Add Hall of Famer Barry Larkin and Doug Glanville to the list of Tampa Bay Rays manager candidates. The team announced on Twitter on Tuesday that the two former big leaguers and current ESPN analysts were added to the initial round of interviews.
The list of candidates now numbers 10, as Larkin and Glanville join Manny Acta, Kevin Cash, Craig Counsell, Raul Ibanez, Dave Martinez, Charlie Montoyo, Don Wakamatsu and Ron Wotus for consideration. Last week HNGN provided a description of the eight managers that were announced by president of baseball operations Matt Silverman.
Manager Joe Maddon opted out of his contract with the Rays on October 23 and pursued the same position with the Chicago Cubs, which have left many to speculate that Rays' bench coach Dave Martinez is the favorite to land the job. He served as bench coach for seven seasons under Maddon, indicating the two got along with each other and the players on top of sharing similar philosophies. But Martinez will have to compete with the nine other candidates, including newcomers Larkin and Glanville.
Larkin, a shortstop, played 19 MLB seasons from 1986-2004 all with the Cincinnati Reds. He was a 12-time All-Star and won the NL MVP award in 1995 after he batted .319/.394/.492 with 98 runs scored, 15 home runs, 66 RBI and 51 stolen bases. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2012 with Ron Santo after finishing his career with solid numbers: .295/.371/.444 to go along with 2,340 hits, 198 home runs, 960 RBIs and 379 stolen bases.
Glanville played nine MLB seasons with the Chicago Cubs, Philadelphia Phillies and Texas Rangers. He batted .277/.315/.380 with 1,100 hits and 168 stolen bases as a centerfielder. Since 2008 Glanville has been writing articles for the New York Times on baseball-related topics. He also wrote a book titled The Game From Where I Stand that was published in May of 2010.
The addition of Larkin and Glanville surely make it tougher on Martinez to obtain the job he's been so close to for years.