Red Sox reportedly interested in Mark Kotsay for managerial opening

The Red Sox are still searching for a manager just a couple weeks away from pitchers and catchers reporting down to Fort Myers. To this point, we haven’t really heard anything about their search for a new dugout leader, though it sure seems like most of the focus has been on the internal candidates. Perhaps that is changing. Chris Cotillo of Masslive reported Tuesday night that the Red Sox were interested in Mark Kotsay, a coach in the Athletics organization.

Kotsay could be a familiar name to those who have been following the team for a bit, as he had short stints with the Red Sox in 2008 and 2009. Over his two partial seasons in Boston he played in only 49 games and received just 170 plate appearances, hitting .241/.288/.335 for a 61 OPS+.

We don’t care a ton about his skills on the field, though. These days he is the quality control coach in Oakland, which is sort of a fancy way of saying he serves as something of a liaison between the front office and the players. In this era on analytics, it is very important for a coaching staff to be able to communicate the complex ideas in a way that players can digest without overwhelming them. It is also important to be able to know how much information each individual player wants. With Chaim Bloom in charge, it would make sense to want a manager with that skillset at the forefront of what they bring to the table.

Kotsay has interviewed for the Astros job as well, though it seems as though they are going to hire Dusty Baker. As Cotillo mentions it’s unclear if the Red Sox have interviewed him. The same is true of Hensley Meulens, who the Red Sox showed interest in over a week ago. The organization seems to be keeping some tight lips on how this search is progressing.