Some names i think that could be worth an interview and a question: why is it espada or bust for some of y’all

Will Venable– The Pros: Will grew up around the game being the son of former MLB player Max Venable. Will also spent time with his father in Japan, and playing in the Dominican Republic. He was a two sport athlete in college playing both basketball and baseball and receiving all-ivy honors in both sports. His time in Japan inspired his thesis detailing multi-culturalism in baseball. Will’s experience in Japan could prove to be useful if we wanted to break into the Japanese player market. Will racked up over 950 career games before finally retiring. Initially he was the cubs 3rd base coach, before becoming the bench coach to Alex Cora on the Red Sox. After that he became the associate manager for the rangers, which means hiring him would take away someone who has been tabed as Bochy’s replacement of all making this possibly the biggest pro of all. He is known as a fierce competitor, a great interview, and someone who still gets child like joy out of the game he grew up playing.

Will Venable – The Cons: Will has also interviewed for multiple jobs without being hired for any including the Astros job in 2019/2020. He is still an incredibly young man who is still growing in his coaching phase of the game. At 41 years old at the start of next season, he is about half a year younger than JV. He has also stated that he wants to stay in Dallas with people expecting him to become bochy’s heir.

Ramon Vazquez – the Pros: Vazquez made almost 700 appearances as a major leaguer before his career slowly winded down with him signing a minor league deal with the Astros in 2010 and a minor league deal with the blue jays (where dana was) in 2011. The Astros reached out to him and hired him as a minor league instructor. Vazquez has experience with teams experiencing a down turn after winning a championship taking over the Cangrejeros de Santurce who had a 4-10 record despite winning the Puerto Rico winter league title the year before. He was able to right the ship and led his team to another title, winning the club back to back titles. He has been described as a student of the game and now serves as the bench coach on the Red Sox filling in when Venable left.

Ramon Vazquez – the Cons: Ramon is described as a very quiet person, though it is said it doesn’t affect his coaching. Being the manager and the leader of the clubhouse may be a little more difficult as a quieter person. Coming off of Dusty’s management a large criticism was the lack of willingness to get in an umpire’s face and tell them off, Vazquez could face similar issues due to his quieter disposition. While obviously being his own person Ramon has spent the majority of his major league management under the tutelage of Alex Cora, who is far from the most revered person in Houston.

Clayton McCullough – the Pros: McCullough joined the blue jays (Dana’s org) organization from 2007 to 2014 as their class A manager. He was then hired by the dodgers as their minor league fielding coordinator before finally settling into their first base coach job where he is now. He won two championships and one manager of the year award while managing the blue jays class A team. McCullough supposedly helped engineer the dodgers to becoming a better base running team through hours of studying tape that has earned him the label of having a strong attention to detail. McCullough left the blue jays with glowing reviews saying that the sky would be the limit for him.

Clayton McCullough – the Cons: McCullough played three years professionally after his draft year before hanging it up, never making it to the major league level. Depending on how much you value experience playing the game this could be a massive con. McCullough has yet to spend any time as a bench coach in the majors leaving only his three seasons as a first base coach his only experience coaching baseball at a major league level.

Kai Correa – the Pros: Correa has enjoyed a meteoric rise to the top of baseball that ended with him managing the giants last three games this season after Kapler was fired. Correa’s family is made up of some of the greatest Hawaiian baseball coaches. He is lauded for his coaching style that makes it easy for players to understand and learn. Something that was reflected in his ability to turn around two college baseball programs defensive woes. He is forward thinking analytically and has served as a coach for both the guardians and the giants.

Kai Correa – the Cons: Correa would be immediately younger than JV and Jose Abreu and only a few months older than pressly. Having a manager 5 years younger than his 40+ year old pitcher may cause a bit of a struggle when it comes to trying to gain control of the clubhouse and trying to make his impact on the Astros. His coaching career is still a little green having four seasons as San Fransisco’s bench coach as the only experience under his belt in a major league setting.

Rodney Linares -the Pros: Rodney’s father, Julio, has been part of the Astros organization since 1973. Rodney himself joined the Astros organization at the age of 21 in 1999. Linares has worked in both the Astros and Rays organizations of the 2010s/2020s, two of the most forward thinking analytical organizations in baseball. Linares won 2 league championships with the JetHawks and manager of the year while managing the hooks. Throughout his time with the Astros he was often called a star within the org because of the talent coming through his teams. Linares is credited as being the biggest believer in the Astros system in JD Martinez, even staking his career on having him playing because he believed in JD’s swing. Linares credits having to deal with Delino Deshields as one of his first big challenges. Linares was told to remove deshields from the game every time he didn’t run the ball out but instead he handled deshields discipline by himself and the organization credited him with deshields being a much more mature person by the end of the year. Linares has stated that during his time in the minors he often stayed up til 3/4 in the morning talking to his coaching staff on how to improve his players. Linares managed the DR WBC team that had six Astros on it. I was with [the Astros] in the playoffs last year(2017), and we were in Boston and we were sitting in the clubhouse," Linares said. "Altuve came up and looked around, and he said, 'Hey, you know what? Everybody that's in here except for [Cameron] Maybin, you've managed before.'"

Rodney Linares -the Cons: Linares was named as the manager of the DR WBC team that didn’t make it past the first round. Linares has made a point of taking the blame for the underwhelming display, saying ultimately it comes down on his managerial decisions. The DR players didn’t hit in the games which is what truly screwed linares but he takes the entire blame. He also stands by his decisions to continue playing Julio Rodriguez and Manny machado despite their light hitting in the tournament.

Mike shildt – the Pros: Experienced, Shildt finished with over 90 wins in his two full seasons with the cardinals, and above .500 wp in his 4 seasons. Shildt is now the 3rd base coach for the underperforming Padres. The padres players seem to love him and call him a genuinely good person.

Mike shildt – the Cons: Shildt was fired from the Cardinals because of “philosophical differences” do to a cultural shift he disagreed with. It has been alleged that Shildt was board line abusive towards his coaching staff in an effort to keep the team running smoothly. He denies this but has also said he has grown to no longer feel the need to be so hard on his staff. The cynic in me thinks he is just saying that in order to be a manager again. Shildt had been with the cardinals for a long time and had spent some time there that coincided with lunhow’s time there. Both Lunhow and Shildt have been accused of fostering a toxic work environment.

George Lombard – the Pros: The closest thing we could probably get to Hinch without actually bringing him back. After ending his playing career Lombard joined the Red Sox system before a half a year stint with the braves as a minor league coach and then five years with the dodgers as a first base coach. Lombard was then hired by the tigers to be AJ Hinch’s bench coach. He is beloved by the tigers players and has glowing reviews from them. He is also the outfield coach for the tigers and served a large part in the development of Riley Greene and akil baddoo’s great season. He is described as being full of energy which is part of why his players love him so much. Hinch has referred to him as an elite coach.

George Lombard – the cons: the tigers outfield was horrendous in 2022 and while it is a positive to see there outfield growing to be better under his coaching the introduction of new players to the tigers major league team has also helped with the better defense played. Lombard who is also the teams base running coach oversaw a tigers team that finished only 16th in SB%. While the tigers are lacking talent, Lombards two areas of coaching are non to inspiring.

Ryan Flaherty – The Pros: Flaherty carved out a seven year career before retiring and joining the padres organization. He has managed a little when several coaching staff members had to isolate do to covid. He was picked at number 41 overall but failed to live up to the position he was picked at. He is seen as analytically inclined and possibly someone preller’s favorite to replace Melvin. Flaherty is in touch with this generation of players and will go to great lengths to bring the clubhouse together like bringing monkeys to spring training.

Ryan Flaherty – The Cons: He will be 37 at the start of next season again making him younger than abreu and verlander. He was the padres “offensive coordinator” where he oversaw a middling offense that ranked in the middle of the pack in most offensive categories.

Willie Harris – the Pros: Harris played for over a decade before hanging them up and getting into the coaching game. He worked in the giants minor league system and coached a little for the reds before ending up as the cubs third base coach in 2020. Harris became known for his unique way of telling runners to get down by himself lying on the ground getting eye to eye with his players. This style is supposedly loved by his players as is he. He is described as a loose and fun character in the club house.

Willie Harris – the Cons: Game 4 of 2005. On a more serious note, Harris’s coaching career still seems a little green and he seems like a better option to be a bench coach than a manager at the moment.

Tony Mansolino – the pros: Mansolino has worked in the Indians system, before being brought in to be the Orioles third base coach. His work under Hyde and Tito make him intriguing but I haven’t found much about him past who his bosses are. Many see him as a "star on the rise" and he is known to be one of the most progressive minds in the game. His dad was our 3b coach during the ’05 world series before leaving the org in 2007. His father now works for the braves where dana would likely know him from.

Tony Mansolino – the cons: At 41 and only having been a major league coach since 2020, mansolino’s coaching career is also a little green in the major league department. He is also only a year older than verlander which may have an odd dynamic in the clubhouse.