McAdam: Returning to the dugout, Ron Roenicke knows that the job of managing has changed

FORT MYERS, Fla. -- Ron Roenicke has four-plus seasons of managerial experience in the big leagues. That stint in Milwaukee certainly helped him get the job as the Red Sox' new interim manager

But even Roenicke fully appreciates that the nature of the job has changed -- a lot -- since he last held the job in 2015.

For one thing, the use of analytics is far more prevalent. For another, the job requires much more input and collaboration with the front office.



"It's different, without a doubt,'' acknowledged Roenicke. "I think the communication between the front office and the manager's office has completely changed. It's basically an everyday conversation, which I think is really good, really healthy. I think when I started, Doug Melvin was the GM then, he kind of left me alone, as a young manager in the beginning. That relationship is always good, but when you're dealing with somebody every day, you really feel different about that person.

"When you see them, it's not like, 'Oh...what are they coming to see me about?' It's more like, 'Oh, Chaim (Bloom) is coming down today,' or (Brian O'Halloran, GM) is coming down today.' And we're going to talk. So that part of the relationship is definitely different.''

If the personal dynamic is different, so too is the information available to managers.

"The analytics are, without a doubt, are different,'' said Roenicke. "Joe (Maddon) and I used to talk about a lot of things that basically were analytics (on the Angels coaching staff in the early 2000s). But it's just easier to get to everything now. We always wanted all the information we could get. It's just that now, if I ask for something, I get it.

"Before, it was like, we wanted something but how in the world could we possibly get this stuff? We can't get it. So it's a huge advantage to have all this information. And it's a big advantage to have a department that communicates well with the group of manager and coaches."

Then there are the players.

Gone are the authoritarian managers who barked orders and expected the players to carry them out as if they were cadets responding to a commanding officer.

That dynamic has changed, too.

"It's completely different,'' said Roenicke. "I would have loved to have played in this era when I could ask a coach, 'Why?' Because when I played, there was no asking a coach "why?' They told what to do and you did it. It's the same with parent, too. So dealing with this group, it's better. We all want to know why. If somebody tells you do something, OK, I'm going to do it, but I really wish you would tell me why. And these guys are getting the why.

"As a coach and a manager, your responsibility is to tell them why. And if you don't know, you shouldn't be telling the player what to do. If I tell a player to do something, I better have good answers when he asks me why. I want these guys to have the freedom to ask me. If they wonder why I did something, I expect them to ask me why. And I expect to have an answer. If I don't have an answer to them, then why am I doing something?''