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Marlins Hire Skip Schumaker As Manager

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The Marlins have settled on their next manager, announcing Tuesday evening they’ve tabbed Cardinals bench coach Skip Schumaker. He replaces Don Mattingly, who spent seven years in the role before he and the Marlins mutually agreed to part ways. Schumaker’s contract runs through the 2024 season, and the Marlins hold a club option on his services for 2025.

“After an extensive process, it is with great pride and excitement that we announced Skip Schumaker as manager of the Miami Marlins,” chairman and principal owner Bruce Sherman said in the statement announcing the news. Schumaker made a statement of his own. “I’m very excited and grateful that Bruce, (general manager Kim Ng), and the Marlins organization have given me an opportunity to manage a very talented team. Delivering a winning, sustainable culture with the expectation of getting into the postseason is the next step for this organization and South Florida – and I can’t wait to get started.”

As another disappointing season was winding down in Miami, it was reported that Mattingly and the club would go their separate ways. Over the past few weeks, recent reporting indicated that the final four candidates were Schumaker, Rays’ bench coach Matt Quatraro, Astros’ bench coach Joe Espada and Yankees’ third base coach Luis Rojas.

Schumaker, 43 in February, played in the big leagues from 2005 to 2015, spending time with the Cardinals, Dodgers and Reds. He signed a minor league deal with the Padres for 2016 but announced his retirement in March. It didn’t take long for him to get involved in post-playing roles, as he was hired by the Padres to be their first base coach for 2018. Prior to the 2020 season, the Friars gave him the title of “associate manager.”

One year ago, the Cardinals surprisingly parted ways with manager Mike Shildt despite a solid run in the dugout. Once they promoted Oli Marmol to take over, they suddenly had a vacancy at the bench coach position and hired Schumaker to take that over. The Marmol-Schumaker pairing seemed to work well, as the Cards went 93-69 in 2022 and recaptured the Central division. However, the club will now be looking for a new bench coach for a second year in a row.

For the Marlins, they are looking to take a turn after years of frustration. Outside of the pandemic-shortened 2020 season, they haven’t made the playoffs since way back in 2003. There have been many frustrating stops and starts for the fans in that time, with 2022 once seeming like it could have been the year that the Marlins made a serious jump into contention. They had a strong pitching staff and supplemented their position player mix by bringing in outside additions like Jorge Soler, Avisaíl García, Jacob Stallings and Joey Wendle. Unfortunately, all four of those players dealt with injury or underperformance or both. When combined with injuries and disappointing results elsewhere on the roster, Miami fell well out of contention again and ended up with a 69-93 record.

Ng and the rest of the front office will surely be hoping that Schumaker will be instrumental in turning things around. The impacts of coaches can be difficult to quantify, but there’s no doubting Schumaker has made a quick rise through the ranks. It was just a few years ago that he was still playing, and he quickly joined the big leagues as a coach without first requiring a stint in the minors. From there, he got a promotion in San Diego and then has been quickly poached by two different organizations, highlighting the respect he has around the game. If that’s not enough, Marlins players are quickly showcasing their approval, with Jazz Chisholm Jr. and Sandy Alcantara both taking to social media to share their enthusiasm (Twitter links).

Of course, a manager alone can not turn a poor team into a champion. There is still a lot of work for the Marlins to do this winter in upgrading their roster. But for now, they can cross one item off their to-do list, adding a young up-and-coming manager who seems to have tremendous respect throughout the game.

Craig Mish of SportsGrid and the Miami Herald was first to report the Marlins were hiring Schumaker, and to report Schumaker’s contract details.

Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.

Marlins Down To Four Managerial Finalists

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11:30am: Heyman tweets that the Marlins have narrowed the group down to four and expect to make a decision soon. Heyman tweets that the Marlins have narrowed the group down to four and expect to make a decision soon. Raul Ibanez was interviewed early in the process but is not among the four, Heyman adds.

Craig Mish of SportsGrid and the Miami Herald reports that former Mets skipper Luis Rojas, who’s currently the Yankees’ third base coach, also secured a second interview, suggesting that he’s the fourth (and apparently last) finalist in the mix for the job.

9:37am: The Marlins are continuing to narrow the field in their search for manager Don Mattingly’s successor and have deemed a handful of names to be finalists in their search. Per Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times, Rays bench coach Matt Quatraro and Astros bench coach Joe Espada are among a “small field” of finalists in Miami. Jon Heyman of the New York Post adds Cardinals bench coach Skip Schumaker to the list of finalists.

Both Quatraro and Espada were considered finalists in last offseason’s Mets managerial search, before the team ultimately hired a more experienced option in the form of veteran Buck Showalter. The Marlins, it seems, are taking a different approach; the entire group of known candidates to have interviewed in Miami would be first-time managers at the big league level. Quatraro and Espada have both interviewed with at least five teams for managerial vacancies in recent years.

Schumaker, meanwhile, is a fast-rising name in the coaching ranks himself. The former big league utilityman was playing in the Majors as recently as 2015 and landed his first Major League coaching gig when the Padres named him first base coach in the 2017-18 offseason. San Diego eventually elevated him to the unusual title of “associate manager,” before the Cardinals, for whom he played eight Major League seasons, tabbed him as their new bench coach a year ago. Along the way, Schumaker has also interviewed for managerial vacancies with the Mets and Red Sox.

Other names known to have interviewed thus far include Royals bench coach Pedro Grifol and Phillies third base coach Dusty Wathan. Braves bench coach Walt Weiss reportedly declined an opportunity to interview, though the fact that there was even interest suggests that the Marlins aren’t dead-set on hiring a rookie skipper. Weiss spent four seasons as the Rockies’ manager from 2013-16.

Marlins Interview Astros’ Oz Ocampo For Assistant GM Position

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The Miami Marlins have interviewed Astros executive Oz Ocampo for an Assistant General Manager position, reports MLB Network’s Jon Morosi (Twitter link).

With Derek Jeter’s surprise departure as the Marlins’ CEO back in February, and manager Don Mattingly’s announcement that he would not be returning to the Marlins for the 2023 season, General Manager Kim Ng has been tasked with both rebuilding the Marlins’ organization and roster. Miami currently has two other Assistant GMs — Daniel Greenlee, who joined the organization in 2017, and Brian Chattin, who has been with the organization for over a decade.

Ocampo began his baseball career as a scout for the Cardinals in the Dominican Republic. He then worked directly for the league in an International Baseball Operations role before joining the Astros and helping to develop their international scouting and player development pipeline, signing four key pitchers currently on the Astros’ roster: Framber Valdez, Cristian Javier, Luis Garcia, and Jose Urquidy. He then left the Astros and joined the Pirates in a special assistant role before returning to Houston this past offseason.

Marlins, Royals Interview Dusty Wathan For Managerial Posts

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Phillies third base coach Dusty Wathan interviewed with the Marlins and Royals about their managerial vacancies this past week, NBC Sports Philadelphia’s Jim Salisbury reports.  Wathan has been fitting these interviews in between gaps in the Phils’ postseason schedule, speaking with Miami last Sunday (the day after the Phillies clinched their NLDS matchup with the Braves) and the Royals on Thursday (between Games 2-3 of the NLCS).

Wathan has never managed at the Major League level, but he did amass quite a bit of dugout experience in the minors from 2008-17, managing affiliates at five different levels of Philadelphia’s farm system.  He was also a candidate for the Phillies’ managerial post prior to the 2018 season, and after that job went to Gabe Kapler, Wathan still received a promotion to the MLB coaching staff as the new third base coach.

Following the 2018 season, Wathan interviewed for the Rangers’ managerial opening that was eventually filled by Chris Woodward.  Now, the 49-year-old Wathan is again on the radar for teams in need of a new skipper, with the Kansas City job adding some particular intrigue given Wathan’s longstanding ties to the organization.

A veteran of 14 seasons in the minor leagues, Wathan’s only MLB experience came in a Royals uniform, as he appeared in three games during the 2002 season.  Beyond that cup of coffee, Wathan also carried on part of a family tradition in Kansas City, as his father John spent 47 years with the organization in a wide variety of roles, including player (from 1976-85) and manager (1987-91).  The elder Wathan only just retired at the end of the 2022 season, and Dina Blevins (John’s daughter and Dusty’s sister) still works for the Royals as part of their community impact department.

Wathan is the third known candidate to interview with the Royals in their search for Mike Matheny’s replacement, joining bench coach Pedro Grifol and Rays bench coach Matt Quatraro.  Grifol and Quartraro are also candidates in Miami, and both have received a second interview for the position.

Given that the Marlins are already in the second-interview phase, it would seem like they’re relatively close to making a decision on their new manager, though there haven’t been a lot of public details about the team’s search.  Cardinals bench coach Skip Schumaker is also reportedly one of the leading contenders for the job, though it isn’t known if he has also gotten a second interview, or if the pool of Schumaker/Grifol/Quatraro could comprise a group of finalists.  Former Blue Jays manager John Gibbons also interviewed with the Marlins, according to MLB Network’s Jon Morosi (Twitter link), but it doesn’t appear that Gibbons is still under consideration.

Skip Schumaker Interviews For Marlins Managerial Vacancy

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Jon Morosi of MLB Network reports that Cardinals bench coach Skip Schumaker interviewed with the Miami Marlins to replace Don Mattingly, who mutually agreed to part ways with the club following the 2022 season, as manager. Morosi writes that Schumaker is among the favorites to land the position. Prior to joining the coaching staff in St. Louis, Schumaker also served as the Padres first base coach in 2018 and 2019 before being promoted to associate manager 2020. Schumaker played in the majors for 11 seasons before becoming a coach, splitting his playing career between the Cardinals, Dodgers, and Reds and slashing a career .278/.337/.364.

The Marlins appear to be looking for a rookie manager with some previous dugout experience to replace the veteran Mattingly, as they’ve reportedly interviewed Astros bench coach Joe Espada, Rays bench coach Matt Quatraro, and Royals bench coach Pedro Grifol in addition to Schumaker. Espada and Quatraro have both reportedly received second interviews, and stand out as possible favorites for the job alongside Schumaker. While Espada and Grifol have both reportedly interviewed for other open positions, Schumaker’s interview with Miami is the only such interview that has been reported. The Athletic’s Katie Woo notes that Schumaker has a mutual option with the Cardinals for the 2023 season, and another for 2024.

While Schumaker doesn’t appear to be interviewing for other managerial openings this offseason, that’s not to say this is the first time a club has had interest in him for the manager’s seat. Schumaker has been fielding interviews for a managerial role since 2019, when the Mets interviewed him for their open manager position following that season. Schumaker also interviewed with the Red Sox after the 2020 season and the Cardinals following the 2021 season (before being hired as bench coach) for their managerial vacancies. While those vacancies all ultimately went to other candidates, there’s clear interest around the league in what Schumaker could bring to the table as a manager.

2022 was a tough season in Miami. While the young pitching the Marlins have become known for largely delivered, highlighted by Sandy Alcantara’s Cy Young caliber campaign, nearly the entire starting lineup under performed; only first baseman Garrett Cooper (113 OPS+) and outfielder Bryan De La Cruz (103 OPS+) posted an above average offensive season in 2022 among Marlins qualifiers. A full season from second baseman Jazz Chisholm Jr. in 2023 would surely help improve Miami’s struggling offense, but with both Jorge Soler and Avisail Garcia having turned in concerning seasons to open their multi-year contracts with the organization, it will take further internal improvement for Miami to compete next season without significant offensive additions.

Marlins Managerial Rumors: Espada, Quatraro, Weiss

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TODAY: Braves bench coach Walt Weiss turned down an interview request from the Marlins, according to Jon Heyman of The New York Post.  Weiss posted a 283-365 record as the Rockies’ manager from 2013-16, and he just completed his fourth season as Atlanta’s bench coach.  A 14-year Major League veteran best known for his time with the great Athletics teams of the late 80’s and early 90’s, Weiss spent a season with the Marlins in 1993, playing on the team’s inaugural roster.

OCTOBER 20: Astros bench coach Joe Espada and Rays bench coach Matt Quatraro have landed a second interview for the vacant Marlins managerial post, according to Craig Mish of SportsGrid. It was reported last week that Espada was interviewing for the position for the first time, but it’s the first reporting of the Marlins interest in Quatraro. Royals bench coach Pedro Grifol is the other known interviewee, although it’s unclear if he was asked back for a second time. Mish notes that a number of additional interviews have not been reported, so while there may well be a number of other candidates in play, the fact that Espada and Quatraro are interviewing a second time indicates they are starting to narrow down their search.

Both Espada and Quatraro have long been viewed as managers-in-waiting, and Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times suggests Quatraro could also be in the mix for the vacant Royals, White Sox and Rangers jobs. Espada, meanwhile, has already interviewed for the White Sox position.

It’s not the first season that Espada, 47, has drawn managerial interest. The Puerto Rico native has been a respected member of the Astros coaching staff since 2017, and has had interest from the Mets, Cubs, A’s, Twins and Giants in recent years.

Similarly, Quatraro, 48, is heading into yet another off-season where his name is heavily linked with managerial posts. The A’s, Giants and Pirates were linked with Quatraro in recent years, while it was reported he was a finalist for the Mets position last year before they opted for Buck Showalter.

Offseason Outlook: Miami Marlins

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It’s never a good sign when one offseason’s big need is still the biggest need next winter, as the Marlins continue to look for quality hitters.

Guaranteed Contracts

  • Sandy Alcantara, SP: $51MM through 2026 (includes $2MM buyout of $21MM club option for 2027)
  • Avisail Garcia, OF: $41MM through 2025 (includes $5MM buyout of $12MM club option for 2026)
  • Jorge Soler, OF: $24MM through 2024 (Soler has opt-out clauses after both the 2022 and 2023 seasons)
  • Miguel Rojas, SS: $4.5MM through 2023
  • Richard Bleier, RP: $3.75MM through 2023 (includes $250K buyout of $3.75MM club option for 2024)

Total 2023 commitments: $41.8MM
Total future commitments: $125.95MM

Option Decisions

  • Joey Wendle, IF: $6.3MM mutual option for 2023, $75K buyout if Marlins decline (Wendle is still under arbitration control)

Arbitration-Eligible Players (projected 2023 salaries via MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz)

Other Financial Commitments

  • $30MM owed to the Yankees as part of the Giancarlo Stanton trade (money to be paid out in 2026-28)

Free Agents

  • None

Derek Jeter’s surprise departure as the Marlins’ CEO back in February ended up being a bad omen for the team’s season, as Miami stayed on the outskirts of the playoff race until July, before struggling to a 69-93 record and fourth place in the NL East.  Along the way, some other front office personnel (largely Jeter’s hires) also left the organization, and news broke at the end of the season that Don Mattingly wouldn’t be returning for an eighth year as the manager.

The search for Mattingly’s replacement is ongoing, with such names as Astros bench coach Joe Espada and Royals bench coach Pedro Grifol cited as two of an unknown number of candidates.  It remains to be seen what direction Miami’s search might take, though Espada or Grifol would both present a fresh voice from outside the organization, which might be just what the Marlins need to help get things on track.

In fairness to Mattingly, however, he was far from the root problem with the club, as the Marlins again had one of the league’s worst offenses.  Miami’s team batting average, OBP, slugging percentage, home runs, runs scored, and RBI total were all lower in 2022 than in 2021, despite how the Fish tried to upgrade their lineup last winter.  Unfortunately for the Marlins, Avisail Garcia, Jorge Soler, Joey Wendle, and Jacob Stallings all hit poorly, with Soler (98 wRC+) the only one even close to league-average offensive production.  With Garcia and Stallings delivering negative-fWAR production, the quartet combined for only 0.6 fWAR, with that number further impacted by Garcia, Soler, and Wendle all missing significant time on the injured list.

Injuries were a problem in general for Miami, most notably the stress fracture in Jazz Chisholm Jr.’s back that ended up halting the second baseman’s season on June 28.  Chisholm was playing some excellent baseball at the time of his injury, hitting .254/.325/.535 with 14 homers over 241 plate appearances.  Though he already has a pretty lengthy injury history during his short MLB career, Chisholm will return as the centerpiece of Miami’s lineup in 2023, and is one of only a few Marlins seemingly assured of a spot on the team.

Beyond Chisholm at second base, Garcia looks to be the regular right fielder and Soler will get time as both a left fielder and DH.  The Marlins can only hope that Garcia and Soler can bounce back next year, as neither player is a realistic trade candidate (barring a swap for another team’s undesirable contract) in the wake of their poor seasons.  Soler can opt out of the remaining two years of his contract, but there’s no chance he’ll walk away from his remaining $24MM owed this offseason, as he wouldn’t be able to match that salary on the open market.

It also doesn’t look like Stallings is going anywhere, as it seems probable that Stallings and Nick Fortes will be the primary catching duo.  Fortes’ .230/.304/.392 slash line over 240 PA wasn’t extraordinary, but it was still markedly better than Stallings’ production, so the Marlins might end up deploying more of a timeshare behind the plate than a strict starter/backup situation.

2022 was such a rough year both offensively and defensively for Stallings that it’s easy to forget he was a sought-after trade chip at this time last year, and the Marlins had to surrender a notable package of three young players to acquire him from the Pirates in November.  It would take even more of a trade haul to land, say, Sean Murphy from the A’s or any of Alejandro Kirk/Gabriel Moreno/Danny Jansen away from the Blue Jays this winter, so another splashy deal might not be in the works if the Marlins do want a catching upgrade.  Free agent Willson Contreras would seem to be out of their price range, but someone like Gary Sanchez might be feasible, or perhaps an Omar Narvaez or Mike Zunino if the Marlins wanted to take a shot on catchers who have been good hitters in the past but are coming off poor seasons.

Catcher is one of many positions that are in a state of flux for the Marlins.  While the team has pretty much the entire 2022 position-player core under team control for 2023, most of those options simply weren’t good enough last year, and the Marlins may just be ready to move on from some players who have been in the organization for some time.

It’s possible that general manager Kim Ng might approach this group as a collective backup plan.  Any of Stallings, Fortes, Garrett Cooper, Miguel Rojas, Brian Anderson, or even youngsters Bryan De La Cruz or Jesus Sanchez could feasibly be in Miami’s Opening Day lineup….or on another team’s roster via trade, should Ng find a quality upgrade at any of these positions who brings better speed or contact.  While the Marlins aren’t going to unload this entire group, it also doesn’t seem likely that all of the aforementioned seven players will still be in Miami next season.

De La Cruz and Sanchez are the most likely to return, given their youth, years of team control, and the lack of certainty over Soler and Garcia in the outfield.  Center field also isn’t an easy position to fill, so since Sanchez can at least play passable defense at the position, the Marlins may be inclined to give him another shot at establishing himself at the MLB level.

Having both Wendle and versatile speedster Jon Berti gives Ng some flexibility in how she addresses the position player side of the roster, even if Wendle and Berti might both be best suited for super-sub roles than as true everyday players.  The Marlins will decline their end of Wendle’s mutual option, yet the utilityman would still be arbitration-eligible through 2023 and will likely again be part of the infield picture despite his struggles last year.  If the Fish did want to move on from Wendle, youngsters Jordan Groshans or Charles Leblanc could take on bigger roles in the infield mix.

Cooper, Rojas, and Anderson are all free agents after the 2023 season, and it wouldn’t be shocking to see the Fish non-tender Anderson this winter after two consecutive injury-plagued and non-productive seasons.  This could make third base a particular target area, if the Marlins wanted to go beyond a Wendle/Berti/Groshans fallback plan.

Rojas has been a team leader for years, and was still an excellent defensive shortstop despite playing with a significant wrist injury for over two months.  It should be noted the Marlins were at least open to the idea of dealing the shortstop last summer since Rojas’ name was floated in trade talks with the Yankees, but since shortstop is a harder position to fill, Miami might just count on Rojas regaining some hitting stroke once healthy.

Cooper has also been a speculated name in trade rumors in the past, yet his checkered injury history likely played some role in why he has remained with the Marlins.  It could be that the first baseman again stays put just because the Marlins need hitting, and Cooper has been a pretty consistent bat when healthy — he was even an All-Star in 2022 before being waylaid by injuries and a lengthy slump in the second half.  With Lewin Diaz reportedly no longer seen as a viable regular, retaining Cooper might be the easiest way for Miami to address first base.

Gauging the size of the Marlins’ overhaul will also depend on how much Ng has to spend this winter.  Owner Bruce Sherman bumped the payroll from around $57MM in 2021 to just under $80MM in Opening Day payroll in 2022, though this increase was rather modest (perhaps too modest for Jeter’s liking, according to some reports) and still left the Marlins among the sport’s lowest spenders.  Sherman is apparently willing to boost the payroll a little more this winter, though the size of that increase isn’t known, and it’s probably safe to assume that Miami isn’t suddenly going to be making nine-figure contract bids.

If the Garcia/Soler signings have made ownership wary of free-agent spending, that again leaves the trade market as perhaps Miami’s best route for significant roster help.  Since the Fish still possess one of baseball’s more enviable collections of young pitchers, Miami is reportedly open to discussing anyone besides Sandy Alcantara or top prospect Eury Perez.

It is safe to assume that the Marlins would prefer to deal more unproven arms than, say, frequent trade target Pablo Lopez, even if Lopez would bring back a nice return.  Selling high on Edward Cabrera or Jesus Luzardo might be more feasible, as both pitchers have a lot of talent but have also already had injury problems early in their careers.  Moving either Trevor Rogers or Elieser Hernandez would be more of a sell-low, but Rogers in particular still has trade value despite a rough 2022 performance.

There is a bottom to this pitching depth, as the Marlins aren’t going to start offloading too many arms that are ticketed for spots in their own rotation.  The “you can never have too much pitching” mantra also applies, considering that Miami’s depth took some injury hits with Max Meyer’s Tommy John surgery and Sixto Sanchez’s ongoing shoulder troubles.  In general, however, Ng has plenty of options to weigh in considering pitching trades, as Miami’s variety of arms could bring back anything from All-Star caliber bats to more building blocks for the future.

It also helps to have an ace like Alcantara on hand as the rotation’s stabilizing force.  The right-hander was the Marlins’ other big expenditure of the 2021-22 offseason, as Miami inked Alcantara to a five-year, $56MM extension that covered his three arbitration-eligible years and at least his first two free agent years.  Alcantara responded to his security by delivering the best season of his career, posting a 2.28 ERA over a league-high 228 2/3 innings.

Extensions probably don’t figure to be a big part of Miami’s offseason business until the later stages of Spring Training, though it is possible the Fish could try to lock up Lopez if he isn’t dealt.  Extending Chisholm is another possibility, yet the Marlins might prefer to see the second baseman get at least one healthy year on his record before making a long-term commitment.

While the Marlins got good results from their rotation last year, the bullpen was much more inconsistent.  Major additions might not be in the offing, however, due to cost, the number of young starters in the system who could be eased into the majors via bullpen work, and because the Marlins could just count on some injured arms having healthier years.  Dylan Floro is the incumbent favorite for the closer’s job, as Tanner Scott held the job for much of 2022 but had too much trouble avoiding walks.

With the Braves, Mets, and Phillies all still looking like contenders, it will be tough for Miami to make a lot of headway in the NL East.  The Marlins’ pitching corps will always give them a chance, and getting even closer to league-average hitting might help the club make some noise next year.  With this in mind, expect the Marlins to be one of the league leaders in trade speculation this winter, linked to any number of notable bats on the rumor mill.  More clarity on the payroll situation would also help, as the ability to add even a Soler-sized contract would help expand the options available to the front office.

NL East Notes: Stallings, Hassell, Chernoff, Mets

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As the Phillies take a 2-1 lead over the Braves in the NLDS, let’s check out some other news from around the NL East…

  • Jacob Stallings’ offense declined in his first season with the Marlins, and public defensive metrics from Statcast and Fangraphs indicate that his framing and overall defense also dropped off in 2022.  However, Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch hears that the Marlins didn’t have any interest in moving Stallings earlier this season, though there is a possibility Miami’s feelings may have changed since Goold’s last inquiry.  Nick Fortes played well in part-time action last season, and could be viewed as a candidate for a larger role if the Marlins did indeed move Stallings.
  • Nationals outfield prospect Robert Hassell III underwent surgery to fix a broken hamate bone in his right hand, MLB.com’s Jonathan Mayo reports.  The Talk Nats blog reported last week that Hassell seemed to suffer the injury on a swing in Arizona Fall League play.  Since hamate surgeries typically take roughly 6-8 weeks of recovery time, the Nats expect Hassell to be ready for the start of Spring Training.  Hassell was one of the key pieces of the six-player package Washington received in the Juan Soto/Josh Bell trade with the Padres, as the outfielder entered the season as a consensus top-40 prospect in baseball.  While he struggled after the trade and the move to the Nats farm system, the 21-year-old is expected to begin the 2023 season at Double-A ball.
  • Guardians GM Mike Chernoff was on the Mets’ radar when they were looking for a new front office leader following the 2020 season, but Chernoff rejected an interview request and still doesn’t seem interested in a move away from Cleveland, as he told the New York Post’s Jon Heyman.  Both Chernoff and Guards president of baseball operations Chris Antonetti reiterated how much they like their current positions, and Antonetti has also frequent turned down other interview requests from rival teams over the years.  With current Mets GM Billy Eppler building a 101-game winner, it would seem a little unusual if the Mets hired another baseball-focused executive as their next team president, and the club might just hire a business-focused executive and leave Eppler in charge of baseball ops.  However, the Mets have been linked to so many notable front office names over the last two years that it can’t be ruled out that owner Steve Cohen might finally land a big target.

Marlins Interview Joe Espada, Pedro Grifol For Manager

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The Marlins will interview Astros bench coach Joe Espada for their vacant manager position today, Jon Heyman of the New York Post tweets. He’s the second known candidate to interview, after The Athletic’s Jim Bowden tweeted that Royals bench coach Pedro Grifol had also interviewed with the Marlins.

Espada, 47, was drafted in the second round of the 1996 draft by the Athletics and spent nine seasons in the minors. He made it as high as Triple-A but never got received a call up to the major leagues. After retiring in 2007, he quickly turned to coaching and held coaching and front office positions with the Marlins and Yankees before being named Astros bench coach in 2017.

Espada is a well respected member of the Astros coaching staff and has long been considered a manager in waiting. He’s already been interviewed by numerous major league teams and was a finalist for the recent Mets and Giants vacancies.

He’ll join Grifol as the only other known candidate to have an interview. It had already been reported that his current employers, the Royals, as well as the White Sox have interest in him, but the Marlins are the first known team to have given him an interview. Grifol, 53 next month, has followed a similar career trajectory to Espada. He spent nine seasons in the Mets and Twins minor leagues systems without reaching the majors, but has found success as a coach. He’s been with the Royals since 2013 but, like Espada, has been a candidate for a number of vacant managerial posts, including the recent Tigers and Orioles positions.

The Marlins are seeking a new manager after mutually agreeing to part with Don Mattingly at the end of the 2022 season. Mattingly led the team for seven seasons, but their 31-29 finish in the pandemic-shortened 2020 season was the only time they had a winning record during his tenure.

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