Friday, November 04, 2011

Around The Baseball World

It's quiet on the Hot Stove front right now, as the Red Sox haven't made any hugely significant moves yet. Right now the search for a new field manager continues.

Pete Mackanin, the Phillies bench coach, and Dale Sveum, Brewers bench coach (and remember his infamous gig as Sox third base coach back in 2004 and 2005?) interviewed this week, and the club has permission to talk to Sandy Alomar Jr. and Mike Maddux.

This process should go on for a few more weeks, and I'm betting we don't have a manager in place until after Thanksgiving.

Terry Francona will be interviewing for the two other top managerial vacancies right now: Cubs and Cardinals. The moment I heard that Tony LaRussa was stepping away, I thought he might be a perfect fit in St. Louis. So much for my theory that Tito might take a year away from the dugout and head for a broadcast network gig.

David Ortiz (DH), Jacoby Ellsbury (CF) and Adrian Gonzalez (1B) all were awarded the Silver Slugger Awards at their various positions. I have a little more respect for the Silver Sluggers than I do the Gold Gloves, that's for sure.

And the 10 candidates for the Hall of Fame as picked by the Veterans Committee were announced this week. Among the ten are two worthy names that I hope will be picked this time: Luis Tiant and Gil Hodges. I met Looie at Professor Thom's a few years back and told him it was a crime he wasn't in the Hall and hoped one day he would go in. He wasn't too optimistic of ever being enshrined, but I'm pulling for him big time.

The vote will take place during the Winter Meetings on December 5th.

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