The Puerto Rico Baseball Federation announced in its first communication of the year that it has already drawn up its work plan for the year 2022 and that among the priorities to be addressed in the first quarter of the year is appointing a new leader and a new general manager for the selected one that will represent the country in the next edition of World Baseball Classic.
The World Baseball Classic should have been played last year, but due to the COVID-19 pandemic it was postponed and although it is presumed to be played in 2023, the date has not yet been confirmed, among other things, because MLB and the Players Association are in a deadlock in their negotiations for a new collective agreement.
Despite that, the Baseball Federation will not rest on its laurels and will seek to name in the coming months the people who will guide the team twice in a row runner-up in the tournament and who is expected to present for the second time a ninth headed by the stars. Francisco Lindor, Javier Baez Y Carlos Correa.
In the same way, below are our suggestions to consider in the process of filling the positions that in the past tournament were entrusted to Edwin rodriguez Y Alex Cora. Of course, this is unless Rodríguez reconsiders his decision not to coach again and the Baseball Federation reactivates it.
Options for the position of leader
You may be surprised to see his name here, but the truth is that El Líder revealed in recent weeks that the next season in MLB will be his last as a player and that he does not contemplate in any way staying active after it to be a receiver in another. World Baseball Classic. Hopefully he changes his mind, but if he doesn’t, he would definitely be a strong candidate for the position. Let’s not forget that you already have the experience of having directed a selected Sub 23 from Puerto Rico.
The former outfielder could also be a good selection and have Yadier Molina as the bench coach, or vice versa. It would be an opportunity to prove that the New York Mets were not wrong when they appointed him to the managerial position in 2019, a position from which he eventually resigned after being implicated in the Houston Astros signal theft scandal in in 2017. Beltrán at the time of his retirement was praised for his ability to communicate and to unite his old and young colleagues in the same north. Sounds like a good candidate.
The Houston Astros bench coach is another great candidate. Year after year you are interviewed for leadership vacancies and it is a matter of time before you receive that opportunity. Coaching in the World Baseball Classic would be a good push. It would only be necessary for the Astros to give him permission considering that he would be out of Spring Training in the ninth during the celebration of the tournament. His candidacy would offer, over those of Molina and Beltrán, the benefit of the experience of being polished already in the school of the managerial position. And both Molina and Beltrán could accompany him in a position as coach.
It’s no secret that the former two-time American League MVP will be among the candidates considering his achievements leading the National Team at the Central American and Caribbean Games and the Pan American Games. Igor undoubtedly knows about the ball. His only difficulty factor for the appointment is that MLB, who runs the World Baseball Classic, is the one who approves the candidates and usually wants personnel in the positions who are active with a team of the majors in order to protect the best interests of the majors. different teams It is a handicap that would also affect Beltrán right now.
General Manager Candidates
If anyone could do that job with ease, it would be Eduardo Romero Jr., who is one of the assistant general managers for the Boston Red Sox. The one appointed to that position needs to be someone with contacts with the general managers of all the Major League teams to be able to request the permissions of the players to be claimed for the tournament. Obviously he would need to get permission from the Red Sox.
The former player in the World Baseball Classic has been serving in a similar position with the Caguas Criollos for the past two seasons. In his case, he would have the direct advice of his brother-in-law and managerial past of Puerto Rico in 2017, Alex Cora.
Eduardo Perez
The former major league, Tany Pérez’s son and television baseball commentator, is also a possible candidate for manager. But for the purposes of this article, where we limit the candidates to four, we have chosen to propose him for the position of general manager thinking that his candidacy would have more force here than in an election process against Molina, Beltrán, Espada or González for the position of leader.
This is another candidate who could also be on the manager or coach candidate list. But he could also be another candidate for the position of general manager, as Carlos Beltrán and Josué Espada could be if they were not appointed leaders, in order to take advantage of their contacts in baseball while expanding their knowledge for a possible career as leader.
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Yadier Molina should be one of the candidates to lead in the World Baseball Classic