Since Dave Roberts was hired as Los Angeles Dodgers manager prior to the 2016 season, his staff has included bench coach Bob Geren, pitching coach Rick Honeycutt and first base coach George Lombard in each of the past four years.
The Dodgers have largely avoided turnover during Roberts’ tenure, though former third base coach Chris Woodward departed after the 2018 season to accept the managerial position with the Texas Rangers. He was then joined by Luis Ortiz, who elevated from a co-assistant hitting coach with the Dodgers to Rangers hitting coach.
With Roberts being a rookie manager at the time of hire, the Dodgers sought to pair him with a more experienced presence. To say Geren’s tenure as bench coach has been a success would be an understatement.
Though with that comes external interest, and Geren may be someone San Francisco Giants president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman targets to replace Bruce Bochy as manager, according to Jon Heyman of MLB Network:
Dodgers bench coach Bob Geren is thought to be a managerial candidate for #SFGiants. Geren, formerly crosstown A’s manager, has strong ties to Giants baseball prez Farhan Zaidi from LA/Oak. Geren has somewhat lesser links to Mets (coach there) and SD (top HS player there) too
— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) September 25, 2019
Prior to joining the Dodgers, Geren spent four seasons as bench coach with the New York Mets. Before that he was with the Oakland Athletics organization for 13 years, including four seasons as a Minor League manager.
Geren joined Oakland’s Major League staff as a bullpen coach in 2003, then was promoted to bench coach three years later. He was named manager of the Athletics in 2007 and guided the team to a
334-376 record (.470 winning percentage) over parts of four seasons.
Oakland’s best season under Geren was an 81-81 record and second place finish in the American League West in 2010. He was fired 63 games into the 2011 campaign. Geren’s tenure in Oakland was said to have come undone due to poor relationships with players.
However, that’s not been an issue in L.A., as Roberts, front office personnel and players have raved about his input and knowledge.
Geren’s time with the A’s overlapped with that of Zaidi, who spent 10 seasons in the Oakland front office before joining the Dodgers. They then spent three more years working together in L.A. Geren reportedly was a candidate for the Mets’ managerial position after the 2017 season.
