Some in-house candidates for the Giants’ search have trickled out in reports, and now a new name has surfaced from outside the organization: Stephen Vogt.
According to Susan Slusser of The San Francisco Chronicle, the Giants are planning on interviewing Vogt for their open manager position this week. Vogt, 38, played for the Athletics and Giants during his 10-year career and has most recently served as the Mariners’ bench coach and quality control coach this past year.
Vogt will join internal candidates that have been reported to have interviewed — by the Chronicle and The Athletic — in Kai Correa, Mark Hallberg and Alyssa Nakken.
Giants president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi was the assistant general manager in Oakland from 2011 to 2014, overlapping with Vogt’s first two seasons with the A’s. The catcher was an All-Star the next two seasons before bouncing around with the Brewers, Giants, Diamondbacks, Braves and eventually the Athletics again.
During his end of season press conference, Zaidi may have been thinking of Vogt when describing some qualities SF will seek.
“We want someone who can be an effective recruiter, and as we go into free agency,” Zaidi said. “We want to build a brand of players wanting to come here and play here. I think the manager is a big part of that. There are guys who don’t have managerial experience but maybe they’ve just ended long playing careers, and they have relationships and they can be effective recruiters, be sort of attractive leaders for players. That’s certainly going to factor into it.”
Vogt’s leadership skills as a player made him a natural fit for the manager’s office one day. When he announced his retirement in 2022, he also made his intentions clear, saying “My end goal is to manage.”
“I want to manage in the big leagues,” Vogt said, via MLB.com. “I’ve played for seven amazing managers: Joe Maddon, Bob Melvin, Craig Counsell, Bruce Bochy, Torey Lovullo, Brian Snitker and now Mark Kotsay. I’ve learned so much from all of them. I appreciate them for what they taught me. I’ve learned a lot. I’ve been able to observe them and watch them work. So I’d love to do that. How do I get there? I don’t know. But I’d love to stay in the game.”
Zaidi provided a rough outline of the team’s hiring plans, revealing that the Giants would first interview internal candidates before expanding their search to other teams. San Francisco wants to have its new manager in place for the free agency period, which begins five days after the end of the World Series.
That would give the Giants roughly three weeks to make a hire.
Who replaces Gabe Kapler could reveal how much the current front office is willing to change in terms of its reliance on analytically friendly strategies like platoons and openers. Kapler and Zaidi were often in lockstep, but Zaidi said he’ll want the next skipper to have the autonomy to make his own imprint on the club.
Since Vogt has never managed before, it’s unclear exactly what style and philosophies he’d bring to a team. But given all of the reported Giants’ interviewees so far, would also be first-time managers, that doesn’t appear to be an issue.