Quick Hits: Front-Office Questions, Coaching Moves, Roster Claims

Front-Office and Coaching News

  • Orioles promoted a dozen people in their front office, including Matt Blood (from director of player development to vice president of player development and domestic scouting), Koby Perez (from director of international scouting to vice president of international scouting and operations), and Anthony Villa (from minor-league hitting coordinator to director of player development), all per Roch Kubatko of MASN.

  • Phillies bullpen coach Dave Lundquist and assistant hitting coach Jason Camilli will not return in 2024, per the team.

  • White Sox have hired Angels pitching coach Matt Wise as their new bullpen coach, per Ken Rosenthal and Sam Blum of The Athletic.

Rob Gardner Passes Away

Rob Gardner, who spent parts of eight seasons as a left-handed pitcher in the major leagues, passed away on Saturday at the age of 78.

Born and raised in Binghampton, New York, Gardner signed with the Twins out of high school in 1963 but was plucked away by the expansion Mets in the first-year player draft that December. Gardner made his major-league debut with the Mets at the end of the 1965 season and battled the Phillies’ Chris Short for 15 scoreless innings in his final start of that season (the game ended in a scoreless tie after 18 frames due to a curfew), but Gardner wouldn’t remain in any one spot for long in his professional career.

Gardner spent 1967 with the Cubs, had a cameo on Cleveland in 1968 (most of which he spent in Triple-A in Portland, Oregon), and spent all of 1969 in Triple-A (first in Portland, then the Yankees’ Triple-A affiliate in Syracuse, New York). Syracuse is just an hour north of Binghampton, and Gardner spent significant time there in every season from 1969 to ’72, then again in 1975, his final professional campaign.

Still, from ’71 to ’74 he made pit stops with the A’s (twice), Brewers, and in Tucson, Arizona, (in the A’s system), and Evansville, Indiana, (in the Tigers’ system). He also pitched for the Yankees in 1970 (just one start despite being named the International League’s Pitcher of the Year), 1971 (two relief appearances), and 1972 (the bulk of the season, as a swing man).

Altogether, he totaled 331 major-league innings across 109 appearances (42 of them starts), most of that for the two New York teams, on top of 1,260 frames in 259 games (154 of them starts) in the minors.

Gardner served double-duty as Syracuse’s pitching coach under manager Bobby Cox in 1975, his age-30 season, but by then Gardner’s arm was just about done. After blowing out his elbow in Spring Training the next year, Gardner retired, 70 days short of earning his big-league pension, and returned to Binghampton, where he began a second career as a fireman and paramedic.

Gardner was added to the Syracuse Chiefs’ Wall of Fame in 1999 and the Binghampton Baseball Shrine in 2005. In his second retirement, he split his time between Binghampton and southern Florida. He is survived by his two children and three grandchildren. We at MLBTR extend our condolences to Gardner’s family, friends, and fans.

Rumors

  • Astros bench coach Joe Espada, former Tigers and Angels manager Brad Ausmus, and Diamondbacks bench coach (and former Rangers manager) Jeff Banister are candidates to replace Dusty Baker as manager in Houston, per USA Today’s Bob Nightengale and Brian McTaggart of MLB.com. Baker, meanwhile, has an open invitation to a front-office job with the team, owner Jim Crane told reporters.

  • Cardinals are interested in NPB lefty reliever Yuki Matsui, per Natsuki Une of Yahoo! Japan.

  • Giants top choices for manager before Bob Melvin became available were Yankees bench coach Carlos Mendoza and Mariners bullpen coach Stephen Vogt, per John Shea of the San Francisco Chronicle.

  • Marlins manager Skip Schumaker is upset about the way owner Bruce Sherman pushed out general manager Kim Ng and may be looking for a way out of his contract, per Jon Heyman of the New York Post. Schumaker is signed through 2024 with a club option for 2025, but Heyman writes that Schumaker could be under consideration for the Padres’ managerial vacancy, though the Marlins would have to give permission for Schumaker to interview for that, or any other, job.

  • Mets coaches are understood to be available to other teams, per Andy Martino of SNY, and pitching coach Jeremy Hefner is already drawing interest, per Mike Puma of the New York Post, though Hefner would prefer to remain in New York under the Mets’ new manager. The Mets would have fired general manager Billy Eppler, in light of his being under investigation by Major League Baseball for misuse of the injured list, had he not resigned at the team’s request, per Joel Sherman of the New York Post. Eppler will thus be paid for the remaining two years of his contract.

  • Padres bench coach Ryan Flaherty will interview for the team’s managerial vacancy today. Senior advisor (and former Cardinals manager) Mike Shildt interviewed for the job on Wednesday. Pitching coach Ruben Niebla is also expected to receive consideration. All per Kevin Acee of The San Diego Union-Tribune.

  • Phillies and RHP Aaron Nola have mutual interest in Nola re-signing with the team, per Nola’s comments to reporters on Tuesday and president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski’s on Thursday.

  • Pirates bench coach Don Kelly isn’t interested in pursuing any of the available managerial jobs this offseason as he wants to stay close to his family in Pittsburgh, per Jon Heyman of the New York Post. Kelly’s father-in-law, Tom Walker, passed away on Monday.

  • Yankees are making catchers Kyle Higashioka and Ben Rortvedt available via trade, per Andy Martino of SNY. The team expects to use a combination of 2022 All-Star Jose Trevino and prospect Austin Wells behind the plate in 2024.

Roster Moves

From Trade Rumors Front Office:

In his latest exclusive article for Front Office subscribers, MLBTR’s Darragh McDonald praises the Texas Rangers for their financial aggressiveness over the last two offseasons and hopes that their success this season will serve as a counterweight to the failures of fellow big spenders in New York and San Diego, reminding teams that going all in can be an effective strategy, even after the lowering of the bar of entry to the postseason crapshoot:

Drafting and developing and trading are surely important as well, but it’s hard to imagine the Rangers getting this far without those bold moves. Seager, Semien, Scherzer, Montgomery, and Eovaldi have all been big parts of the 2023 club. Subtracting even one of them could have been the difference between making the playoffs or not, since they edged out the Mariners by just two games. It’s also easy to imagine the ALCS finishing a different way by removing even just one of those guys.

There are many clubs that could learn from this. The Reds launched themselves into contention this year but essentially stood pat at the deadline despite an obvious need for pitching. The club’s president of baseball operations Nick Krall said after the season that the asks from other clubs in trade talks were too high. Perhaps he is right, though it’s hard to know without specifics. In the end, the club finished two games out of a playoff spot. The Diamondbacks got that last Wild Card spot in the National League, after acquiring Paul Sewald and Tommy Pham at the deadline, and are now set to face off against the Rangers in the Fall Classic.

There are other clubs who are in a spot where they should be aggressive. The Pirates had some strong stretches in 2023 and likely need a boost to surge beyond the mushy middle. The Tigers stayed in the playoff race a surprisingly long time this year and could be a few moves away from ending their playoff drought. The Mariners may need to do something wild in order to keep pace with their western rivals.

Baseball is perhaps the most chaotic team sport and so many things have to go right in order for a team to be successful. Prospects need to develop, trades need to work out and lottery tickets need to cash in, but you also have to swing for the fences from time to time.

Tracy RingolsbyComment