News and Notes: Have the Guardians Found their Manager in Stephen Vogt?

Tom Withers of the Associated Press reported that Stephen Vogt will get his second interview with the Guardians front office today.

In other minor MLB news, the Arizona Diamondbacks behind Merrill Keilly pushed the NLCS to a game 7 tonight beating the Phillies 5-1, and the Texas Rangers rid us all of the curse of watching more Astros’ games in the World Series for this year by soundly thumping Houston 11-4. It MAY have been a mistake for Houston to anger Adolis Garcia. You love to see it.

I was fascinated to see Dusty Baker allow Martin Maldonado to hit at a point the game was still in the balance and two runners were on-base, getting immediate flashbacks of Myles Straw high leverage at-bats. Maldonado getting his manager’s confidence turned out exactly as we Guardians’ fans would have expected - not well.

But, speaking of managers, back to Stephen Vogt. Jeff Passan was the first to report that he is a “serious candidate” for the Guardians’ job. Passan is usually locked in to Guardians’ news. Eric Kratz followed up on the Foul Territory YouTube channel, saying that Vogt had texted him very excited about the job (click the video below to see the relevant clip):

Eno Sarris has had a good relationship with Stephen Vogt over the years, with an interview with him on FanGraphs and on the Athletic’s Rates and Barrels podcast. His favorite baseball memory is winning a World Series title with Atlanta, which, hey, we’d love you to add a new one of those favorite memories here, Stephen. He has shared thoughts on why he thinks he would be a good manager, as in this article by Brodie Brazil of NBCSports:

“I feel like I can relate to every player in a clubhouse. I’ve been one of the best players in the American League, I’ve been one of the worst players in the American League. I’ve been injured, released, traded. You name it. So no matter who walks in the doors of the clubhouse, I can relate to them, and that’s something that could really help when managing a team.

Vogt may stand out in your mind for having hit home run in his last at-bat with the Oakland A’s, after being announced for the at-bat by his children (Current Guardians’ outfielder Ramon Laureano was on this team, also). Vogt was absolutely beloved by A’s fans and, as a long-time Athletic, he is familiar with the in’s and out’s of a small market team (and “frugal” ownership). You can hear him talk about his coaching role with the Mariners last season here. He played under Craig Counsell and Bob Melvin and has mentioned learning a lot from both men, so the Guardians may think they can harvest some of the best qualities of both men in Vogt, who was also lauded for his excellent sense of humor by Duane Kuiper.

Jolly Olive offered a great summary of the underdog story of Stephen Vogt’s career in the video below, you should REALLY watch:

Do we know if Vogt will be a good manager? No. But, hey, it’s fun to dream about why he MIGHT be. And we’ll soon see if a potential second interview today leads to him being hired to manage in Cleveland or not. Personally, I’m a fan of the idea.

Zack Meisel published a preview of the offseason for the Athletic and mentioned Vogt, Carlos Mendoza and Clayton McCullough as names to watch. He also said the team "appears open (but hesitant)" to moving Kwan to center and Gimenez to shortstop if needed.

Meanwhile, in the Arizona Fall League the Peoria Javelinas lost but Chase Delauter went 3 for 5 with a double, Kyle Manzardo went 2 for 5 and Christian Cairo went 1 for 4.