Former Nationals interim manager Miguel Cairo won’t have to travel far to his new gig. The Orioles are expected to hire Cairo as an infield coach, reports Roch Kubatko of MASN Sports. Baltimore is also expected to add Joe Singley as field coordinator and catching coach, reports Andy Kostka of The Baltimore Banner.
Cairo took over as Washington’s skipper after Davey Martinez was let go in early July. He went 29-43 at the helm. Cairo had been a bench coach with the team since 2024. He was in the mix for the full-time manager role this offseason, but was removed from contention in late October. The Nationals ultimately landed on Blake Butera for their managerial vacancy.
Cairo suited up for nine different teams across his 17-year playing career. He was in Cincinnati for his final three seasons, then joined the Reds front office as a special assistant to the general manager upon retirement after the 2012 season. Cairo got his first coaching job as a minor league infield coordinator in the Yankees organization in 2018. He returned to an MLB dugout in 2021 as a bench coach with the White Sox. Cairo closed the 2022 season as acting manager after Tony La Russa had to step away due to medical concerns.
Singley got his professional start as a bullpen catcher and assistant catching coach with the Reds in 2023. After two seasons with Cincinnati, Singley became a bullpen catcher and catching coach in Miami. The Marlins got a breakout offensive season from Agustin Ramirez in 2025, but the team’s backstops struggled on defense. Singley will face a similar challenge in Baltimore with Samuel Basallo, a talented young hitter with question marks as a defender. The team also has Adley Rutschman looking to get back on track after an injury-riddled 2025 campaign.
Singley should get some help from his new manager. Craig Albernaz was a minor-league catcher for nine seasons. His first coaching job at the major-league level was as a catching instructor and bench coach with the Giants.
Photo courtesy of Daniel Kucin Jr., Imagn Images
Hopefully the Nats’ infield defense is not indicative of what Cairo brings to the table
Infield defense can only be so good with Gunnar at SS. Incredible offensive player but not a wizard with the glove.
I mean out of the projected 1b, 2b, ss, 3b guys for us, Gunnar is our best based on dwar. Obviously dwar doesn’t cover every single defensive metric but he is the only one with a positive dwar this past year with .6 which admittedly isn’t nearly as good as previous seasons. The rest, -.6 Holliday, -.6 Mayo, -.3 Westy. All of those guys are what? Sub 27ish years old? Westy is going on 27 but you can’t keep his bat out of the lineup unless he’s not healthy. Jackson and Mayo for sure should improve. Its hard to say what to expect from Westy personally since, he really just needs to prove he can stay on the field at this point. Gunnar, I think what you get from him is acceptable, it may not be top tier gg worthy but even if its merely okayish, he can make up for it offensively.
That being said, is Miguel Cairo the answer as your infield coach? archive.fieldingbible.com/TeamDefensiveRunsSaved. Based on that table I’m not so sure.
Mayo is probably my player that will put up big numbers in home runs. I still think will be around 230-250 average. The thing is how they use him. Regular at bats he does good. Jackson will be fine as well. Westberg has to stay off IL. His diving into bases will hurt
I’m hoping Mayo can be at least a Christian Walker type, hes definitely a bit bigger than Walker but he may be one of those guys that will get decent amount of walks, plenty of long balls, plenty of strikeouts and a lower batting avg. If he can get a solid glove going I’ll be happy. Mayo has the potential to be more for sure, I’m just hoping the floor for his potential is a Walker type.
The stats on Gunnar last season were a tale of half’s. He was injured and didn’t have a full ST, and when he came off IL was rusty and committed throwing errors all over the place. But that stopped, and Gunnar settled in.
Gunnar is a scary focused type of dude, and his drive to excel is in the 100th percentile. He will be a better defender, just as he will be a better offer player. He has, and will continue to get, better.
He makes a lot of outstanding plays. While making errors on routine plays at times. He is a slightly above average defender.
I’m offering to extend Gunnar, if he declines Im trading him, moving Jackson and Westburg back to their natural positions of ss and 2b and sign a 3b guy. He’s Machado 2.0 if not, Boras won’t let him sign her for a penny cheaper. All 3 mentioned are represented by that douchebag sadly
Gunnar is still hammered for his defense. He made 8 errors in 1250 innings in 2025 and as mentioned by Scruff, had the only positive surrounding metrics (outside Urias) in the infield.
Mateo was lauded for his defense. He made 6 errors in 260 innings, including receiving a gushing article on another site about his hustle on a play in which he ran into the wall and hurt himself (and didn’t make the catch of course).
Give me boring Cal RIpken getting set and throwing and a lack of errors versus Jeter looking athletic and attempting jump throws (when he’s not Tony Fernandez) and tons of errors. Yet Jeter somehow won 5 gold gloves and Ripken didn’t win one in a season he set defensive records.
Not too worried about defense. The middle 24 or so teams in the league don’t notice it, only the very best and very worst teams actually notice a small difference.
Yikes
Doug – Yeah that’s quite the demotion.
It still reminds me of this. LOL!!
instagram.com/reel/DOtNc57jriM/?hl=en
Good hire.
Let’s hope this isn’t the biggest offseason signing
Let’s hope this isn’t your best attempt at a joke.
Joke, what joke? That World Series game last season y’all blew, now that was funny 🤣
@gr81t2 is the sole rain cloud on a sunny day. don’t mind him.
good to see the coaching staff add some experience — good step in turning it around for ’26. Go O’s.
Glad you’re the bright sunshine since 1983. Good for you
Dang. Pretty bad when a Yankees fan calls you out on your bs.
Nice work, Stein!
17 seasons as a player with mediocre tools means he had to work harder than the average guy tp stick around. He seems like a good hire.
Not just that but anytime you can get the perspective from someone who is experienced and existed outside of your club, you take it. That really extends to various aspects of baseball, from the interviewing process to the hiring and even drafting.
You never not want to be a sponge, constantly soaking in information. The know-it-alls are stale, lack innovation and agility.
Being willing to take in the information from various sources outside of your organization within the industry. This is what gives you the ability to move quickly and agile through changes, it is what allows the innovation to be ahead of the curve, trend setting and change making instead of reacting to a or chasing them – high performing teams. Every fan should want their team to be this high performing type!
Ahhh.. teams hire extra coaches so they can offer scapegoats and fire them when it all goes to pot. Miguel is going from team to team as he did as a player. However he played in more playoff games than most utility players. I remember him playing on several different contenders in just a short period. I always liked him as a player and know nothing about his coaching style. Pitching coach,first n third base coach,bullpen coach,bench coach. Infield coach. Feel free to add any more I’m sure I missed.
He’s a good dude. Solid job replacing drunk sleepy Tony. Who knows what might have happened if he stayed on instead of Pedro Griffo