The Dodgers are considering bench coach Ron Wotus for their manager position, and the Orioles are looking at Dick Tidrow to fill a hole in their front office. Lefty puts the Wotus news perfectly in perspective by not pretending to know if this is a good thing or a bad thing. Wotus used to be able to coach a mean bench. Or maybe he was always letting the bench do its own thing, like missing club meetings to hang with ultra-foxy stools. Dunno.
Tidrow is a little more susceptible to scrutiny as the vice president of player personnel, but still hard to get a read on. The last time an All-Star outfielder came up through the Giants system -- and I'm going to keep writing something with this familiar, tired point until we rise up and storm the administration building -- Rocco Baldelli and Carl Crawford were not yet alive. How much of that is Tidrow's fault, and how much of that is the fault of poor luck and incompetent predecessors? As a counterpoint, the Giants have consistently drafted interesting arms who, while they may never succeed in the majors, are always of interest to other teams in trade talks. It seems like Tidrow should share in some of that credit.
A complete change of the way the organization is run from top to bottom, with all responsible parties hitting the road, would be interesting. That isn't the same thing as automatically better, though. Maybe the prospect mavens can shine some light on the value of Tidrow.
And, apropos of nothing, I'm still bitter the Giants didn't get Bud Black to manage them after 2002.