So far, I'm guessing that Dave Clark and Ned Yost won their head-to-head interviews on Wednesday and Thursday (and I have no reason to think that). Today we get two solid candidates in Bob Melvin and Manny Acta. Today is also Melvin's first chance to throw Garner under the bus, who famously called Tal Smith to give a good reference of Bob Melvin, and ended up interviewing on Saturday.
Anyhow, McTaggart provided another tale of the tape of Melvin and Acta.
Melvin, notably:
Managed the Seattle Mariners in 2003-04 and Arizona Diamondbacks from 2005 until he was dismissed on May 9 of this year after a 12-17 start. He won 93 games with Seattle in 2003 but didn't make the playoffs and lost 99 games the following year. Melvin was hired by the Diamondbacks and led Arizona to the 2007 NL West title before being swept in the NLCS by the Colorado Rockies.
Interestingly, Melvin has no minor league managing/coaching experience.
Manny Acta:
Began managing at 1993 with the Auburn Astros of the New York-Penn League before moving to Quad City of the Midwest League in 1997. He took over the Astros' Gulf Coast League affiliate at Kissimmee in 1999 and won a league championship and managed again at Kissimmee in 2000.
Also, incredibly, McTaggart points out that the plane carrying the late Cory Lidle flew into an apartment building in New York actually hit Acta's apartment.
We didn't come out here to play tiddlywinks, son.
-Hal Smith
