Theo Epstein Plans to be Thorough With Managerial Search With Some Intriguing Options Out There

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Sep 30, 2011

Theo Epstein Plans to be Thorough With Managerial Search With Some Intriguing Options Out There Terry Francona said Friday night at Fenway Park that he didn’t want to wait through the weekend before making the decision to move on.

By making up his mind early, he also afforded the organization just a few extra days to find its new manager. Don’t expect a decision on that to come in such an expedient manner.

“Haven’t even begun to tackle that,” general manager Theo Epstein said. “We’ll do a thorough job. We want to get the right guy more importantly than doing it quickly. This is a tough job. We’ll use the same process as eight years ago. Looking back on that process I think we hired the right guy and he did remarkable job.”

It wasn’t until early December of 2003 that Francona was hired as the replacement for Grady Little, who was ousted more than a week after that season came to an end on an Aaron Boone home run.

The current search will find someone who can not only handle the intense pressure of managing in Boston, but also find a way to glue together a clubhouse that apparently fractured this month. Here are a few of the guys who might be considered:

DeMarlo Hale: The team’s bench coach was a candidate when Francona was hired in ’04. He came over to serve as Francona’s first base coach and third base coach before being his right-hand man for the past two seasons. For his part, Francona hopes Hale gets it, or at least gets to latch on somewhere else:

“I hope he gets serious consideration, if not here or somewhere else because I think he is a tremendous manager in waiting. He is a tremendous friend. We talked about this last night. I hope he, he’ll manage somewhere and he’ll be very good.”

Dave Martinez: The trendy name being thrown around has some work to do yet as the bench coach for Tampa Bay. He’s toiled under Joe Maddon (also a candidate for the Sox job in 2004) for four years.

Joe Torre: Mentioned only because of his pedigree and his familiarity with managing a team under the bright lights of a high-powered AL East team. Torre currently serves an executive role in the MLB office, but there is speculation that the 71-year-old may have one more managerial run in him.

Ryne Sandberg: With rumors still floating around that Epstein may find a new role with the Chicago Cubs, the name of one of that organization’s legends will be linked with Boston. Sandberg, elected to the Hall of Fame in 2005, is the manager of the Lehigh Valley IronPigs of the Triple-A International League.

Bobby Valentine: He’s been linked to teams for a handful of years now while serving as an analyst with ESPN, but nothing has ever materialized for the man who guided the 2000 New York Mets to the World Series. An affable guy in the booth or on set, Valentine has a reputation as someone who runs a tight ship as a manager. Maybe the apparent issues in the Red Sox clubhouse would be curbed by someone like that.

Jason Varitek: Heck, why not? Epstein said Friday that having managerial experience at the major league level is not necessary. That probably doesn’t extend to having no managerial experience whatsoever, but Varitek has been discussed for years as a potential coach or manager. This is an extreme long shot, but if the captain’s playing days are done he may set his sights on running a clubhouse one day, and he knows this one as well as anyone.

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