The Cleveland Guardians just announced that Stephen Vogt has been named the Cleveland Guardians 45th manager in franchise history. Vogt is a 39-year-old, former 2-time all-star catcher and has not managed previously, but spent last season on the Seattle Mariners coaching staff after he retired from playing in 2022. Brendan Gulick and Logan Potosky share the latest information on the Guardians hire on Cleveland Baseball Insider.
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00:07 Breaking news for the Cleveland Guardians on November 6, 2023.
00:13 The Guardians officially named their new manager.
00:16 And it's a first time manager, Steven Vogt, coming to Cleveland from Seattle to
00:20 take over for the all time winningest manager in Cleveland Guardians history.
00:25 Brendan Gulick, Logan Petoskey with you on Cleveland Baseball Insider.
00:29 Logan, how about just your gut reaction right away to the Guardians making
00:32 a decision that Steven Vogt is the guy they want to lead this team?
00:35 >> Yeah, personally looking at the most recent couple of candidates that they had
00:42 in, I kinda had a gut feeling that he was going to be the guy.
00:47 I just had a kind of inclination that the game of baseball just seems to be
00:52 getting a little bit younger and it's starting to modernize a little bit more.
00:56 And I kinda just had the feeling that the fact that Vogt had some vouching from
01:02 some current MLB managers that hey, he can do it one day.
01:06 And he was just playing the game so recently.
01:09 I kinda just had a feeling that everything was getting in line and
01:12 turns out he interviewed at least twice from what we ended up seeing and
01:16 he ended up being the guy.
01:17 So I'm really looking forward to what he can bring to Cleveland.
01:21 >> I think it's awesome.
01:23 You've got a guy who's 39, in fact, he just turned 39 years old,
01:29 whose reputation is really impressive as being this charismatic,
01:34 great clubhouse guy who is analytically driven.
01:40 And I think we're gonna learn a little bit more about his thought process
01:43 specifically around some of those things when we have a chance to finally meet
01:47 with him, the press conference is scheduled for Friday.
01:50 It's still waiting to find out what time but
01:52 Friday, November 10th, the team will officially introduce him.
01:55 In terms of filling big shoes, it's obviously difficult, right?
02:02 When you step into the chair of somebody who's probably going to the Hall of Fame,
02:07 you gotta try to just say, look, I'm not going to try to be that person.
02:13 I'm gonna just be myself.
02:15 I think about it the same way as when Joe Davis took over as the play-by-play voice
02:19 in Los Angeles when Vin Scully retired.
02:22 How do you fill Vin Scully's shoes, right?
02:24 Well, how does Steven Vogt try to take Terry Francona's shoes?
02:28 He's won the World Series, he's one of the winningest managers of all time.
02:32 I think you have to just try to be your own guy.
02:35 And in a lot of ways, there's quite a contrast between the two,
02:40 because Tito had all this experience and
02:43 Steven Vogt hasn't been a manager before.
02:46 And on top of that, he's only coached for one year.
02:49 But to your point, he's got the backing of some pretty notable names across
02:54 the game, and Cleveland obviously feels pretty comfortable with handing him
02:58 the keys here.
02:59 >> Yeah, seems like they certainly do.
03:02 And something I think that should be considered too is the fact that I do
03:07 remember in Tito's final press conference that the notion was brought up that
03:13 he would likely be involved with the organization in some capacity.
03:17 So I feel like even if he's sitting back just taking a look at what's going on,
03:22 perhaps he could be a mentor for Steven Vogt here in Cleveland,
03:26 as this is his first managerial gig.
03:30 But just from everything I've been seeing, reading,
03:33 he really seems like he can be a players manager.
03:36 And that's something that Terry Francona really was here in Cleveland.
03:39 So I feel like that's something that the Guardians were really looking for, and
03:43 they ended up finding it in a young Steven Vogt.
03:46 So again, just exciting times in Cleveland because this is going to be a new era of
03:50 Guardians baseball.
03:52 >> I mean, you think about how different these two guys are in terms of
03:57 their resumes.
03:58 I mean, Terry Francona was like two generations older than some of
04:04 the Guardians roster who makes up some of the youngest players in the game.
04:11 Steven Vogt played in the 2022 season, and
04:16 he's a two-time All-Star somewhat recently,
04:21 a few years back in Oakland as a catcher there.
04:25 He was something of a cult hero in Oakland as a player,
04:29 which I thought was kind of cool.
04:31 He's young, he's got a ton of energy, and
04:34 I think he's gonna do a really, really good job here in Cleveland.
04:37 I wanna give Zach Meisel from the athletics some credit for this,
04:40 because I think this is really neat, the way he described this in a post he put up.
04:46 He referenced the fact that when Vogt was sidelined in 2018 because of an injury,
04:51 he and the Brewers kind of struck an agreement on how Steven could
04:56 maybe transition post-playing career into the coaching staff,
05:03 whether it would be a manager or a position coach, whatever it might be.
05:06 And it turned out the Brewers were willing to work with him.
05:10 Knowing that Steven had managerial aspirations,
05:15 they gave him a chance to basically shadow Craig Council and
05:19 the staff to learn what it was like to be in those shoes.
05:23 And five years later, the Guardians, basically,
05:26 the two guys they were most interested in hiring were Craig Council and
05:31 then Steven Vogt, and they ended up going Steven Vogt's direction.
05:35 Pretty cool that the serendipity of all that has those two guys right at
05:40 the forefront of Cleveland's decision.
05:42 And it turns out that Steven Vogt is the Guardians' new manager.
05:46 >> Yeah, really, I feel like at times you're truly living in a small world and
05:53 it almost feels like the world gets smaller as you get out there.
05:55 And that's really what it sounds like right there.
05:57 And it also sounds like not every player wants to necessarily get into coaching.
06:02 When they're done with their career, they may just wanna sit back,
06:06 enjoy retirement.
06:07 But this really seems like Vogt wanted to get into the fire of MLB coaching.
06:12 And seems like he did a great job with Seattle,
06:16 serving as a bullpen and quality control coach this past year.
06:19 And now he's already an MLB manager.
06:22 So again, I'm really looking forward to what he can do here in Cleveland.
06:26 A fresh face, a new era of Guardians baseball, and
06:30 it's gonna be starting in 2024, I can't wait.
06:33 >> We have not had very many Guardians new managers hired over the last
06:39 couple of decades.
06:40 Obviously, Terry Francona had a really long successful run.
06:43 And so this will certainly be, I think,
06:46 a press conference that we'll remember for a long time.
06:48 As Steven Vogt tries to impress upon the media and the fans.
06:53 The same thing he did on the coaching, or I should say on the front office staff,
06:57 as the Guardians decided that he was the guy.
07:00 For all the latest news and info around the Cleveland Guardians, and
07:03 certainly around this managerial hire, head over to clevelandbaseballinsider.com.
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