Guardians bench coach Craig Albernaz has withdrawn his name from the Marlins’ managerial search, reports ESPN’s Jeff Passan. Both the Marlins and White Sox liked Albernaz enough to consider him a finalist in their searches, but Passan suggests Albernaz took his name out of the bidding in Chicago as well prior to the team’s hiring of Will Venable. In a separate report, Passan adds that Dodgers first base coach Clayton McCullough is still in the mix for Miami’s vacancy. MLB.com’s Christina De Nicola first linked Miami and McCullough about three weeks ago.
Albernaz, 42, was a minor league catcher in the Rays and Tigers systems from 2006-14. He spent four years as the Giants’ bullpen and catching coach and overlapped with then-manager (and now Marlins assistant GM) Gabe Kapler’s time in San Francisco’s dugout. The Guards hired him away from the Giants last offseason — but not after first interviewing him for their own managerial vacancy (which eventually went to Stephen Vogt). Albernaz was originally hired as the Guardians’ field coordinator, but just 16 days later he was listed as the team’s bench coach when they finalized their entire staff under the newly hired Vogt.
McCullough, 44, played four years in the minors before shifting to a minor league coaching track. He managed for seven seasons in the Blue Jays’ system and has been with the Dodgers since 2015. Los Angeles originally hired McCullough as their minor league field coordinator, and he’s been Dave Roberts’ first base coach since the 2021 season.
For the past few years, McCullough has been widely viewed as a future manager. He’s interviewed not only with the Marlins but also the White Sox, Brewers, Guardians, Mets and Royals — emerging as a finalist alongside Matt Quatraro for the Kansas City gig. De Nicola tweets that Dodgers star Mookie Betts has called McCullough “the best coach I’ve ever had.” Like Albernaz, McCullough has worked with Kapler in the past, as the two overlapped during their time in the Dodgers’ minor league coaching ranks.
It’s not clear at this juncture who, beyond McCullough, is still under consideration. Albernaz and Venable were reported to be among the team’s finalists earlier this week. Venable, of course, has since been hired by the White Sox while Albernaz has taken his name out of the running. Other known candidates for Miami’s managerial search included Tigers bench coach George Lombard and Luis Urueta, who served as the bench coach under Skip Schumaker prior to his recent departure from the organization.
TerryTurnbuckle
Albernaz must think he’s all that lol. Burn more bridges Craig. You’ll never get another shot throughout the league. You’ve embarrassed two franchises by taking your own name out of the running. Bench coach for life buddy. Career suicide
lucas0622
He’ll be fine. You really think in the future a team is going to look at him and think “well, he didn’t want to manage the White Sox or Marlins, we don’t want him”?
lucas0622
I’ll also add on that Will Venable did the same thing last year to the Guardians, and he had no trouble landing a job
BannedMarlinsFanBase
Hmmm…Let me see. Manage the Guardians or manage the White Sox…hmmm.
Yep, things worked out for Venable for the better.
In nurse follars
No one has interviewed him yet to learn why? Come on beat reporters!
extreme113
W/his LAD pedigree and a great endorsement
from Betts, it sounds like McCullough would be a good fit.
Inside Out
Well taking your name out of running us cover for when it is clear they aren’t hiring you.
BannedMarlinsFanBase
I’m thinking the same thing. He very likely knows he isn’t getting either job.
FrontRowMarlins
Missed out on their top two candidates…can’t wait for the spin on this one.
Chemo850
Who cares? Managers don’t win championships. The Dodgers could have won the championship this year while being managed by a zebra.
AA_Cardinals
Why is Eduardo Perez not a home run for the Miami Manger position? Have I missed a story or a reason why he wouldn’t be mentioned?
BannedMarlinsFanBase
He sucked when he was our batting coach. And ihe was part of some of the bad culture that involved Daddy Perez losing some reputation by neptisming Eduardo into the coaching job the Marlins got him.
notagain27
These guys are saying they are “withdrawing” after their agents have been notified by the team that they are no longer being considered for the position. Saves Face and allows their clients to retain value. Oldest trick in the book!
BannedMarlinsFanBase
So I’m guessing, unless there’s a ecret candidate somehwere, McCiullough’s our guy in Miami?
BasedBall
No one wants to manage Miami. Even their bench coach left and didn’t even want the manager job. I thought Bendix was turning it around, maybe no one wants to be the manager that gets his roster traded away