Coaching and Managing Career
In the 1979 season McLaren became manager of the Utica Blue Jays, a Toronto Blue Jays single-A affiliate. He managed two other Blue Jays affiliates: the double-A Kinston Blue Jays from 1981–1982, and the triple-A Knoxville Blue Jays from 1983–1985.
McLaren entered MLB as the Blue Jays' third-base coach in 1986. He coached for the Blue Jays through 1990, then spent 1991 as bullpen coach for the Boston Red Sox before joining Lou Piniella's coaching staff with the Cincinnati Reds in 1992. He held various positions on Piniella's coaching staffs with the Seattle Mariners and Tampa Bay Devil Rays from 1993 through 2005.
McLaren served as the third-base coach for the United States during the 2006 World Baseball Classic, but worked as a scout for the Devil Rays during the 2006 season. After the season, McLaren was named bench coach of the Mariners for the third time, this time under manager Mike Hargrove.
Hargrove abruptly resigned on July 1, 2007, and McLaren was named as his replacement. The Mariners finished the 2007 season in second place in the American League West standings, the first time they finished above last place since 2003.
McLaren was fired as manager on June 19, 2008, largely because the Mariners had a payroll in excess of $100 million dollars, yet possessed the worst record in baseball (25–47) at the time. His firing followed the firing of general manager Bill Bavasi by three days. Jim Riggleman, the bench coach, replaced McLaren on an interim basis.
McLaren spent the 2009 season as a scout in the Rays organization and in November 2009 was hired as the Washington Nationals' bench coach under manager Riggleman. He became interim manager of the Nationals on June 24, 2011, a day following Riggleman's resignation; he was replaced with Davey Johnson for the remainder of the 2011 season after McLaren managed three games. McLaren subsequently resigned his coaching position and took a position as a scout for the Nationals organization.
Read more about this topic: John Mc Laren (baseball)
Famous quotes containing the words managing and/or career:
“There is not much less vexation in the government of a private family than in the managing of an entire state.”
—Michel de Montaigne (1533–1592)
“Each of the professions means a prejudice. The necessity for a career forces every one to take sides. We live in the age of the overworked, and the under-educated; the age in which people are so industrious that they become absolutely stupid.”
—Oscar Wilde (1854–1900)