As the Major League Baseball offseason gets underway for teams that either didn’t qualify for the postseason or have since been eliminated, a number of managerial openings are beginning to pile up.
Thus far, three vacancies have been created by the Boston Red Sox, Chicago White Sox and Detroit Tigers. The Red Sox parted with manager Ron Roenicke after the club posted one of the worst records in baseball at 24-36.
The White Sox, despite advancing to the postseason, made a change at manager by dismissing Rick Renteria, who had been at the helm since 2017.
The Tigers are also in search of a new manager after Ron Gardenhire announced his retirement at the end of the 2020 season. The club has already started the interview process, and earlier, was said to be interested in Los Angeles Dodgers first base coach George Lombard.
According to Jason Beck of MLB.com, the Tigers have formally spoken to Lombard about their managerial opening:
Tigers have interviewed Dodgers 1B coach George Lombard for their managerial opening, sources confirm. @jonmorosi reported last week that Tigers were interested. Lombard was a Tigers outfielder in 2002.
— Jason Beck (@beckjason) October 13, 2020
Lombard, 45, has served as the Dodgers first base coach since the 2016 season. Last year, he reportedly interviewed for the Pittsburgh Pirates managerial opening, but ultimately lost out to Derek Shelton.
Lombard has previous ties to the Tigers, having played for them during the 2002 season. Detroit additionally has reached out to New York Yankees hitting coach Marcus Thames about their managerial opening, who, like Lombard, spent time with the organization as a player.
The Tigers could also turn to AJ Hinch and Alex Cora, who were both suspended and dismissed for their roles in the Houston Astros’ sign-stealing scandal. However, the growing consensus is that the latter will wind up back in Boston, where he served as Red Sox manager from 2018-19.
Dodgers managing to keep consistent coaching staff
Over the years, many Dodgers coaches have interviewed for other teams’ managerial openings.
However, with the exceptions of Chris Woodward accepting the Texas Rangers’ position last offseason and Rick Honeycutt transitioning into a new role, the club’s staff has largely remained the same since Dave Roberts was hired as manager for the 2016 season.
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