Dodgers Manager Candidates: Bud Black

The second in a series of potential Dodger managers brings us to a former Angels and Padres coach, Bud Black.

Black is probably a longshot as this point, as CBS called Black a finalist for the job in Washington, and if the Nationals seriously hire Dusty Baker over Bud Black we can start the “Bryce Harper and Stephen Strasburg” trade rumors right away.

Black pitched for 15 years and posted a 3.84 ERA in 398 pitching appearances (296 starts) before retiring in 1995. He served as the pitching coach for the Angels from 2000-2006 and won a World Series with them in 2002.

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He became the manager for the Padres before the 2007 season and had a less than stellar tenure there, failing to make the playoffs in a little more than eight seasons. Black was fired midway through this season and finished his Padres career with a 649-713 record and only two seasons managing the team to a .500 or better record.

Apr 11, 2015; San Diego, CA, USA; San Diego Padres manager Bud Black watches batting practice before the game against the San Francisco Giants at Petco Park. Mandatory Credit: Jake Roth-USA TODAY Sports

Black’s failures in San Diego weren’t entirely his fault, as he went years without having much talent on the team. From 2010 (Adrian Gonzalez‘s last season in SD) until this year, Black only had one player post a 5.0 WAR season. Their new front office went CRAZY last offseason trying to put together a contending team, and Black was fired after 65 games of sub-.500 ball. Despite the big names, the team was highly flawed and the pitching regressed hard.

Nonetheless, Black is on the coaching market and he’s been attached to the Nationals’ job for most of the past month. Bovada lists Black at 6/1 odds to take the Dodger job, giving him the third highest odds after Gabe Kapler, who I wrote about here, and Dave Martinez.

Black’s pitching coach past is the most intriguing aspect of the possibility of him managing the Dodgers (or Nats TBH). Both teams have young pitching talent aplenty and I think anyone with half a brain would rather let Black get his hands on Julio Urias/Jose De Leon/Lucas Giolito/Joe Ross than Dusty, who has a less-than-stellar track record with developing arms (causation or correlation, but there are plenty of other reasons I don’t want Baker coaching the Dodgers).

Overall, Black wouldn’t be the worst thing to happen to the Dodgers. He’s a former player, has managerial experience and has won a ring, so it should please a lot of the general public. Apparently, Baseball Reference lists managers challenges record, and Black has had seven overturned challenges in 13 tries (Don Mattingly was 17 for 41), so that could be a benefit. It’s looking unlikely unless they snake him away from the Nationals, but there is a chance that Bud Black is managing the 2016 Dodgers

Next: Dodger Manager Candidates: Gabe Kapler

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