Gibbons, Macha Out of Consideration - Which Candidates Remain?

The Boston Globe is reporting that Ken Macha is out of the running for the Pirates manager job. This of course comes as a surprise to me because I expected Macha to be the guy. But I have to trust any newspaper that is primarily circulated by guys who buy the whole stack of papers out of a vending machine for 50 cents at 6 in the morning and then stand on the corner, surrounded by stacks of newspapers, selling them for 50 cents all day.

John Gibbons asked the Pirates Thursday to remove him from consideration. The original front-runner Eric Wedge signed with the Mariners. The other guys the Pirates interviewed were:

Dale Sveum - The '08 Brewers fired Ned Yost and installed Sveum as manager with only two weeks left in the season. Under Sveum the Brewers won six of their last seven games to make the playoffs for the first time in 26 years. Then they fired him and he hasn't managed since. Sveum seems like a possibility and would provide an important link to the amazing '97 Pirates.
Carlos Tosca - Tosca's father was an ex-girlfriend's pediatrician, which sounds legit until you realize that (a) he's still practicing medicine even now and his son is 57 years old, and (b) her parents chose this doctor by picking the cheapest doctor in a 2.7 million person metropolitan area.

Tosca interviewed with the Pirates on the 14th and then agreed to be the Braves' bench coach on the 15th. I am sure he could get out of the Braves commitment but the timing suggests his Pirates interview didn't go well.

Jeff Banister - Banister is a career baseball man with the Pirates, having been in the organization since 1994. He never managed above A ball, so this would be a curious hire. One would think the Pirates would have had him manage the Indianapolis team, or at least Altoona, if they were grooming Banister for the major league job. It seems like he just got this interview as a courtesy for his 17 years in the organization.

Bo Porter - Porter never managed above A ball and was just fired by the Diamondbacks after only one year on their coaching staff. I consider him a longshot for the job, especially since he is rumored to be the frontrunner for the Marlins job. The Marlins have often chosen unconventional candidates for their manager job; the Pirates have not.

Possibly interviewed was...

Bobby Valentine - The Pirates denied reports that Valentine interviewed for the job, although they have denied reports before which then turned out to be true. Really the Pirates would be honored to have Valentine considering them. Remember Valentine's 2000 Mets? Here was their starting lineup in Game One of the World Series.

Timo Perez RF
Edgardo Alfonzo 2B
Mike Piazza DH
Todd Zeile 1B
Robin Ventura 3B
Benny Agbayani LF
Jay Payton CF
Todd Pratt C
Mike Bordick SS
Al Leiter P

Even in the worst of times, the Pirates never had to resort to having a girl batting fifth and playing third base. Valentine is clearly the best candidate here. I've read that he wears out his welcome, yet he managed over six years for both teams he's worked for.

Many news sources have speculated about...

Tony Pena - Pena is a coach for the Yankees. A lot of sites have theorized that the Pirates were waiting for the Yankees to be eliminated so they could finally interview Pena. They've got their wish, but really? This is a guy who has had one managing job, which ended because he resigned effective immediately on May 10 of a season without even talking to the team's general manager in advance. I support his hiring only if he is immediately traded for Andy Van Slyke.

Managerial Search - Ken Macha

Multiple news outlets are now reporting that Eric Wedge will manage the Mariners next year. Less obvious is the fact that Ken Macha will manage the Pirates.

For whatever reason, the Pirates really look up to the Indians and Brewers organizations. With Wedge off the market, Macha becomes the leading candidate for the Pirates job.As an opening point, I'm sure no one is unfamiliar with his glorious Pirates career, but allow me to recap it. He came up in 1974 as a third catcher in September, and hit an unbelievable .600 in five at-bats down the stretch. In a pennant race! Unfortunately, the Pirates converted him into a corner infield/corner outfield utility player. He hit .274/.317/.316 in 1977, .212/.354/.269 in 1978, and was a Montreal Expo in time to watch the '79 World Series on TV.

Resurfacing in 2003, Macha managed the A's for four years and won between 88 and 96 games each year. With Tim Hudson in Atlanta and Rich Harden making only nine starts due to injury, the 2006 A's won 93 games, won their division and won their first round playoff series. Billy Beane fired Macha as soon as the ALCS was over. The reason was rumored to be a personality conflict, surprising in light of the fact that the primary aspect of Macha's personality is "lack of a personality."

And this brings us to my enduring image of Ken Macha: Ken Macha standing in the Brewers dugout with no facial expression while a pitcher gets absolutely rocked on the mound. A's fans had criticized Macha for not pulling pitchers when they clearly didn't have it in one game. With the Brewers, he used pitchers who clearly didn't have it for two seasons! Mercifully that's all the time it took until he was Parrad, Suppaned and Bushed out of a job.

And that brings us to the upcoming 2011 season. Macha is from Monroeville and played for the Pirates in their glory decade. That's enough for him to get any job in Pittsburgh. In retrospect it's shocking that he's not already Chief Financial Officer of H.J. Heinz.

When Tim Hudson was beating the Angels 4-1, nobody realized that he would still be in the game for 110 pitches if he was Randy Wolf out there throwing in a 7-7 game. Jim Leyland could smoke 60 cigarettes in the time it takes Ken Macha to get around to his first mound visit. As your 2011 World Championship manager, you'll wonder at the end of the season if Macha really managed at all.

Managerial Search - Eric Wedge

The Pirates interviewed Ken Macha and Jeff Bannister yesterday for their open managerial job. They previously interviewed Eric Wedge, Bo Porter and John Gibbons for the position. The search may not be over, but five is a typical number so I wouldn't be surprised if these are the only guys interviewed.

Let's look at Eric Wedge since I think either he or Macha will get the job. I lived in Cleveland and probably watched/listened to no less than 150 Indians games a year in 2003-05 so I am pretty familiar with him.

Career
Wedge managed the Cleveland Indians from 2003-2009 before being fired.

The Tribe was a contender from 1994-2001, then broke things up to rebuild after a poor first half in 2002. Wedge came in in 2003 and presided over a young team that included pitchers C.C. Sabathia and Cliff Lee but a Jody Gerut-led offense. By 2005 the Tribe was again a contender. The '05 edition, now featuring a talented offense including Grady Sizemore, Victor Martinez and Travis Hafner, barely missed the playoffs thanks to a final-week collapse and finished 93-69. Wedge was AL Manager of the Year in 2007 when the team finished 96-66 and nearly made the World Series. But injuries and trades derailed any chance at success in 2008 and 2009, leading to Wedge's firing. He has surfaced this year as a candidate for almost every open job.

In-Game Strategy
Strategically Wedge rarely would bunt, hit and run, or put on plays at all really. This was most apparent with stealing bases. Coco Crisp for example attempted 35 steals in 75 games this year at age 30. That's more than he attempted in a full season under Wedge when he was much faster. Franklin Gutierrez stole 25 bases this year but at most nine bases for Wedge.

This style is similar to that of John Russell. Both men prefer not to take risks which may induce outs. This style is also something the small ball-loving Pirates fan base does not like, even though it produces more runs.

Pitcher Usage
Wedge is pretty strong here and has gotten a lot out of his pitchers. Everyone has a set role on the staff. There are five starters and that is it, really, unless one gets hurt or is laughably bad. In the bullpen, everyone has a defined role which barely changes. There is a situational lefty, a seventh inning guy, an eighth inning guy, an Established Closer, etc. Rafael Betancourt had a 1.47 ERA in 2007 and never could win the closer's job. Rest assured that Joel Hanrahan would be Wedge's closer by virtue of his 20 career saves - unless a player is brought in who has 40.

Lineups and Bench Usage
Wedge strongly prefers to go with a set lineup and strongly favored veterans. His regular third baseman Aaron Boone was hitting .193/.252/.349 for a contending team on July 6, 2005. He hit poorly the following year too and he never lost the job until he was injured over a year later.

Maybe Boone is a bad example, but look at Victor Martinez. He missed 89 games in 2008 and only hit two home runs all year due to injuries. In 2009 he played more than ever before. He became a part-time first baseman, part-time catcher, but started 98 of 102 games before being traded. Martinez had a good year that year but this can't be unrelated to his 2010 injuries.

Brandon Phillips has been one of the five or ten best second basemen in baseball since 2006. Why not earlier? After a poor 2003 when he was rushed to the majors, Wedge only would let him bat a total of 33 more times. He used up one of four bench spots on a contending team in 2005 for weeks while Wedge just simply refused to play him.

This is the reason I prefer Wedge is not hired for the Pirates. There is no chance the Pirates will have eight guys next year who deserve to be full-time starters. Be sure that if Wedge were here, Akinori Iwamura would have played much longer than he did if not the whole season. Ronny Cedeno will never lose the shortstop job if Wedge is here, simply because he is an experienced shortstop.

Intangibles
Wedge is certainly less laid back than John Russell, although I would disagree with reports that he's "intense." However, his teams consistently played better in the second halves of seasons, and normally best in September whether they were in contention or not. Wedge is also quite loyal and is willing to work in tandem with his general manager. Except for Omar Vizquel in 2004 there were never any questions about players trying their best for Wedge's teams.

Conclusion
Eric Wedge deserves another managing job, but it should not be with the Pirates. There is no point in having a manager who prefers veterans come in to manage a youth-laden team. I don't want to see whatever marginal vets are on the roster blocking any talented young players, particularly on the pitching staff.