It’s no coincidence, then, that progressive teams tend to target young, inexperienced managers. That’s partly because recently retired managers may be better at relating to young players and because front offices want to dictate in-game tactics like batting orders and bullpen moves, which longer-tenured managers may consider their domain. But the Astros source says it’s also because one way to ensure the front office can appoint its handpicked coaches “is to hire a manager who doesn’t have a lot of coaching buddies—isn’t part of the whole coaching favor-trading network, doesn’t owe a bunch of
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