{"id":12326,"date":"2011-11-14T20:11:18","date_gmt":"2011-11-14T20:11:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/baseballgb.co.uk\/?p=12326"},"modified":"2011-11-15T19:35:10","modified_gmt":"2011-11-15T19:35:10","slug":"mlb-manager-vacancy-managerial-experience-not-required","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/baseballgb.co.uk\/?p=12326","title":{"rendered":"MLB manager vacancy: managerial experience not required"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>When veteran St. Louis Cardinals manager Tony La Russa called it quits while World Series ticker tape danced in the air, he created yet another managerial vacancy in what is proving to be an early offseason of considerable change in the manager\/Front Office ranks.<\/p>\n

Having managerial experience might normally be seen as an essential requirement before filling out the application form and sending in the CV.\u00c2\u00a0 However, based on the first two appointments of the early offseason, direct experience has been considered irrelevant to the decision-making process.<\/p>\n

The Chicago White Sox led the way with the surprise appointment of Robin Ventura.\u00c2\u00a0 He hasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t managed or coached at any professional level since retiring as a player in 2004 and even admitted that he was surprised when General Manager Kenny Williams put forward the idea of him taking over from Ozzie Guillen after the outspoken Venezuelan moved on to Miami.\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n

Williams was in no doubt that Ventura was the right man for job, as he made clear<\/a> when the appointment was announced.\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I wanted someone who met very specific criteria centred around his leadership abilities. Robin Ventura was that man. His baseball knowledge and expertise, his professionalism, his familiarity with the White Sox and Chicago and his outstanding character make him absolutely the right person to lead our clubhouse and this organization into the seasons ahead\u00e2\u20ac\u009d.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

These sentiments have been replicated following the announcement<\/a> of Mike Matheny\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s appointment as the new Cardinals manager on Monday. General Manager John Mozeliak spoke of Matheny\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s \u00e2\u20ac\u0153leadership, his passion, his intelligence and his work ethic, all of these assets will lead to his success as manager of the Cardinals”.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n

Matheny comes to the job in a very similar position to that of Ventura.\u00c2\u00a0 Both represented their respective team as a player and had advisory roles in their organization.\u00c2\u00a0 They know what it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s like to be part of their club, they know how the local fanbase and media interacts with their team and, perhaps more importantly than anything, the Front Office knows exactly what they are like as people and leaders.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u02dcLeadership\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 has been the watchword, with the assumption being that former players who can put a big tick in that box will succeed as a manager.\u00c2\u00a0 There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s good reason to think that this assumption is correct.\u00c2\u00a0 Much of the day-to-day, decision-making and tactical work that a manager is involved with should already be familiar for players who have been involved in the game for years with their eyes, ears and minds open.\u00c2\u00a0 By all accounts, Matheny and Ventura were always diligent, intelligent, hardworking players.\u00c2\u00a0 <\/p>\n

Starting from a solid base of baseball knowledge, a large part of a Major League manager\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s job is to command the respect of his players.\u00c2\u00a0 Whether it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s fair or not, a person with considerable managerial experience in the Minor Leagues might struggle to lead his players, especially once the team goes through a bad period of results, if the players see him as a mere Minor Leaguer.<\/p>\n

It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not the case that someone has to have had an impressive playing career to be a successful manager.\u00c2\u00a0 Tony La Russa had a modest record as a ballplayer and it didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t hold him back all that much.\u00c2\u00a0 Still, there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s no doubt that it gives a new manager instant credibility and buys him some time as he develops his managerial reputation.<\/p>\n

There will still be pressure on Ventura and Matheny to make the understandable question marks disappear, or at least fade into the background, in their first seasons in charge.\u00c2\u00a0 That doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t mean they need to be wildly successful, not least because even the best manager can only help his team so much.\u00c2\u00a0 However, they do need to show that the faith being shown in them will be rewarded down the line.<\/p>\n

One of the reasons why Ventura\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s appointment was such a surprise was that the club had been linked with bringing back La Russa, who managed in Chicago between 1979 and 1986.\u00c2\u00a0 It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s difficult to think of a starker contrast: a complete rookie as a manager compared to the person third all-time on the MLB managerial wins list.\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n

Williams addressed this point at the time, stating \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I don’t expect him to be Tony La Russa on day one, but in our estimation the fit is that it can come together and we will be better off down the line”.<\/p>\n

It will be more difficult for the Cardinals to take that approach publicly because Matheny is directly replacing La Russa; his shadow will be there whether they like it or not.\u00c2\u00a0 Still, Matheny has the goodwill of\u00c2\u00a0 the team’s recent World Series win \u00e2\u20ac\u201c not to mention his own popularity in St. Louis \u00e2\u20ac\u201c to help him through.<\/p>\n

The White Sox and Cardinals would have been forgiven for appointing an experienced candidate like Terry Francona.\u00c2\u00a0 Instead, they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve taken the decision to appoint one of their own and backed them to repay that faith.\u00c2\u00a0 Now it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s over to Ventura and Matheny to do just that.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Cardinals appointed Mike Matheny as their new manager on Monday. Alongside the White Sox’s appointment of Robin Ventura, the decisions show that managerial experience is far from being an essential requirement when applying for an MLB managerial position<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[112,553,119],"class_list":["post-12326","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-mlb-2","tag-chicago-white-sox","tag-mlb-2","tag-st-louis-cardinals"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/baseballgb.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12326","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/baseballgb.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/baseballgb.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baseballgb.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baseballgb.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=12326"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/baseballgb.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12326\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12331,"href":"https:\/\/baseballgb.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12326\/revisions\/12331"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/baseballgb.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=12326"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baseballgb.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=12326"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baseballgb.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=12326"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}