The Next Pirates Manager: Ranking the Candidates
The first order of business for the Neal Huntington this off-season is to hire a manager to fill the vacancy he created when he fired Clint Hurdle. Over the course of the last couple weeks, a number of names have emerged as candidates to fill the position.
So, I thought it was time to take a step back and review those candidates and give each of them a ranking that indicates my preferences.
I am only including names that are truly candidates - meaning there has been some reported interest from the team.
#1 - Stubby Clapp
Stubby Clapp is the most recent name added to the list of Pirates managerial candidates. Clapp is expected to interview in Pittsburgh next week.
I've already expressed the reasons I am high on Clapp, but I will summarize them here.
Clapp's managerial experience may be short-lived, but it is very high quality. He spent two seasons as the manager of the AAA Memphis Redbirds. He lead the Redbirds to titles in both those seasons and also won manager of the year in both. For that, he got promoted to first base coach for the Cardinals in St. Louis - which is where he was last season.
On top of that, Clapp has shown a knack for becoming a popular, well-liked figure wherever he goes. He has an energy that would go a long way if it were transferred to the team and organization.
That's why he is my number one.
#2 - Joe Espada
Joe Espada was a name I highlighted shortly after the firing of Clint Hurdle. He was a favorite of mine then and still is now.
Espada has had fantastic managerial experience with the Puerto Rican national team, and has spent considerable time in winning organizations. He is also bilingual - which is an overlooked trait that really helps a manager relate to players who speak primarily Spanish.
There is a risk to pursuing Espada as he is currently the bench coach of the World Series-bound Houston Astros. If the Pirates wait on Espada, they may lose out on some of the other candidates on this list. Espada's name has come up for other teams as well, and I don't like the Pirates chances of luring him to Pittsburgh if he does have other options. Espada has not been scheduled for an interview, but there has been reported interest from the Pirates.
#3 - Ryan Christenson
Ryan Christenson comes from an organization that shares some similarities with the Pittsburgh Pirates - the Oakland Athletics. Oakland, like Pittsburgh, is a small market team and therefore does not have the benefit of a large payroll that the big market teams have.
However, the A's, unlike the Pirates, have figured out how to continually reload so that a winning team is never far away.
Christenson, as the bench coach of the A's, has entrenched in that organization for quite a while and I like the idea of getting some mindshare from Oakland.
It's rarely a coincidence that people become successful in successful organizations. Franchises like the A's know how to find talent. So, Christenson is a good bet.
#4 - Derek Shelton
Derek Shelton spent most of his big league coaching career as a hitting coach, and he had some great results. He helped produce some strong offenses in Cleveland. He was also a catalyst to turning around a bad Tampa Bay offense.
This past season he served as bench coach for the 101-win Minnesota Twins. He's got some great experience but, I have some concerns with Shelton's offensive philosophy and how it would fit with the Pirates lineup.
Shelton's offenses are typically very aggressive at the plate and this works for some teams. I have concerns if he were to bring that aggressiveness to Pittsburgh. If you watched a lot of Pirates baseball this season, you would have seen a team that was aggressive, racked up an impressive team batting average, but struggled to get key hits and didn't make pitchers work hard enough to pitch strikes.
#5 - Jeff Banister
I wrote a couple weeks back that the Pirates could do worse than hiring Jeff Banister, and I hold to that. I don't believe that Banister would be an especially bad hire, but considering the other candidates on this list (some of which I really like), Banister would be disappointing to me.
Based upon the response from social media, Banister would get the response you would expect from an internal hire. The perception within the fan base is that Banister is too close to the Pirates organization to be a part of the solution, and that is a totally reasonable concern.
No matter who becomes the next Pirates manager, he will have an uphill battle to win over a fan base which has, rightfully, become cynical about every move this front office makes.
This is why someone like Clapp makes a lot of sense to me. He doesn't have any connection to the Pirates organization outside of spending much of his career working for their more successful division rivals. I also like his chances to quickly win over this fan base.
As names get added to this list, we will revisit. I am actually quite impressed with the names the Pirates have interviewed.
Follow us on Twitter: @a_piratelife