Making sense of MLB's newest class of managers

Copy Link

Email

Print

The first surprise arrived on Oct. 18, with news that the San Francisco Giants were closing in on celebrated Tennessee Volunteers coach Tony Vitello as their new manager. Another came on Halloween, the day Blake Butera became the Washington Nationals' choice despite being just 33 years old. But the biggest stunner of all, according to several coaches and executives queried by ESPN, followed six days later, when former relief pitcher Craig Stammen -- barely two years into retirement and hardly even mentioned as a potential manager previously -- landed baseball's top on-field job with the San Diego Padres.

In Stammen, Vitello and Kurt Suzuki, another recent retiree who…