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Writing articles about manager candidates is weird. What are you supposed to say about third base and bench coaches? The Mariners recently interviewed Ron Wotus, and while it would be wonderful to sit here and tell you that I know everything about Ron Wotus, his management style, his theory on platooning, and how much he likes to bunt, I simply can't. It's completely unlike the other kinds of analytic work we do on this site, where there's hundreds, if not thousands, of plate appearances or pitches to sort through.
With managers, especially the candidates that the Mariners are connected to, it's mostly guesswork. Lloyd McClendan is really the only candidate to date with a background worth investigating, and who knows how much his managerial philosophies have changed in the past eight years?
I've always loved a quote that I heard a long time ago, and I don't think it was by anybody famous, so I kind of stole it for my own. "A good manager is the guy who pisses you off the least." It's a piggyback to the theory that managers never win games, and only lose them. With the list of managerial candidates for Seattle continuing to grow, let's have a discussion about the most important qualities you like to see in a manager, and what you don't really care about.
Is it what goes on behind closed doors? Is it their philosophy on bunting? How much they platoon bats, or pinch hit to matchups? Their bullpen usage? How quick the hook is on starters? How much preference they give to veterans? How long they let people work through their slumps? There's dozens of factors to discuss, but they're hard to quantify. Use the comments to sound off on what your idea manager is.