In search of Leadership
The Toronto Blue Jays are in the market looking for a manager to lead this team into the 2011 season after the departure of long-time fan favourite Cito Gaston. Alex Anthopoulos, General Manager of the Blue Jays, has known that Gaston would be leaving at the
end of the season for some time now, and has already started to narrow his search down to 5 or 10 potential candidates.
Some of the front runners for the position are Boston Red Sox bench coach DeMarlo Hale, Cleveland Indians first base coach Sandy Alomar Jr., and Blue Jays bench coach Nick Leyva.
The Blue Jays however are not the only team in the market looking for a new leader at the helm. The Florida Marlins, Milwaukee Brewers, Pittsburgh Pirates and New York Mets are all looking for new guidance from baseball minds. It is rumoured from MLB.com
that the Florida Marlins are looking highly into Bo Porter and Ryne Sandberg now that the Chicago Cubs have hired Mike Quade as their new leader. Sandberg, who was an all-star second baseman for the Cubs was rumoured to be high on the list, but now that the
Cubs have made a decision, his attention surely has turned to the Marlins.
Sandy Alomar Jr., who is the older brother to former Blue Jay star Roberto Alomar, retired from playing Major League Baseball in 2007 and has since been in various coaching roles. His recent stint has been as first base coach for the struggling Cleveland Indians,
so this would be a major step up for Alomar. It all depends on whether he is able to shoulder the responsibility of an entire ball club.
DeMarlo Hale has been with the Red Sox organization for many years, winning several awards as manager of the year in the Sox farm system. After being third base coach for four of the past five years for Terry Francona’s Red Sox team, he became bench coach
last season.
Nick Leyva, Blue Jays bench coach, has two things going for him in the running for this job. First, he knows the system that the organization is running with their farm players as well as the big leaguers. Second, he already knows all the players returning
as he has been with the Blue Jays for many years. It would be a simple transition for him and for the entire organization if he were to become manager.
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