During the offseason, sometimes the coaching staff of the Dodgers takes as hard of a hit as the player roster as far as personnel goes departing the team.
Last year, third base coach Chris Woodward started an exodus that saw him accept the managerial spot for the Rangers. Within days, Turner Ward snagged the hitting coach job in Cincinnati. A short time later, Farhan Zaidi was named the new president of baseball operations for the Dodgers’ biggest NL West rival, the Giants.
Seemingly, the Dodgers won’t be hit as hard this year, despite pitching coach Rick Honeycutt already being announced in his new special assistant role. However, one of the likeliest departures, if there indeed is one, could be bench coach Bob Geren.
Even before the regular season ended, Geren was linked to the managerial job in San Francisco, as Bruce Bochy had announced his retirement during 2019 spring training. Geren is believed to have strong ties to Zaidi—not just from their time together with the Dodgers—but also when the pair worked together in Oakland.
Additionally, folks in New York have been whispering Geren’s name as a potential candidate to replace departed skipper Mickey Callaway. Geren was bench coach in New York from 2011 tthrough 2015, but reportedly took the job in Los Angeles because of his family being rooted in Southern California.
His time with the Mets included a run to the 2015 World Series.
As far as his playing days go, Geren is a former catcher who spent 10 years in the minor leagues before making his debut with the Yankees in 1988. He stayed with the Yankees for four years, spent a year in the minors with the Pawtucket Red Sox, then played his final year with the San Diego Padres in 1993.
Geren has coached his way through the ranks, starting in the Red Sox organization at both the Rookie and Single-A levels, before joining the Oakland Athletics to manage their Triple-A team in Sacramento. He was promoted to bench coach for the A’s in 2002, where he remained through 2006. In November of 2006, he ascended to the manager spot in Oakland, where he ended up being chiefly responsible for the A’s first losing season since 1998.
His time with Oakland was rocky—he received an extension on his contract, but his managing style was questioned after several players overtly voiced their displeasure.
Former A’s reliever Huston Street called him the “least favorite person I have ever encountered in sports.”
He was relieved of his duties with the Athletics in June of 2011.
Since taking his current post as bench coach in Los Angeles in 2016, he has been instrumental in the club’s four division titles and two National League pennants.
In addition to Geren, it is reported that Zaidi will be interviewing Gabe Kapler for the managerial vacancy.
From 2014-2017, Kapler served as the Dodgers’ director of player development.
Think Blue Planning Committee 
If offered a deal, I think Geren jumps at one of those. More pressure in NY for sure, and a connection with the Giants with Zaidi there and the fact he managed in Oakland. Bench coaches are a dime a dozen. And Tim Wallach is not with the Marlins anymore.
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Geren will be offered a job somewhere. He’s a bench coach, and a good one from all I’ve heard, but great baseball minds are everywhere. He can be replaced.
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Are you saying you expect to see him get an offer to manage or to be a bench coach somewhere else?
So far, it seems as though he’s only been tied to the SF and NY managerial openings and there are lots of potential applicants for those jobs.
That said, I agree that if he leaves he can be replaced.
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I’m saying if he wants to leave, Geren will work in baseball somewhere. I have no clear idea how important he is to Roberts. Maybe he’s the guy who talked him into using Kershaw and leaving Kelly in. Whatever. He’s a bench coach. I don’t much care where he is next year.
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Geren seems to draw out extreme opinions in players. Note Huston Street’s quote above and contrast it with Eric Byrnes who said Geren was his favorite manager to play for.
I get the idea that Geren is very intelligent but not the very best communicator in the “make the players feel good and pat them on the back” sense.
If AF would decide to remove Doc at some point I seriously doubt he would ever hire Geren to replace him. I think he really likes him in the bench coach position but wouldn’t want him managing the team.
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I agree. I think Geren is seen more of a stellar statistician and tactical advisor compared to a motivator or communicator.
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Girardi quit as manager of team USA to seek a big league job. His bench coach will take over as manager. Matheny is getting some interest from some of the teams and the Mets interviewed #7 on their list. Pat Day, a 27 year old boxer died of a brain injury suffered during a fight on Saturday. We have seen way too much of that over the years. I remember as a kid watching Emile Griffith and Benny “Kid” Paret fight. Paret died later that evening from injury’s sustained in the fight. We should know about AF’s extension here in the next week or so. Yanks-Astros postponed due to bad weather.
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If Geren leaves, so be it. He will be swiftly replaced. Can’t see him getting a job over the likes of Girardi, Matheny, Showalter. In regards to Street, there’s 2 sides to every story. Perhaps Geren is old school & told Huston something he needed to hear in an unfriendly manner. Or he didn’t, who knows….
Bear, there’s a couple books on the Griffith-Peret bout out there. I’ve read one, A Man’s World- the double life of Emile Griffith. Peret made pre fight comments on Griffith’s sexual orientation & Griffith told him he’d take care of him inside the ring. Well, he did. It’s a brutal sport. I still remember watching the Mancini-Duk Koo Kim bout that ended in the same tragic way. Terrible….
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I guess it’s all a matter of what a GM is looking for in a manager (and that includes everything from personality to strategy to salary, etc.). Matheny has taken his hits with regard to the job he did with the Cards. People say that Buck went right over the GM’s head and spoke with the owner all the time. Geren staying with or leaving the Dodgers is certainly not our biggest concern this off season, especially since he doesn’t seem to be the manager in waiting around here.
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Here’s something I found interesting:
The oldest teams in the MLB, by average age:
1. Nationals (31.1) – Made WS
2. Yankees (30.0) – ALCS
3. Braves (29.7) – Won NL East
4. Astros (29.4) – ALCS
5. Dodgers (29.0) – 106 wins
6. Cards (28.8) – Won NL Central
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If Hill, Freese and Martin are all gone next year, our average age could come way down and we could be in real trouble. I think we need to sign Bartolo.
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Danny Hudson has more in the tank than Colon, I reckon.
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Apparently skills have nothing to do with winning. It’s just age, so I think we have to go with Bartolo.
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Maybe Cervelli will be an option this winter. He’s 33 and he made $3.5 million last year.
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You want old just re-sign Hill.
Actually, Gerrit Cole would make us older too.
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Hill is too young at 39. Colon is 46. Got to bring up that average age number as high as possible.
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The bat used by the Bambino to hit #500 is going up for auction. It has been in the family of a friend of Ruth’s for many years. It has been authenticated. The bat is believed to draw enough interest to sell for over 1 million dollars. Last Ruth bat auctioned off brought 1.2 Mil.
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Crazy, man.
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That cost of bat would feed a family of 4 for 128 years. Just another illustration of our fuddled conscience. We got limitless examples.
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No more crazy than a Honus Wagner card once selling for over 4 million to Wayne Gretzky and the owner of the Kings back then. Only 6 T-106 Wagner’s known to exist and I guess the one they bought was in close to mint condition.
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Cervelli spent most of the season on the IL with concussion protocol. He also at one point announced he was not going to catch anymore, he then backtracked on that and later in the season was picked up by the Braves. He is 33, a pretty decent receiver and a better hitter than Martin or Barnes at this point.
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Yeah Scoop, collectors are nuts. There was a guy in NY, serious baseball collector, who once paid a million dollars for a box of unopened 1951 Topps high series cards. They were still in the packs gum and all. He more than made his money back. There were 7 or 8 Mickey Mantle rookie cards in there, which at the time were selling for big money. Even the common cards were bringing high dollar returns since 51 high series, meaning series 7, were so hard to find in any condition what so eve.
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I have a musician friend out here in Colorado who is a die hard Giants fan. Of course I got the business in 10-12 and 14. He hasn’t said much the last couple of years. But he was reluctant to contact me because he thought I might be considering suicide. I told him, I have been at this dance too many times to get upset anymore. If I were a 10 year old kid, I would be in mourning. I told him baseball is a game, and music is life. He also asked if the fans were ready to give AF and Roberts a one way ticket to North Korea.
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I too heard from my giants friends. Had to put up with 9er fans for years in Northern California also. Those guys are rude and obstreperous, which may sound redundant but they are that too.
The giants are an interesting wealthy team. They appear to have no problem cratering for a few years, rebuilding, then going at it again. Their finishes since the turn of the century are all over the chart. First, second, first, second, third, third, fifth, fourth, third, first, second, third, second, second, second, fifth, fourth, third. Somehow while on that roller coaster they won three championships. I expect them to back soon. Same with San Diego.
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my son in law is a giants fan, and they live up north, but when he asked for her hand in marriage, I told him he had to promise the kids would be raised as dodger fans.😀
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I hope you got that in writing Keith.
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Oh, my daughter will make sure of it. When she was little I told her the only thing she was allowed to say she hated was the giants, and Barry Bonds, she’s a die hard dodgers fan. She’s even converted her step daughter into being a dodger fan😀
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