Chapter 3: Constructing the Front Office
The key to building a winning organization is to find people who all buy in to the same philosophy, that winning in the short term is nice, but to sustain that success takes sacrifice and commitment from every person, right down the the club house attendant. That was going to be the challenge when building a staff from scratch, you had to find guys who all thought the same way and were not afraid to check their egos at the door and stick to the plan, not matter how tough it was and how much second guessing you got in the media....and I admit, I gave them a lot of crap over the years....even when they were winning. I remember the first hires they made were Assistant General Manager, Carter Hawkins and Scouting Director, Brad Grant. Both men came with Mike from Cleveland and neither had really been in their roles very long. I had heard rumors that some very well known and respected names had reached out to the Goodnight's, but they stood behind the hires that Mike made.....and looking back in hindsight....it was the right call, he needed to be surrounded by guys who could weather the storm with him.
With the Front Office in place, it was time to put together the on field coaching staff. Montreal had just agreed to bring Tim "Rock" Raines in as their Manager, so they were not in the market. Ned Yost retired in Kansas City after going 61-101, but most people on the inside felt he was forced out instead of voluntarily retiring....so they were in the market. Texas surprised everyone and fired Jeff Banister after a 76-86 year and a second consecutive 3rd place finish. It was well known that Owner, Ray Davis and General Manager, Jon Daniels, were looking to make a splash and were hard after former Yankees skipper Joe Girardi, and as you know they landed him after a long negotiation process. And Washington parted ways with Dave Martinez after going 87-76 and missing the playoffs, but they quickly hired former Red Sox and Blue Jays skipper John Farrell. So the Cherokees really had the pick of the litter when it came to who they wanted as their first manager. Of course the local sports writers and talk show hosts had their own shortlists, mine included both Girardi and Farrell and I killed them for not going harder after either of them. We had the parade of guys in town, but none of them really blew any of us away....and then they made their hire.....former All-Star Third Baseman and Nationals Manager, Matt Williams....and let me tell you, none of us liked the hire. Sure he had a good pedigree as a player, 5 time All-Star, 4 time Gold Glover, 4 time Silver Slugger, 2001 World Series Champion and 2014 National League Manager of the Year....but he had not managed a team in 5 years, and despite his 179-145 record, he was fired in Washington when he failed to make the playoffs his second year. And as expected, the Front Office and Ownership stood behind the hire and said he would have the entire 4 years of his contract to show what he had....I was skeptical. To fill out his staff, Williams brought in his former teammate and friend, Will Clark to be the Hitting Coach (a position he never held in past). They were able to hire Steve Karsay away from the Indians organization to be the Pitching Coach, (he actually did a good job at Triple-A Columbus in 2018). And the move I thought really was the only good one, was hiring veteran manager Ron Washington to be the Bench Coach and help Matt keep calm in the dugout. So now that we had our leadership in place, it was time to bring in some players for them to coach and play games with......that's coming up next!