Pete Mackanin Hopes To Help Red Sox Get Over "Little Hiccup"
BOSTON (CBS) - Philadelphia Phillies bench coach Pete Mackanin interviewed for the Red Sox vacancy at manager for several hours on Monday.
If hired, Mackanin would replace Terry Francona, who won two World Series during his time in Boston but seemed to lose his team as it stumbled to a 7-20 September in the biggest collapse in major league history.
Speaking to reporters Monday evening, Mackanin, who helped Charlie Manuel guide the Phillies to 102 wins last season, dubbed the Red Sox collapse a "little hiccup."
"I feel like I have leadership qualities and I feel like I can help this franchise get back to where it once was," he said.. "Not that it was ever gone from anything, but I guess there was a little hiccup here last year. We're going to put it behind us and move on."
Francona was widely considered a player's manager, and with that philosophy, he had a lot of success in Boston. Mackanin, on the other hand, considers himself a mix of a player's manager and a disciplinarian.
"I think you have to have an element of both sides of that in order to be a good motivator. To me, it's like the way you handle your kids," Mackanin said. "I wear two caps: one has a 'D' on it and one has a 'P' on it. One is for 'Dad' and the other is for 'Pal.' When I got the 'P' cap on, we're pals. When I put the 'D' cap on, you do what I tell ya. I think there's a juggling act that's involved in that to where you have to have enough discipline, but at the same time let the players play easy."
"Between a manager and a player, there has to be some friction, even if it's just a little bit of friction. Players have to have a little bit of fear of the manager, not much, just that little bit knowing that he's got the hammer," Mackanin continued.
Mackanin, though, did not describe his stance on drinking in the clubhouse, an issue that plagued some of the Red Sox players this past season.
"I don't want to go there," he said. 'I'm not at that point yet. I'd rather not discuss that. We can talk about that later at some point."
Mackanin has served as an interim manager twice in his career (for the Reds in 2007 and Pirates in 2005) but never has earned a full-time gig.
Former Red Sox third base coach Dale Svuem is scheduled for an interview on Wednesday.
