Seven major league teams have managerial vacancies to fill, and once again, the phone of John Russell will be silent. He doesn’t lobby for jobs through the media. For some, the 64-year-old might be too old school and not sufficiently hip to today’s analytically driven baseball landscape. For others, maybe his quiet, low-key personality doesn’t fit in this glitzy world where the manager participates in daily pre- and postgame shows on TV and is more the face of the team than any of the players. Still others might want to see more outward fire from a manager. No, Russell doesn’t do those things. But except for a stint as manager of the Pittsburgh Pirates from 2008-10, when he got the rawest of raw deals, one thing he does is win.
As MLB Teams Conduct Managerial Searches, Why Not John Russell?
Russell played in the major leagues with the Philadelphia Phillies (1984-88), Atlanta Braves (1989), and Texas Rangers (1990-93). A big right-handed-hitting catcher/first baseman/outfielder, he hit .225/.282/.371, 34 HR, and 129 RBI for his career. His finest moment as a player came on June 11, 1990, when he caught Nolan Ryan’s sixth career no-hitter while hitting a home run in the process.
Russell then managed in the Minnesota Twins organization from 1994-2002 before becoming the Pirates’ third base coach during 2003-05. The Pirates fired him during a 2005 housecleaning, and he managed the Phillies’ Triple-A team in Ottawa before taking the Pirates’ managerial position. Russell re-emerged in the majors as a bench coach for the Baltimore Orioles from 2011-18. His time in the minors included being recognized by Baseball America as the best minor league managerial prospect in 1999 and leading the Edmonton Trappers to the Pacific Coast League championship in 2002.
More recently, he became the manager of the Tacoma Rainiers, the Seattle Mariners’ Triple-A affiliate, in 2023, where he’s enjoyed success. His three-year record at Tacoma, which also competes in the PCL, is 245-205. This past season, his Rainiers were 86-64, the best record in the PCL West Division. They were swept in two games by the Las Vegas Aviators in the PCL Championship Series. In 2024, he reached a milestone when he earned win number 1,000 as a manager, counting minor and major leagues.
“What’s This Going to Do?”
Russell was put in an impossible situation in Pittsburgh. New general manager Neal Huntington decided to tear the team apart and start all over in 2008. Possibly no manager in the history of baseball saw roster turnover of the magnitude Russell endured. Of the 47 players who played for the Pirates in 2008, only three remained among the 51 players used in 2010. In Ball Four, Jim Bouton recalled an older player telling him, “Son, there’s two kinds of ballplayers – prospects and suspects.” The veterans-for-prospects trades made by Huntington yielded little in the way of prospects. “J.R.” was stuck with rosters of has-beens and suspects.
Russell’s three-year record as Pirates manager was 186-299. This included a 57-105 record in 2010, when things got really weird. The front office insisted he stick with washed-up and overweight second baseman Akinori Iwamura and his .182 batting average, and young pitcher Charlie Morton and his 1-9 record and 9.35 ERA. In June, pitcher Ian Snell asked to be demoted to Triple-A Indianapolis to get away from negative fans, media, and bloggers, seemingly unaware that they had the internet in Indianapolis as well. In August, Russell fired two coaches who were allegedly going behind his back and usurping his authority.
Yet, the 2010 Pirates played a little better as the season wound down. They won 17 of their last 39 games, still not the stuff of champions, but the .436 winning percentage was a big leap from the .325 they posted going into that stretch. Players credited Russell for that string, citing his teaching and a series of useful meetings. Unlike last May’s firing of Pirates manager Derek Shelton, Russell’s dismissal saddened and angered his players. Said one who the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette would describe only as an “important” player, “What’s this going to do?”
“There Should Be a Lot of Credit”
Pitcher Evan Meek had the best season of his six-year major league career as a member of the 2010 Pirates. He was the Pirates’ lone All-Star representative that year. By 2014, he was reunited with Russell on the Orioles. The 2013 Pirates ended a 20-year losing streak and made it as far as the National League Division Series. Meek didn’t hold back his thoughts on the subject of who was responsible for the Pirates’ newfound success when he spoke to Dan Connolly of the Baltimore Sun in 2019. “Honestly, there should be a lot of credit – most of the credit – given to J.R.,” Meek said. “And there wasn’t any. He was there for the groundwork, getting these players ready. . . and then he was run out of there.”
“Sometimes, you’re going to find yourself in circumstances where you’re just not going to win,” then-Orioles manager Buck Showalter told John Perrotto of The Beaver County Times in 2014. “I’m surprised that he hasn’t gotten more play from teams looking for managers. You can’t hold (what happened with the Pirates) against him.”
Addressing the notion that his bland personality somehow disqualifies him from managing, Russell told Connolly, “If we had won 90 games. . . or whatever (in Pittsburgh), then (they would have said) I have a calming effect, I would have been what the players needed.” He’s not wrong. Indeed, “bland” worked pretty well for a couple of guys named Joe Torre and Chuck Noll.
Asked by Perrotto whether he’d like to manage in the majors again, Russell replied, “Why wouldn’t I?”
A New J.R.
Besides his personality, Russell was also criticized because his in-game strategy was considered too conservative. Those critics might be surprised to learn that his Tacoma teams have stolen 733 bases in three years. After finishing second in the PCL in steals in 2023, his Rainiers have led the PCL in steals for two straight years.
Russell still likes the sacrifice bunt, however, which analytics disfavor, as does this writer. He’s used the sacrifice bunt 77 times in three seasons. His teams were second in sacrifice bunts in the PCL during the last two seasons.
Minor league games don’t get the same coverage and scrutiny as major league games. Nobody’s digging deep into Russell’s managerial maneuvers and analyzing them. However, sampling the play-by-play on Gameday for any stretch of Rainiers games shows that his strategies – pitching changes, stolen bases, sacrifices – mostly work.
The Last Word
Often, after an unsuccessful managerial stint, a manager will reflect on what could have gone differently and will change things when he gets the next opportunity. Maybe that’s why Russell’s Rainiers are more aggressive on the base paths. Terry Francona was 285-363 as the Philadelphia Phillies manager from 1997-2000, for example. When he returned to big-league managing with the Boston Red Sox in 2004, he won a World Series and another in 2007. His Cleveland Indians won a pennant in 2016. His career record is 2,033-1,751, even with that bad start in Philly. He’s probably headed for the Hall of Fame as a manager when he’s finished.
Whitey Herzog is in the Hall of Fame as a manager. With the St. Louis Cardinals from 1980-90, he won three NL pennants and one World Series. Before that, there were three American League West Division titles with the Kansas City Royals, where he managed from 1975-79. People forget that “The White Rat” was 47-91 with the 1973 Texas Rangers before being fired.
Rumors are already floating around about who’s under consideration to fill the seven managerial vacancies throughout the majors. That was eight vacancies until Friday, when Skip Schumaker landed the Rangers’ gig. The Los Angeles Angels are interviewing Albert Pujols. The Orioles are strongly considering removing Tony Mansolino’s “interim” tag.
Meanwhile, Russell’s phone will remain silent, a victim of unfair labels and a rough three years in Pittsburgh.
Main Photo Credit: © Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images
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