Tigers interested in Phil Nevin as manager

We should be used to this by now. Ron Wotus has been interviewed for about 38 different managerial openings, but he’s never made the final cut. This is the only Shawshank Redemption reference I’m allowed to make now:

Wotus isn’t coming up in the rumors as much these days. Maybe he forgets to wear pants to his interviews. Or maybe he’s just not new enough. New is exciting! New is a new flavor of Mountain Dew! That seems exciting until you realize that Mountain Dew tastes like the inside of a possum, but it won’t stop you from getting excited about the new.

This comes up now because Phil Nevin is in danger of entering the Wotus Zone. The Tigers are interested in Nevin as a manager, according to Jon Heyman:

Nevin, a former No. 1 overall draft choice of the Astros and 12-year major league player, managed in the D-backs’ minors before jumping to Bruce Bochy’s staff in San Francisco after losing out to Torey Lovullo for the Arizona managing job. Nevin reportedly has interviewed for major league managing jobs with the Nationals, Marlins, Padres and Astros in addition to the D-backs, with Dusty Baker, Don Mattingly, Bo Porter and Andy Green landing those jobs.

Definitely getting into “stamp those forms, sonny” territory.

Now, the cynical among you might be thinking some variation of, “Who cares? I’m tired of watching runners get thrown out at home.” But the stats are on his side. He leads the league in runners getting thrown out at home, but that’s because the Giants are second in the league at singles with a runner on second. When it comes to percentage, he’s pretty danged average. And it doesn’t help his cause that the Giants aren’t the swiftest of teams.

Mostly, I’m concerned with the devil I don’t know. Who will replace Nevin? Could be someone we’ll still talk about in 20 years. We probably won’t talk about Nevin in 20 years, at least as a third-base coach. The person who replaces him could be bad, man. Like, as bad as the people on Facebook think Nevin is. That bad.

By law, I’m required to point out that it’s still incredibly bizarre that Hensley Meulens doesn’t get more interest as a manager. He’s well-liked, affable incredibly smart, and speaks 48 languages. At this point, I’m assuming that he’s told teams around the league that he doesn’t want the stress, and he’s fine where he is. Because if that’s not the case, I just don’t get it.

But back to the main point: The Giants might need a new third-base coach because Phil Nevin might manage the Tigers. You’ve been warned.