, for that matter.
Ramblin Wrecker
September 21st, 2009
4:00 pm
Did you get extra points for obscurity? What about current managers or former managers? Don’t you think Freddi Gonzalez would be an excellent choice? I would think they would at least interview him (if he’s interested, and why wouldn’t he be). How about Ned Yost? He got the Brewers back to respectable, and they dumped him for some inexplicable reason. Add in Eddie Perez and that’s my foursome for interviews.
Kurdt Kobain
September 21st, 2009
4:00 pm
Yeah, the Braves pitching has been awful this year without Leo…
Mark Bradley
September 21st, 2009
4:01 pm
Speaking of Greg Olson … last time I saw him was on a shuttle bus from the Metrodome to the press hotel at the Final Four in Minneapolis in 2001. Seems Olson was in charge of shuttle buses then. (He’s from Minn., as you know.)
Great guy. Don’t know if he’s a big-league manager, but he’s a great guy.
CraZyTRaDeMaN
September 21st, 2009
4:01 pm
Chipper has said he has no desire to be a manager!!! The only thing he has said is he would like to be a hitting coach after he retired from playing.
Woodstock
September 21st, 2009
4:01 pm
MB,
How about Alan Trammell? Bench coach for the Cubs who may or may not get the nod if Lou steps down. Talk of Sandberg being elevated to the Cubs. Anyway, Trammell managed basically a Triple A team when he had the Tigers. Leyland gives him a lot of credit of restoring professionalism to the organization before he inherited the team and took them to the WS.
cdog
September 21st, 2009
4:01 pm
IF PENDELTON IS HIRED, I HOPE HE WOULD BRING BACK LEO MAZONNE AS HIS PITCHING COACH. THE BRAVES SUFFERED WHEN HE LEFT.THE PITCHING STAFF NEED TO BE UPGRADED. LEO KNOWS PITCHING AND WOULD INSTANTLY TRANSFOM THE STAFF INTO DOMINANCE ONCE AGAIN.
mudcat
September 21st, 2009
4:01 pm
Good list. I like the idea of getting some new blood into the organization. Brad Mills would be my choice. He makes decisions based on performance, not on the number of decades you’ve been playing ball. The Red sox will do everything they can to retain him. They’re not dummies. They know they have a winner there. Jose Oquendo is a good choice, bit of a temper, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. I still think as long as Bobby can wobble to home plate to argue with an umpire he’s going to want to manage. This is a necessary change if the Braves are to succeed, but I just don’t think the Braves management have the gonads to act. Hope I’m wrong. Believe me, you don’t get better with age when you get into you’re mid-60’s.
Shamus Thacker
September 21st, 2009
4:01 pm
Sweet Lou would soil his drawers if he met a REAL tough guy…
Mark Bradley
September 21st, 2009
4:02 pm
Fredi Gonzalez is under contract with the Fish. That’s why he’s not on the list.
Mark Bradley
September 21st, 2009
4:03 pm
Trammell is a good name. Kirk Gibson is also a good name.
Lee
September 21st, 2009
4:04 pm
Ned Yost. He was Bobby’s guy until his success in Milwaukee. Or get Fredi from the Marlins. These are both proven managers…with Braves ties.
Lt. George Zipp's Widow
September 21st, 2009
4:05 pm
Get Ted Striker. He’s bound to not fail at something…eventually.
Tomas
September 21st, 2009
4:07 pm
Bobby Valentine is a good choice. He did get the Mets to the playoff’s twice, and as I understand excelled in Japan. Why not, he is a funny dude thats for sure. I remember once he was thrown out of the game, and came incognito as a security guard.
MightyQuinn
September 21st, 2009
4:07 pm
I remember people screaming for Joe Torre’s head in the ATL after the ‘84 season, I believe, because Torre couldn’t “take us to the next level.” (All he did was finish first, second and second in three years) About the same time people were screaming for Leeman Bennett’s head because he couldn’t “take us to the next level.” Another time everyone was screaming for Lenny Wilkens’ head because…well you get the picture. What do these have in common? The coaches that followed them all took “take us to the next level” to mean the next level DOWN!!! Actually to the basement, where all three teams went for 5-10 years after the firings. So while BC has been driving me crazy this year, I gotta remember the last 3 times we kicked out a manager/coach with a winning record: We STUNK for a LONG time.
Mark Bradley
September 21st, 2009
4:07 pm
Ned Yost has a career losing record as a big-league MGR and got fired with 12 games left in a season in which his team made the playoffs. Why would you want him? Just because he coached here?
Mark Bradley
September 21st, 2009
4:08 pm
If you think Valentine is a funny guy, you’ve never been around him.
Sonny Clusters
September 21st, 2009
4:08 pm
Catchers are reputed to make really good managers. Greg Olson was very limber. He could lie on his back and bend his legs back and touch his toes to the ground. A good manager should be able to do that. Bobby lost that awhile back. Olson was hanging around baseball. That’s how the Braves got Spooneyburger. There’s another candidate. Sideburns of a manager.
Joe Simpson the Great
September 21st, 2009
4:09 pm
Looks like Cecil Cooper is now available. Houston just fired him.
CraZyTRaDeMaN
September 21st, 2009
4:09 pm
TIM TEBOW…..TIM TEBOW…….TIM TEBOW….. He can do anything he has been touched by god to be perfect in every way possible…….
( I would love it if one of his team mates decked him once he got in their face. what a @#$@!!!!!)
Mark Bradley
September 21st, 2009
4:09 pm
And I will admit, Quinn, that firing Torre for Eddie Haas remains the worst single move in Atlanta sports. You do have to be careful.
Shamus Thacker
September 21st, 2009
4:09 pm
“Sabermetrics” is close enough to “shankmetrics” for me!
Mills sounds like the guy!
Woodstock
September 21st, 2009
4:10 pm
Ted Turner comes to mind. A game worth of experience and fountain of knowledge when it comes to the game of baseball.
brian elliott
September 21st, 2009
4:10 pm
Great topic,
Thanks Mark for bringing it up. I think the Braves need a younger manager but am not sure who would be a good fit. Love Gardenhire, but seems impossible to bring him here. But just the fact that we are talking about it gives me hope for change. Look at the Falcons with their coach, awsome! I love Duncan as a pitching coach but am not sure he would do well as a mamager. Love Ron Darling here in NY, has a good perspective on the game but not sure if its too much Mets for the Bravos fans..Ha… I am excited about next year thought and like many others am hoping bobby steps down asap and let’s us get on with the program for next year..
Shamus Thacker
September 21st, 2009
4:10 pm
Eddie Haas was a mental case…
Mark Bradley
September 21st, 2009
4:10 pm
Speaking of former Astros managers … what about Phil Garner?
CraZyTRaDeMaN
September 21st, 2009
4:11 pm
LARRY BOWA he would be great to hate!!!!!
Joe Simpson the Great
September 21st, 2009
4:13 pm
Or… Jimmy Williams
rya
September 21st, 2009
4:13 pm
don mattingly!
Vagabondking
September 21st, 2009
4:13 pm
Simple NED YOST!
BravesfaninWis
September 21st, 2009
4:13 pm
I wouldn’t want TP as the manager simply for the fact that their is a outside chance that he keeps the current coaching staff intact.. No thanks, I’ll pass on that one..
I wouldn’t mind Ned Yost as the next Braves skipper one bit.. Just because he learned under Bobby Cox doesn’t mean he will manage the same way as Bobby Cox.. He also turned around a not so good Brewers team..
Give me Yost as the manager
Fred McGriff as the hitting coach
Leo Mazzone as the pitching coach
Then I will be more excited for next season..