News and Notes: DeMarlo Hale Mulls over His Future with the Guardians

The Guardians are working on filling out the rest of new manager Stephen Vogt’s staff as they wait on Demarlo Hale to decide if he wants to return as bench coach. Guardians’ front office folks said that Hale usually takes a little time at the end of the season to decide his future, but I will note that an earlier version of a Terry Pluto article about it noted that Hale had wanted to interview for the managerial role and wasn’t asked to do so:

So, we will see what happens. The Guardians will also be adding a third base coach, a bullpen coach and a replay coordinator, at the very least.

Update: It appears DeMarlo Hale has made his decision about two hours after this article was posted:

If you’d like to understand a little more about what Craig Albernaz as major league on-field coordinator will do, I recommend listening to the last ten minutes of the Guardians’ weekly podcast with Jim Rosenhause where he interviews Albernaz. Albernaz, for what it’s worth, also mentions that he will coordinate with Demarlo Hale, so perhaps that’s a sign the team expects him to return? To me, Albernaz sounds kind of like a quality control guy for the entire major league operation who will serve as the primary liaison between the front office and the coaches and players.

Zack Meisel summarized what is at stake in where Tanner Bibee finishes in the rookie of the year race. I’m pretty convinced that MLB accidentally sent out the list of finalists in order of finish as Passan tweeted them out, so I think he finished second.

Tuesday, November 14th is the last day to protect players from the Rule 5 draft. Personally, I’m expecting a Michael Kelly DFA and a Daniel Espino add and that’s it, but we will see. Friday, November 17th is the non-tender deadline. I wouldn’t rule out a James Karinchak and/or Ramon Laureano trade, also.

In case you missed it, the Arizona Fall League wrapped up with our Peoria Javelinas finishing second, with Chase Delauter going 2 for 5 and Kyle Manzardo going 1 for 3 with 2 walks. Bradley Hanner had a scoreless two-thirds of an inning with 1 K and Eric Sabrowski got a strikeout in an inning but gave up a hit, a walk and a run.

Manzardo also made a fine defensive play at first base:

Manzardo finished with a .905 OPS, DeLauter with a .914 OPS, and Christian Cairo with a .773 OPS for the Javelinas. Ross Carver had a 4.50 ERA with a 10.5/4 K/BB/9, Ryan Webb had a 4.37 ERA with 14.3/5.6 K/BB/9, Eric Sabrowski had a 1.86 ERA with a 14.9/9.3 K/BB/9, and Bradley Hanner had 1.59 ERA with a 12.7/3.2 K/BB/9.