New Managers and Coaches Heading Into the 2015 Major League Baseball Season
By Loot, MLB Handicapper, Lootmeister.com
There was a time not so long ago that a casual MLB fan could name every manager in the big leagues. There were some managers who were there when you were in kindergarten all the way until you graduated from college. Now if a manager can string together a decade with the same team, it’s a minor miracle. For the 2015 season, there are six new big league managers. Here are the new additions to help keep you abreast of the tumultuous MLB manager landscape:
Chip Hale, Arizona Diamondbacks: The 50-year old replaces Kirk Gibson as the new skipper of the D’Backs. A former bench player in the bigs from part of 1989 to 1997, Hale will serve as a manager for the first time in the bigs, but was previously successful in the minors. He previously served on the Diamondbacks staff for 4 seasons. For the past 5 years, he was a third base coach for the New York Mets, before serving three seasons as the Oakland A’s bench coach. Up until now, his most famous moment may have come in 1991 as a member of the triple-A Portland Beavers when he hit the ball that led to Rodney McCray running through the wall--one of baseball’s most famous bloopers.
Joe Maddon, Chicago Cubs: The 61-year old Maddon replaces Rick Renteria as the new manager of the Cubs. Maddon leaving Tampa was a bit of a surprise, as the skipper opted out of his deal and signed with the Cubs. Maddon is considered an adept baseball mind and was over .500 in 9 seasons with the Rays, despite not having the best talent at his disposal in some of those years. He even led the Rays to a division title in 2008--the team’s first ever division title and got them to their first World Series, where they lost to the Phillies. All told, he got the Rays to the postseason four times and turned around the franchise. Maddon now hopes to do the same with a Cubs team that has finished below .500 for 5 straight seasons. The two-time Manager of the Year has his work cut out for him.
A.J. Hinch, Houston Astros: The 40-year old Hinch replaces Bo Porter, who was canned late in the 2014 season. Hinch was a bench player for 4 teams from 1998-2004. This is his second stint as a big league manager, after serving as the Diamondbacks’ skipper from 2009-10, getting fired in July of his second season with an overall 89-123 record. And from 2010-14, he was the vice president of scouting for the San Diego Padres. He takes over a Houston team that is showing signs of coming out of a prolonged funk. After losing 324 games in three seasons from 2011-13, they were a more-respectable 70-92 in 2014 with a lot of good young players to work with for Hinch.
Paul Molitor, Minnesota Twins: The Hall of Famer Molitor, 58, replaces Ron Gardenhire, who spent 13 seasons as manager for the Twins. The former MLB great spent his last three playing seasons with the Twins, sticking around for three more years as a bench coach. With the tendency being to make scrappy and overachieving former players into managers, Molitor is one great player who will get a shot to turn around the sideways Twins franchise. Molitor was originally rumored to become the Twins new manager upon the retirement of Tom Kelly in 2001, before floating around as a coach with different teams before landing back in Minnesota.
Kevin Cash, Tampa Bay Rays: With the abrupt exodus of Joe Maddon, the Tampa Bay Rays hired the 37-year old Cash, a former backup catcher who was active in the bigs as recently as 2010. After his playing career, Cash served as a scout before becoming part of the Indians’ coaching staff as a bullpen coach. Cash is a homegrown product, hailing from Tampa.
Jeff Banister, Texas Rangers: The 51-year old Banister replaces Ron Washington, who resigned toward the end of last season. Banister was a former player for the Pirates and received one lone at-bat in the bigs, getting a hit and finishing with a 1.000 batting average. He would later serve as a manager in the Pirates’ farm system, before becoming the Pirates’ bench coach for the past 3 seasons. Over the years, Banister has overcome childhood bone cancer and a home-plate collision in the minors that broke three vertebrae and nearly paralyzed him.