Entering the offseason, the Toronto Blue Jays were one of six teams in Major League Baseball expected to be in the market for a new manager after the organization confirmed the departure of former skipper John Gibbons before the final home game of the regular season in September. Two of those managerial vacancies were filled on Sunday. SIGN UP for a FREE 30-day trial of DAZN and watch LIVE baseball games and programming on MLB Network The Cincinnati Reds named David Bell as their new manager, replacing Jim Riggleman, who served as the interim skipper after Bryan Price's firing in mid-April. Bell was reportedly one of five finalists for the Blue Jays vacancy according to Shi David of SportsNet. David noted that the candidates -- aside from Bell -- are Astros bench coach Joe Espada, Rays' major-league field coordinator Rocco Baldelli, Cubs' bench coach Brandon Hyde and Phillies' major-league player information coordinator Sam Fuld. However, Fuld reportedly interviewed, but withdrew his name, per Jerry Crasnick. Possible candidate Brad Ausmus can also be ruled out as the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim hired him to replace Mike Scioscia, the team's skipper for 19 seasons, who stepped down at season's end. Another high-profile candidate, Joe Girardi, remains available but he reportedly withdrew from consideration for the Reds opening -- despite being the team's first choice -- and his managerial future is unclear. In addition to the Blue Jays, the Minnesota Twins, Baltimore Orioles, and Texas Rangers remain in the hunt for a new manager. During his end-of-season press conference, Blue Jays general manager Ross Atkins listed "tough, smart and passionate" as qualities the Blue Jays seek in a new manager. MORE: Blue Jays GM Ross Atkins outlines strategy to hire new manager "Smart, open-minded, collaborative, innovative and open to the information and understanding how to get it all synthesized," Atkins said. "And passionate, somebody who is constantly thinking about the environment; the 25-man roster, the 40-man roster, all the people that are touching that and feeding into that 25-man roster and what it means to create an environment that is of championship standard and expectation." In a separate report from SportsNet's Ben Nicholson-Smith, Espada appears to be the early favorite for the position. While Espada, just like the rest of the candidates, has never managed in the majors, he has a decorated career as a bench coach and winter league skipper. The 43-year-old -- who also interviewed with the Reds, Rangers and Angels -- is currently with an organization that won the World Series just one year ago. Spoke to #BlueJays managerial candidate and current #Astros bench coach,Joe Espada. He’s completed the phone interview process. “I think I did pretty good.” #Jays gave no indication whether he’d fly to Toronto for next phase.”They know my schedule right now.” — Hazel Mae (@thehazelmae) October 16, 2018 Working alongside his former minor-league teammate and current Astros skipper, A.J. Hinch, gives Espada a leg up on his competitors. With Houston eliminated from the postseason, Espada now has the opportunity for in-person interviews with teams in search of a new manager. While he could always elect to remain the Astros' bench coach, the interest in his services as a manager suggest he will be managing somewhere in 2019. Whether or not it will be Espada or another candidate managing Toronto next season remains to be seen.<doc-sep>PEORIA, Ariz. — The Toronto Blue Jays are believed to be down to five candidates in their search for a new manager and have begun in-person interviews to decide on a replacement for John Gibbons. The identity of the finalists couldn’t be confirmed, although according to multiple industry sources, Joe Espada (the Houston Astros bench coach), David Bell (the San Francisco Giants’ farm director), Rocco Baldelli (the Tampa Bay Rays’ major-league field co-ordinator), and Brandon Hyde (the Chicago Cubs’ bench coach), are believed to be among them. Since the season ended, the Blue Jays have considered and held phone interviews with a wide array of candidates. GM Ross Atkins has said he’s looking for someone to fill an expanded vision for the manager role, which will include co-ordinating with multiple facets of the organization rather than focusing solely on the 25-man big-league roster. The Minnesota Twins, Texas Rangers, Los Angeles Angels, Baltimore Orioles and Cincinnati Reds are also currently looking for a manager, with Espada, Bell, Baldelli and Hyde each drawing interest from some or all of the other clubs, as well.<doc-sep>TORONTO, CANADA - NOVEMBER 2: Mark Shapiro speaks to the media as he is introduced as president of the Toronto Blue Jays during a press conference on November 2, 2015 at Rogers Centre in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. (Photo by Tom Szczerbowski/Getty Images) It sounds like the Blue Jays are getting closer to making a decision about who their next manager may be, and the rumoured candidates were not who I expected. While we wait for the postseason to conclude and the offseason to officially begin, the Blue Jays have the vast majority of their focus on the search for their next manager. John Gibbons will not be returning in 2019, and the Blue Jays office office has already been very active in their search for his replacement. There has been plenty of speculation and rumours about what’s been going on, starting with reports that as many as 10 candidates were being given phone interviews, and indications that they planned to interview five candidates in their final part of their process. According to a report from Sportnet’s Shi Davidhi, the Blue Jays are already at the stage where they have narrowed it down to the final five. According to his article, some of the final candidates are believed to be David Bell (San Francisco Giants), Rocco Baldelli (Tampa Bay Rays), Brandon Hyde (Chicago Cubs), and Joe Espada (Houston Astros), although Davidhi admitted those names were not confirmed. The fifth interviewee is not known either, although Bob Elliot of CBC Sports and the Canadian Baseball Network, tweeted yesterday that former Blue Jay Ed Sprague was interviewed for the post as well, although it’s not known whether he was part of the final five or someone who received a phone interview early in the process. Now that the Astros have been eliminated from the playoffs, it’s possible that we’ll see the Blue Jays move forward on their decision, especially as Astros bench coach Joe Espada assumed to be in the running. Now that his team has been eliminated from the playoffs he’ll be able to turn his attention to away from the task at hand, and my assumption is the Blue Jays were hoping to wait until after the Astros had been eliminated before making a decision, especially if they like Espada as a candidate. If in fact this is the majority of the list, I feel I can speak for many Blue Jays fans when I say that I’m a little surprised. I’m not at all saying that the front office is making a mistake, as it’s far, far too early for a statement like that. They haven’t even made a hire yet, and regardless of who it is I’m willing to give them the benefit of the doubt, and the “new guy” a chance before I cast too much judgement. Former Blue Jays 3B Ed Sprague, current Oakland Athletics Coordinator of Instruction, was interviewed for the vacant Toronto managing job. He was head coach 11 seasons at the University of the Pacific @BlueJays @Athletics #universityofpacific — bob elliott (@elliottbaseball) October 18, 2018 However, I have to admit that I’m surprised there aren’t a few other names in serious consideration for the job. I legitimately expected the Cleveland connection to be a factor for Mark Shapiro in this decision, but it doesn’t really sound like candidates like Sandy Alomar Jr. or John McDonald are a part of the final process. I also expected Stubby Clapp to get a serious look, especially as a Canadian skipper who has proven himself in the Cardinals’ minor league system. I also expected the Blue Jays to give legitimate consideration to some of their in-house options. DeMarlo Hale has been patiently waiting for an opportunity after serving as the bench coach under Gibbons, and minor league coaches like Brian Schneider and Bobby Meacham have done a great job in their positions, and also have the benefit of successfully working with some of the talent that’s on the way to the big league club. Again, I’m not saying that any of the reported final candidates are bad choices. I don’t really know enough about any of their backgrounds as coaches if I’m being perfectly honest, and in some cases the information is pretty limited anyway. In this case, I have to trust that the Blue Jays know what they’re looking for, and they’ve narrowed their search to best reflect those qualities. It’s also possible that one of the omissions I’ve mentioned was the fifth member of the final list, assuming the other four names are accurate as well. Regardless, I’m a little surprised, and very intrigued by what’s being reported so far, and it’ll be an interesting situation to monitor until it’s resolved.<doc-sep>The list of managerial openings in baseball shrunk to four Sunday, when the Reds hired David Bell and the Angels hired Brad Ausmus. While Bell was one of four known finalists for the Blue Jays job, Ausmus never appeared to be a serious candidate in Toronto. Still, both hires shift the managerial landscape enough to impact the Blue Jays’ ongoing search. Now that the Reds and Angels have new managers in place on three-year deals, the Orioles, Rangers, Twins and Blue Jays are the only teams without managers. In a sense, there’s less competition from other teams now, but the pool of options has shrunk, too. On paper, Bell looked like an exceptionally strong candidate. Not only does he have experience playing in the majors and managing in the minors, he ran the Giants player development program last year, working to modernize a farm system that had fallen behind. Considering that Blue Jays GM Ross Atkins wants to hire “an organizational leader and spokesperson, not just a leader of the 25-man clubhouse,” Bell’s big-picture perspective would have appealed to the Toronto front office. His openness to new ideas would have helped his candidacy, too; as the Cardinals bench coach he was an analytics-friendly link between the front office and the field. Given that the Blue Jays want toughness from their manager, Bell’s reputation as a resilient player wouldn’t have hurt (the San Francisco Chronicle recently described him as “the archetype of grit”). Plus, as a third-generation big-leaguer he would have been an interesting fit on a team with so many baseball bloodlines. It’s ultimately unclear where the 46-year-old ranked among the Blue Jays’ finalists, but it was the Reds who landed Bell, a Cincinnati native, whose grandfather, father and brother all played for the team. That shortens the Blue Jays’ list of finalists to four, including Cubs bench coach Brandon Hyde, Rays major-league field co-ordinator Rocco Baldelli and Astros bench coach Joe Espada. That’s where the Ausmus hire impacts the Blue Jays. Hyde, Baldelli and Espada were all reported candidates for the Angels job, but they now have one less opportunity available. Still, the Blue Jays have competition from the Twins and Rangers, who appear to be prioritizing similar candidates in their respective searches. The Twins reportedly have interest in both Baldelli and Hyde, while Espada’s now believed to be out of the running in Minnesota, according to Fancred’s Jon Heyman. All three candidates still appear to be in the mix for the Rangers job, however. As for the Orioles, they appear to be less of a threat given that they haven’t yet landed someone to run their baseball operations department. Until Baltimore hires a GM, a game of musical chairs could play out for the Blue Jays, Twins and Rangers along with Hyde, Baldelli and Espada. Once the Blue Jays interview Espada in person, they’ll be better positioned to make moves of their own based on what they’ve heard so far. At that point, it’ll be on the rest of the league to react.<doc-sep>
TORONTO, CANADA - NOVEMBER 2: Mark Shapiro speaks to the media as he is introduced as president of the Toronto Blue Jays during a press conference on November 2, 2015 at Rogers Centre in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. (Photo by Tom Szczerbowski/Getty Images) Now that the Houston Astros have been eliminated from the playoffs, it’s possible the Blue Jays will be able to move forward with their managerial search, as Astros bench coach Joe Espada is believed to be a serious candidate. At this point in the Blue Jays managerial search, the vast majority of the information that’s floating around is still unconfirmed. That said, we did get a nearly completed list of who the Blue Jays have in their sights as the next bench boss in Toronto, at least according to industry sources cited by Sportnet’s Shi Davidhi. According to his article from earlier in the week, four of the final five candidates for the post are David Bell (Giants), Rocco Baldelli (Rays), Brandon Hyde (Cubs), and Joe Espada of the recently eliminated Houston Astros. The fifth candidate wasn’t named in Davidhi’s article, but if those four are in the final running then what took place on Thursday evening may have an effect on how quickly the decision is made. The only member of the four who was still actively working on the 2018 was Espada, but the Astros were eliminated by the Boston Red Sox in five games, with the final blow coming last night in Houston. With that, Espada is now free to focus on something other than trying to help get his team to the World Series, and that something may be a promotion with a new team in a new city. I don’t know this for certain, but I would assume that the Blue Jays have had limited access to Espada thus far, which makes total sense. The Astros wouldn’t want one of their employees spending his time and energy on making plans to leave them while they’re in the middle of a playoff race, and teams are pretty good about respecting that space from prospective hires working for another club. Getting a job as a big league manager is a rare opportunity, and the Blue Jays know that the longer they take in making their decision that they run the risk of their top choice taking a job elsewhere. There are several other teams like the Twins, Reds, Rangers, Angels, and Orioles that will be looking for new skippers this offseason too, and rumours for example, are that Baldelli has impressed more than just the Blue Jays with his potential to be a big league manager, especially at such a young age, and it doesn’t sound he’s the only one with interest elsewhere. #Astros bench coach Joe Espada confirmed he is scheduled to have an in-person interview with the #Bluejays. As previously reported that puts him on the short list of candidates to replace fired manager John Gibbons. pic.twitter.com/KpdWlXWnU2 — Rob Longley (@longleysunsport) October 18, 2018 It’s possible the Blue Jays could have been forced to make a decision before they were completely ready, but with Espada now being available to interview I would expect the process to move pretty quickly. Espada did confirm that he had an interview scheduled with the Blue Jays, but we don’t know for sure when that was, if it was agreed upon after the conclusion of the Astros season. It’s still possible that the rest of Davidhi’s list wasn’t 100% accurate, or that the unknown candidate is working for one of the Dodgers, Red Sox, or Brewers, but it doesn’t sound like that’s the case here either. Maybe the Astros did even approve an interview before the season was over, but it’s not as if the Blue Jays could make any announcements if Espada was still actively employed for another team anyway, if he ends up being the successful candidate. Now that the Astros are out, I would expect things to move quickly, and that we’ll know who the next Blue Jays manager is going to be in the pretty near future whether it’s Espada or not.