Matt Quatraro (left) and Kevin Cash. Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports
One more in, one more out as the final three reported candidates for the Giants’ managerial job have changed.
Pedro Grifol, the Royals’ quality control/catching coach, is out, according to a Wednesday San Francisco Chronicle report. Still in the race, according to the piece, is Rays bench coach Matt Quatraro, who joins former Phillies manager Gabe Kapler, the perceived favorite, and Astros bench coach Joe Espada in the final running.
After retiring from a seven-year minor league career that peaked in Triple-A in 2002, Quatraro rose through the ranks of the then-Devil Rays organization, a low-level catching instructor, hitting coach and manager until he was promoted in 2010 to be Tampa’s minor league hitting coordinator.
He left the organization in 2014 to become Cleveland’s assistant hitting coach, but returned following the 2017 season as first the Rays’ third-base coach and then bench coach.
Farhan Zaidi is surely enjoying the intel Quatraro offers from an efficient team like the Rays, which is always competitive and always at a financial disadvantage. Espada, known as a great communicator, has insight into both the Astros’ and Yankees’ ways of doing things, while Zaidi hired Kapler as Dodgers director of player development in 2014.