Why Hasn’t Anyone Hired Sandy Alomar as Manager?

On Monday, MLB.com‘s Jordan Bastian dropped an interesting report regarding Indians bench coach Sandy Alomar:

[blackbirdpie url=”https://twitter.com/MLBastian/status/260488073819860993″]

Obviously this is good news for Cleveland. Alomar has accepted a coaching job under new manager Terry Francona, so presumably the only thing that would lure him away from the Tribe would be a managerial gig with another team; the Blue Jays had been rumored to be interested in bringing him aboard. What’s odd, though, is that this seems like a common trend for Alomar and managerial openings, and I have no idea why.

David Richard-US PRESSWIRE

Let’s take a trip back to last offseason, when for a couple weeks it seemed like Alomar was a leading candidate to replace his new boss as manager of the Boston Red Sox. “He’s going to be a Major League manager,” Boston GM Ben Cherington said at the time. “Whether that’s in 2012 or sometime after that, I’m very confident to say that he’ll be a big league manager sometime.” Yet the Red Sox passed over him for Bobby Valentine (a move I’m sure most Boston fans now regret).

The Red Sox weren’t the only team pursuing Alomar last winter. The Cubs also interviewed him for their vacant managerial position. Alomar said he “felt positive” about his interview and Chicago GM Jed Hoyer seemed to be impressed with him, but alas the Cubs hired Dale Sveum instead. The Cubs weren’t even Alomar’s only option in Chicago—he was also connected to the White Sox’ opening last winter before they hired Robin Ventura.

Then, a month ago, the Indians fired Manny Acta. They named Alomar interim manager for the final week of the season, and at first it seemed as though he was a slam dunk for the job. Then it turned out Francona was interested in coming to Cleveland, and that put an end to that. Even the skipper position he was most favored to win ended up falling through.

But the Indians weren’t the only team with a managerial vacancy to fill this winter. The Red Sox fired Valentine at the end of the season, and naturally it was assumed that Alomar was among the favorites again. But lo and behold, Boston got the Blue Jays to trade them John Farrell before they so much as interviewed Alomar.

The Farrell deal left Toronto in need of a manager, and it was reported that the favorite for the job was—you guessed it!—Alomar. But, according to Bastian, either the Blue Jays aren’t in any hurry to bring in a new skipper or they don’t want to bring him aboard. The kicker: The Blue Jays had interviewed Alomar two years ago before hiring Farrell.

Everyone in baseball seems to agree that Alomar has a bright future as a manager—the fact that he’s gotten so many interviews has to count for something. But for some reason no one wants to actually hire him. That’s good for the Indians as they’ll continue to benefit from his presence in the clubhouse, but you can’t help feel bad for Alomar’s being stuck in managerial limbo.