Arizona Diamondbacks bench coach, Ron Gardenhire, has been added to the list of potential replacements for former Red Sox manager, John Farrell. Gardenhire met with president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski on Wednesday.
There are now three leading candidates for the position: Gardenhire, Houston Astros bench coach Alex Cora, and former Detroit Tigers manager Brad Ausmus.
Gardenhire could bring a wealth of experience to the Sox, having led the Minnesota Twins to 6 American League Central Division wins in his 13 years with the franchise.
Gardenhire could potentially be the final candidate that is seriously considered, but Dombrowski has stated that the organization is still open to other options.
“We are still deciding if we are going to interview additional candidates,” Dombrowski said in an email.
Sox coaches seek out other options
Dombrowski has also stated that all coaching staff under John Farrell have permission to seek positions with other teams.
“I’ve talked to all the coaching staff members,” Dombrowski said. “They’re all signed for 2018. What I told them is, first of all, I think very highly of them. They’re good people. They’re good baseball people. I would recommend to our new manager any of them, it’s not a problem for me, but I do believe a new manager needs to have his own coaching staff in place within approval of us and making sure that there’s proper areas coached within the club.
“Would grant permission for any club to talk to our personnel. I know they’re signed, but I wouldn’t want to stand in their way of getting a job somewhere else if that opportunity came up. Some of them could come back, but again, I’m going to wait until we get a manager and I won’t stand in their way of interviewing elsewhere.”
Among the coaches actively seeking out other clubs are hitting coach Chili Davis and pitching coach Carl Willis.
According to NBC Sports Boston, Davis met with the Padres in San Diego on Wednesday to interview for an open hitting coach position. Davis just finished his third season with Boston, and spent the 3 previous seasons with the Oakland A’s.
Willis, who spent the past two seasons as Boston’s pitching coach, interviewed with the Minnesota Twins on Monday. Willis pitched five seasons for the Twins and was a World Series champion in 1991.
