99-GAME SERVICE CHECK: MANAGERS OF THE JLA

[RonCo]

Yes, it seems like I’m often writing about mangers in the Johnson League Atlantic, but this season has seen a bit of an upheaval in the dugouts of several BBA teams, with nine clubs being helmed by new faces, and nowhere has that change been felt more firmly than in the JLA, where four of the five teams saw managerial changes, and the fifth (Montreal) has been rumored to have had its manager on an off the hot seat a few times, depending on who you talk with.

It all adds up to interesting times in the Atlantic, of course, as the season has been a barn-burner across all the BBA.

Let’s open the hood and take a look-see on these teams just to check the oil and maybe look at the filters. Along the way, maybe we can take a guess as to whether any of them might be exhausted out by the end of the season.


ATLANTIC CITY:

After watching his team post sub-.500 records a couple seasons in a row, GM Joshua Biddle pulled the trigger, and hired from inside, firing beleaguered manager Troy Coffman and going to veteran Edgar Ferreira. Ferreira, 60, had been in the Gambler organization for nearly a decade, having some success at AAA. The plan was that Ferreira knew the players in the organization, and could get the most out of them.

Alas, the plan hasn’t worked quite as well as ATC fans would have liked.

The team sits in a 36-60 hole with very little apparent way out.

We’re not sure how much blame to put on the manager in this case. There’s nothing particularly noteworthy about Ferreira either direction, but the team isn’t hitting, nor is it pitching. Perhaps it’s the players. Who knows for sure, but one thing keeping Ferreira around is that he’s cheap—his $292K contract runs through next year. Of course, that also means the cost of getting rid of him is potentially palatable.

We’ll see if Biddle goes back to the drawing board or not.

RETURN PROBABILITY: 50%


BROOKLYN:

When 62-year-old Mike Wilkinson failed to take his San Fernando Bears to the post season, he found his tenure with that team severed. Brooklyn GM Alan Ehlers wasted no time making sure Wilkinson stayed off the unemployment dole, though, inking him to a 3-season, $1.87M contract to take the seat vacated by Tommy Valdez. At the time, it seemed a bit of a strange deal for a rebuilding team that was expected to be mired in the lower division, but all Robins players and fans were smiles. To some minds, it was also a strange deal for Wilkinson himself, whose passion had been challenged in San Fernando.

“I love the game,” Wilkinson said at the time. “It keeps me young.”

While it seems unlikely that the Robins will see the post season this year (they’re 46-51, 8.5 games back of the division lead), the results have to be considered positive. The club won only 63 games last season, and are on a pace to beat that by as many as 14 games. You get what you pay for, it seems, and right now the Robins are getting a guy who is spending a lot of time with his younger players.

RETURN PROBABILITY: 100%


CHARM CITY:

To no one’s particular surprise, Charm City GM Brandon Slouck went ahead and ate the last year on Tommy Welch’s contract this off season. But to pretty much everyone’s surprise, he replaced Welch by going out and hiring Zach Hill, a relative nobody with a track record of success in Taipei of the FEBL. But, yeah, Taipei. FEBL. Clearly, though, Slouck was making a statement to his team—amid Free Agent signings, and kids starting to show up, it was time to turn the corner, and the idea was that the 47-year-old with a fresh mind was the guy to turn it. His commitment was firm, too. $1M for five seasons.

The results, on the whole, have probably borne out that confidence. Despite a rotation made up of spit and bubble gum, the Jimmies (51-48) are above .500 and in the chase for a Johnson League wild card. Hill has recently shown flexibility in going to a staggered approach using openers, trying to soak every ounce of value from his club, which has industry folks paying attention.

Fans are noticing, too, returning to the park if not in record numbers at least in increased fervor. We’re not sure this is Charm City’s year, yet, but we’re not sure it isn’t either.

RETURN PROBABILITY: 150%


MONTREAL:

Longtime Blazer manager Kayne Grandage (61) is still thought to be the man GM Kevin Spencer wants in the seat as his team tries to recover past franchise glory, but Spencer’s mind may be the only place in the world where that’s the case. Rumors of dissention in the Blazer front office are leaking to the press daily, and the team’s 31-67 performance has most baseball people wondering how much longer this can go on. The fact is, however, that Grandage is in the second year of what was at the time a five season pact that pays him a shade north of $1.5M per season, and Spencer will be cutting that check regardless of whether Grandage is sitting in the dugout or on the porch of his lakeside cottage. If he’s let go, it’ll be pricey.

Still, one wonders if that wouldn’t be for the best.

Grandage—the longest tenured manager in the game today—has always been considered a player’s manager, an approach that’s been perfect for Montreal’s winning ways in the past, but the make-up of the club has tended toward older players, or at least a mix of the old and the new. With the Blazers in full rebuild mode, fans are suggesting that his propensity to manage expectations by using the press seems more out of touch today than anything else.

RETURN PROBABILITY: 10%


ROCKVILLE:

With the retirement of well-liked Chet Rouse, Pikemen GM Aaron Weiner made a bold move, hiring ex-BBAer Duane Whitley to his first BBA level managerial role, which was essentially like handing the keys to a Ferrari to a newbie and saying “have at it.” Whitely (62) had experience, but it was all at the AA level.

The early returns were tenuous, with Rockvill sputtering out of the gate. But perhaps Weiner knew what he was getting into. The team is under a bit of a transition, and after settling out a bit, Rockville’s found its way back to the top of the Atlantic pack, sitting 53-41, a solid enough 4.5 games over Charm City. His stern approach in the clubhouse has perhaps caused some unbalance, setting the course for some of the younger players, but irking the rotation—which is the veteran backbone of the team. It helps, we assume, to have Arturo Trujillo as your pitching coach.

Bottom line, though, the conversion from Rouse to Whitely seems to be on track.

RETURN PROBABILITY: 100%

[usnspecialist]

Wilkinson did wonders with a young team in Havana, he just got too expensive for me.

[ae37jr]

Fun Fact. Wilkinson and bench coach Travis McDermott have both been coaching since the 90's. They have a combined record as a manager of 3,792-3,609. That's 7,401 games managed or 45.6 full 162 game seasons. Not even including coaching stints.

[usnspecialist]

Wilkinson has done pretty well for a guy who was out of baseball for a decade and whose only managerial experience was 25 years earlier in AAA.

[handaspencer]

I have no comment on Grandage.