What's an 'associate manager'? Let Blue Jays' Hale explain

TAMPA – Hiring an associate manager has become one of the new trends in baseball, but what exactly does that job entail?

“It's a good question,” said DeMarlo Hale, who was hired by the Blue Jays for that position in November. “Through the offseason, we talked a lot about that.”

A handful of teams have started to employ an associate manager on their coaching staffs, with Hale joining Rickie Weeks of the Brewers as the latest to receive the title.

Hale, 62, spent the past three seasons as Terry Francona’s bench coach in Cleveland, serving as the Guardians’ acting manager for the final two-plus months of the season while Francona dealt with health issues.

“I think we're going to work together to try to maximize not only the evaluation of players, but the information and how we game plan,” Hale said prior to the Blue Jays’ 12-6 loss to the Yankees at George M. Steinbrenner Field on Sunday. “Associate manager is something new in this industry, but I think you're going to see it a little more -- job titles that are going to define roles.”

Manager John Schneider said Hale -- who served as the Blue Jays’ bench coach from 2013-18 -- “kind of took me under his wing” while Schneider was managing his way through Toronto’s system. So the familiarity between the two has made Hale’s return to Toronto much easier.

Citing Hale’s vast experience and résumé, Schneider plans to use his new associate as “a sounding board.” Bench coach Don Mattingly will focus more on the offense, while Hale will oversee fundamentals on defense and in the running game, providing a well-rounded pair to assist Schneider.

“Just a lot of little things that probably go unseen, whether it's clubhouse, dugout, things like that, he has a very good way about him to not only communicate with players, but to kind of be that bridge between staff and players,” Schneider said of Hale. “I'm looking forward to just bouncing ideas off of him. He’s worked with a lot of really good managers in the past, too, so kind of just everything that he's always done as a traditional bench coach, if you will, and having Donnie on the other side is pretty cool, too.”

Hale is entering his 22nd season on a big league coaching staff, not to mention nine years as a manager in the Minors. In addition to his years with Francona in Boston and Cleveland, Hale has served under Buck Showalter in Texas and Baltimore, John Gibbons in Toronto and Brian Snitker in Atlanta. Listening to Hale speak about Francona, it’s clear the long-time manager left an indelible mark on Hale during their time together.

“One thing I learned from him: Be prepared,” Hale said. “Understand your personnel; you can only manage your personnel. You can't ask someone to do something they're not good at, and he spoke a lot about that. I truly believe that. Him giving his coaches rope to mess up, to learn, to grow; the last few years in Cleveland, I had a better understanding of where he was at and maybe what he was thinking, and I probably could say something to him before he [asked].”

During his first stint in Toronto, Hale was on the bench during the Blue Jays’ back-to-back trips to the ALCS in 2015-16, giving him a good feel for the situation he’s re-entering in his new role.

“I'm someone that can bring some experience, thoughts, and some of the tendencies that I've seen over the years being in the dugout and different managers’ tendencies,” Hale said. “It's going to be a growing position, and I think I'll probably be able to identify more after I go through it a little bit better and also take shape of what's important for me during the game in helping Schneid.”

Hale is fully on board with the analytic revolution, though he cautioned that numbers and data shouldn’t entirely replace what your eyes are seeing.

“I sometimes think it's a good snapshot of some things; the analytics, the numbers, it does paint a picture,” Hale said. “When it paints that picture with what your eyes see and it’s meshed, it’s good. The challenging part is when the analytics and what your eyes don't see, you have to find a way to balance them.”

“Having everybody on the same page is a big thing, whether it's myself, Pete [Walker, pitching coach], Donnie or D,” Schneider said. “I think we’ve got a pretty good dynamic going.”