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Craig Albernaz

MLBTR Podcast: Bo Bichette’s Health, Kazuma Okamoto, And Dylan Cease’s Market

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The latest episode of the MLB Trade Rumors Podcast is now live on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and wherever you get your podcasts! Make sure you subscribe as well! You can also use the player at this link to listen, if you don’t use Spotify or Apple for podcasts.

This week, host Darragh McDonald is joined by Steve Adams of MLB Trade Rumors to discuss…

Plus, we answer your questions, including…

  • If the Blue Jays were to extend Addison Barger, would the Lawrence Butler deal be a good comp? (40:35)
  • If a veteran signs a minor league deal, are they eligible to be taken in the Rule 5 draft? (44:50)
  • Will the Red Sox trade Jarren Duran? (46:25)

Check out our past episodes!

  • The Phillies’ Outfield, Tarik Skubal, And Hiring College Coaches – listen here
  • Murakami To Be Posted This Offseason, Managerial Vacancies, And More! – listen here
  • Rockies’ Front Office Changes, Skip Schumaker, And ABS Talk – listen here

The podcast intro and outro song “So Long” is provided courtesy of the band Showoff.  Check out their Facebook page here!

Photo courtesy of Dan Hamilton, Imagn Images

Orioles Hire Craig Albernaz As Manager

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October 27: The Orioles officially announced Albernaz as the club’s new manager this morning. He will be introduced at a press conference on November 4. Both Elias and Albernaz offered statements in the aftermath of the hiring:

“We are elated to welcome Craig Albernaz as the next manager of the Orioles and our leader on the field,” Elias’s statement reads. “Craig has built an exemplary career across multiple successful organizations and brings a tremendous amount of experience, knowledge, and talent to our organization and to this new challenge. We believe he is the right person at the right time to elevate our baseball operations and guide our team back to the playoffs and a World Series Championship.”

“I am deeply honored and humbled to join the storied Baltimore Orioles organization,” Albernaz’s statement reads. “This is a tremendous honor, and I’m grateful to Mike Elias and the entire Orioles team for entrusting me with the responsibility of leading this talented club.”

October 26: The Orioles are in the final stages of negotiations with Craig Albernaz about a deal to become the team’s next manager, according to ESPN’s Jeff Passan.  Moments before Passan’s report, Jon Heyman of the New York Post wrote that Albernaz was the “frontrunner” in the Orioles’ search.

It’s quite an early birthday present for Albernaz, who turns 43 later this week.  Albernaz worked as the Guardians’ associate manager this year after acting as the team’s bench coach in 2024, and four seasons on the Giants’ coaching staff as a bullpen and catching coach.  Prior to his work on big league staffs, Albernaz spent four years in the Rays’ farm system, including managerial stints at the high-A and low-A levels.  Albernaz is a former player, suiting up primarily as a catcher in the Rays’ and Tigers’ farm systems from 2006-14.

Albernaz’s job with the Guardians developed after Cleveland interviewed him about their last managerial vacancy, and Stephen Vogt then hired Albernaz to his own coaching staff.  Albernaz was a finalist for both the White Sox and Marlins in their managerial searches last offseason, and he was linked to the Giants’ vacancy this year and also interviewed with the Nationals.  There hadn’t been any public indication that Albernaz was in the running for Baltimore’s job, but it isn’t surprising that the O’s were eyeing someone who has been such a popular candidate in recent years.

Like previous Orioles manager Brandon Hyde, Albernaz is becoming a full-time MLB manager for the first time, and is coming to the job at a relatively young age (Hyde was 45 when hired in December 2018.)  The circumstances of this hiring for O’s president of baseball operations Mike Elias are much different this time around — Hyde was hired to oversee an Orioles team embarking on a rebuild, while Albernaz will be tasked with getting a contender back on track.

It seemed like Baltimore’s rebuild had paid off when the team had a winning season in 2022, and when the O’s then reached the playoffs in both 2023 and 2024.  However, a bunch of pitching injuries and a near team-wide set of offensive struggles essentially sunk this year’s Orioles right out of the gate, as Hyde was fired in May when the team had a 15-28 record.

Tony Mansolino posted a winning 60-59 record after being promoted from third base coach to interim manager, which made Mansolino a candidate for the full-time position this offseason.  The Orioles were also linked to former Mariners manager Scott Servais, former Mets manager Luis Rojas, and superstar Albert Pujols in their managerial search, plus Cubs bench coach and ex-O’s player Ryan Flaherty was reportedly under consideration.

Albernaz doesn’t have the experience or the name value as the other candidates, yet he’ll become the latest in a long line of skippers with past ties to the Guardians and/or Rays organizations.  Those two teams have made a habit of staying in contention while focusing on player development, which is key for an O’s team that will need several of its young building blocks to rebound from underwhelming 2025 seasons.  How the Orioles will augment their young core with offseason additions is now the next goal for Elias with the managerial search concluded.

This has been a busy offseason for managerial hirings and firings, and we’re still not even halfway through the list of teams looking for new skippers in 2026.  The Orioles join the Angels (Kurt Suzuki), Giants (Tony Vitello), and Rangers (Skip Schumaker) as teams who have hired new managers, while the Nationals, Padres, Twins, Braves, and Rockies remain searching.

Inset photo courtesy of Joe Camporeale — Imagn Images

Nationals Interview Brandon Hyde, Craig Albernaz

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2:47PM: The Nationals also conducted interviews with both Cairo and Guardians associate manager Craig Albernaz within the last week, the Washington Post’s Andrew Golden reports. Albernaz has been a candidate for managerial vacancies with the Giants, Guardians, White Sox, and Marlins over the last two years, and was a finalist for both the Chicago and Miami jobs.

Albernaz worked as Cleveland’s bench coach in 2024 before moving into his current job title this season. Before arriving in Cleveland, Albernaz spent four years on the Giants’ staff as a bullpen/catching coach, and four seasons in various roles in the Rays’ minor league system (including two managerial stints).

2:24PM: Brandon Hyde has interviewed with the Nationals about the team’s managerial vacancy, reports Jon Heyman of The New York Post. Hyde becomes the first known candidate for the manager’s job, as Washington’s first order of business was its search for new front office boss.

Paul Toboni has now had a month as president of baseball operations. The Nats haven’t formally ruled out retaining interim manager Miguel Cairo, but it appears likelier that Toboni will want to hire his own replacement. He’s already begun reshaping the front office, including tabbing Justin Horowitz as an assistant general manager on Friday afternoon.

Hyde is plenty familiar with the Beltway after managing in Baltimore for parts of seven seasons. The O’s won 46.1% of games during Hyde’s tenure, though that’s largely weighed down by the full rebuild in which they were mired for the first three years. Hyde led the O’s to three consecutive winning seasons, including playoff berths in 2023 and ’24. Baltimore didn’t find any playoff success in either of those years but went into this season expecting to compete in the AL East.

A terrible start tanked those plans by April. The O’s were 15-28 when they fired Hyde on May 17. Baltimore played roughly .500 ball the rest of the way under Tony Mansolino. Hyde has been clear that he hopes to find another managerial opportunity. He was very loosely tied to the Giants’ and Angels’ searches that respectively landed on Tony Vitello and Kurt Suzuki. It’s not clear if Hyde ever interviewed for either position, though Heyman writes that he has had interviews beyond the sit-down with Washington.

Giants Interview Kurt Suzuki In Managerial Search

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The Giants interviewed longtime MLB catcher Kurt Suzuki as they search for a new manager. Susan Slusser of The San Francisco Chronicle first reported that Suzuki was scheduled to interview on Friday afternoon, and FanSided’s Robert Murray confirmed this evening that indeed took place.

Suzuki, 42 tomorrow, has worked as a special assistant with the Angels for the past three seasons. The longtime MLB catcher jumped right into front office work after retiring as a player following the 2022 campaign. Suzuki appeared in parts of 16 big league seasons. He was an All-Star with Minnesota in 2014 and won a World Series as a member of the 2019 Nationals. That included a go-ahead homer off Justin Verlander in Washington’s Game 2 victory over the Astros.

While Suzuki never played for the Giants, he’s plenty familiar with the Bay Area. He played more than 700 games over two stints with the A’s when they were in Oakland. Suzuki was an A’s draftee who played there between 2007-12. He was traded back for a brief stint at the end of the 2013 season as well.

Suzuki’s front office work has come under Angels’ general manager Perry Minasian, the brother of Giants’ GM and #2 executive Zack Minasian. He doesn’t have any coaching or managerial experience. He was highly respected as a player and had the added bonus of working as a catcher, a trait of many future managers.

It’s an unconventional but not unprecedented candidacy. Reigning American League Manager of the Year Stephen Vogt was hired by the Guardians going into 2024. Vogt had only retired as a player one season earlier, though he did spend the intervening year on Seattle’s coaching staff. Vogt has led the Guardians to consecutive playoff berths.

Former Giants bullpen coach Craig Albernaz has worked as Vogt’s bench coach and associate manager, respectively, over the past two seasons. Albernaz has long been viewed as a potential manager in his own right, and he was reportedly a finalist for both the Miami and White Sox vacancies last year. After Chicago hired Will Venable, Albernaz withdrew from consideration for the Marlins job. They subsequently hired Dodgers first base coach Clayton McCullough.

Given Albernaz’s previous ties to the Giants and to baseball operations president Buster Posey, he’s an expected candidate for the San Francisco job. Slusser writes that the 42-year-old is “likely to get a look” for the position, though it’s not known if he has an interview scheduled. Cleveland was bounced by the Tigers in the Wild Card Series yesterday.

Guardians Promote Grant Fink To Hitting Coach

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The Guardians have made a few notable changes to their coaching staff, as relayed on X by Mandy Bell of MLB.com. Grant Fink is the new hitting coach, replacing Chris Valaika, who departed to join Terry Francona in Cincinnati. Also, bench coach Craig Albernaz is still on the staff but with a promotion to assistant manager.

Fink, 34 next month, had a brief professional playing career. He was drafted by Cleveland in 2013 and played with them in the minors through 2015, but never climbed higher than Single-A. He transitioned into a coaching role in the minors in 2017 and has spent the past three years as minor league hitting coordinator. With Valaika being whisked across the state by Francona, Fink will get a chance to come up to the major league coaching staff.

Albernaz, 42, has been a popular name in managerial searches lately. He was connected to the skipper vacancies of the Marlins and White Sox and was reportedly a finalist for both jobs, but the Sox went will Will Venable and Albernaz withdrew himself from consideration for the Miami job.

Instead, he will stick with the Guardians with a title change and perhaps a salary bump, though that’s pure speculation. Albernaz spent four years on the staff of the Giants, working as bullpen/catching coach, before coming to the Guardians a year ago. After one year as bench coach in Cleveland, he had enough respect around the game to be a hot commodity in managerial rumors, but he’ll stick around as manager Stephen Vogt’s top lieutenant.

Craig Albernaz Withdraws From Marlins’ Managerial Search; Clayton McCullough Still Under Consideration

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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.

White Sox Hire Will Venable As Manager

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Oct 31: The White Sox officially announced Venable’s hiring this morning, noting that he has agreed to a multiyear contract with the club. As noted by Daryl Van Schouwen of the Chicago Sun-Times, Getz praised his new skipper in a statement alongside the announcement:

“Will is widely recognized as one of the premium managerial candidates within the game, and we are very excited to bring him into our organization as our new manager. He is so well thought of across baseball. Will has built a well-earned and well-deserved reputation as a successful player, front office executive, coach and associate manager. A great communicator, Will is going to build strong relationships, set expectations, build a clubhouse where we hold one another accountable, and ultimately, create a winning mindset among our players and a winning environment in our clubhouse.”

Venable also made a statement as part of the team’s press release:

“This is a great opportunity with a White Sox organization that is putting a lot of good things into place and laying a solid foundation for the future. It’s exciting to be part of that process to help get back to the type of baseball White Sox fans are used to seeing. We want players who show up to work hard every day, but also smart baseball players who understand the nuances of the game. There is a rich tradition here and a fan base that deserves winning baseball, and I am excited to do whatever I can to help.”

Oct 29: The White Sox have reached an agreement to hire Will Venable as manager, reports Scott Merkin of MLB.com. Venable has spent the last two seasons on Bruce Bochy’s staff as the associate manager of the Rangers. Major League Baseball discourages teams from revealing news on days with a playoff game, so the Sox are unlikely to make the hiring official until Thursday.

In any case, it’s a nice birthday present. Venable, who turned 42 on Tuesday, gets his first big league managerial opportunity. That has seemed like an inevitability. Venable has been regarded as a future manager for years. He’s a Princeton graduate who played in parts of nine major league seasons. The majority of his playing experience came in San Diego, where he was a well-rounded outfielder.

Venable finished his playing days in 2017. It didn’t take long for him to move into the next phase of his career. He joined the Cubs’ front office late in the ’17 campaign. Venable moved into coaching the following year, joining Joe Maddon’s staff as first base coach. Teams were considering him for managerial vacancies within a couple seasons. Venable interviewed for the Cubs job after Maddon departed the organization, while he also sat down with the Giants and Astros.

Chicago ultimately tabbed David Ross. Venable stayed on Ross’ staff for the 2020 season and again found himself in managerial searches. He interviewed with the Tigers and Red Sox, and while neither team hired as manager, Boston added him as bench coach not long after rehiring Alex Cora.

Venable spent two seasons in Boston. While the Red Sox hoped to bring him back for 2023, he departed to take on the associate manager role in Arlington. It proved to be a wise choice, as Venable collected a World Series ring during his first year. He pulled himself out of consideration for managerial openings last offseason, formally declining an interview with the Mets and bypassing a chance to pursue the Guardians opening.

Between his standing as the #2 coach in Texas and his decision not to proceed through the interview process last winter, Venable seemed like the manager-in-waiting in Arlington. Bochy will be back for at least a third season and hasn’t publicly tipped his hand on retirement plans. It’s not clear whether the circumstances in Texas have changed. Venable may simply have felt that he needed another year of experience and is now ready to lead a dugout.

Whatever the reason, he viewed this winter as the right time to look for a managerial opportunity. There have only been three vacancies thus far. The Reds quickly brought Terry Francona out of retirement. That left the White Sox and Marlins. Venable not only interviewed for both positions but emerged as a finalist in each search. The Miami Herald reported on Tuesday that he and Guardians bench coach Craig Albernaz were finalists for the Marlins position. There hasn’t been any word out of Miami since Venable took the Sox job, but one can infer that Albernaz is likely to land in South Florida.

USA Today’s Bob Nightengale reported on Tuesday that Venable, Albernaz and Phil Nevin were the finalists in Chicago. The Sox are also known to have interviewed Texas bench coach Donnie Ecker. Grady Sizemore, who took over as interim manager when the White Sox fired Pedro Grifol in August, also received consideration. Skip Schumaker, A.J. Ellis, Daniel Descalso, Clayton McCullough and George Lombard were among the other reported candidates.

In August, GM Chris Getz indicated the White Sox were looking outside the organization. While Sizemore was in the mix, they’ll indeed go with an external hire. Venable will have his work cut out for him with the White Sox coming off the worst season in modern baseball history. He joins the franchise at a time when owner Jerry Reinsdorf has floated the possibility of a sale. It’s an organization in flux.

It’s a much different situation than Venable would’ve assumed had he pursued and landed a job with the Mets or Cleveland a year ago. Those clubs certainly would’ve provided a clearer path to contention than he’ll find with the White Sox. Venable is familiar with the city after spending three seasons across town, though, and the rebuild should give him time to learn on the job as he works with a roster that won’t be expected to contend in the near future.

Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.

White Sox Managerial Search Reportedly Down To Three Finalists

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The White Sox are on the hunt for a new manager and might be getting closer to a decision. Per Bob Nightengale of USA Today on X, the three finalists for the job are Rangers associate manager Will Venable, Guardians bench coach Craig Albernaz and former Angels manager Phil Nevin.

As noted by Nightengale, this could make for an interesting standoff. The Sox are one of two clubs on the hunt for a new manager, with the other being the Marlins. It was reported yesterday by Barry Jackson and Craig Mish of the Miami Herald that Venable and Albernaz are the two finalists for the Marlins gig, so there’s plenty of overlap in the two searches.

Nevin, 53, appears to be the one name on the radar of the Sox but not the Marlins. Jon Heyman of The New York Post listed him as a candidate a few weeks ago and it seems Nevin is still in the running. He’s also the only one in the group with previous managerial experience. He was working as the Angels third base coach in 2022 when manager Joe Maddon was fired. The club gave Nevin the gig on an interim basis and eventually re-signed him for the 2023 campaign but didn’t extend his contract after that.

The club went 119-149 during his time there, but that might not say much about his abilities as a skipper. The club also posted poor results before he had the job and after he left, meaning the poor record is likely more a reflection of roster construction as opposed to a lack of dugout leadership.

After parting ways with the Angels, Nevin interviewed for the managerial vacancy in San Diego but that job went to Mike Shildt and Nevin didn’t land a gig elsewhere for the 2024 season. Prior to joining the Angels, he spent about a decade in the majors as a player before pivoting into coaching. He worked in indy ball and then in the minors with the Tigers and Diamondbacks. He then had major league coaching jobs with the Giants and Yankees before landing with the Angels.

Venable is also a former player with plenty of coaching experience. He was a base coach with the Cubs for the 2018-2020 seasons before becoming the bench coach with the Red Sox. He’s spent the past two years as associate manager for the Rangers under skipper Bruce Bochy.

He was listed as a candidate for managerial gigs last winter with the Guardians and Mets but reportedly declined to be interviewed as he was happy with the Rangers. Now it appears that he’s giving more consideration to a change. Heyman reported yesterday that Venable was in Miami to interview for that gig and a move to the South Side of Chicago seems to be feasible as well.

Albernaz never cracked the majors as a player, spending almost a decade in the minors from 2006 through 2014. After that, he started his coaching career in the minor league system of the Rays. Prior to the 2020 season, he was added to the major league staff of the Giants as bullpen and catching coach. A year ago, the Guardians hired him to be their bench coach, working under new manager Stephen Vogt.

It’s been speculated by some that Albernaz is the favorite for the Miami job, given his history with Marlins president of baseball operations Peter Bendix. When Albernaz was coaching for the Rays in the minors, Bendix was working for that club, eventually becoming general manager in December of 2021.

Pedro Grifol was fired as White Sox manager during the most recent season and replaced by Grady Sizemore on an interim basis. Sizemore had been identified as a candidate to take the job more permanently but Nightengale’s report suggests he’s behind this trio of Venable, Albernaz and Nevin.

Plenty of other names have been connected to the job but many have reportedly been eliminated from the running, including former Marlins manager Skip Schumaker, Cardinals bench coach Daniel Descalso, Tigers bench coach George Lombard, Rangers bench coach and offensive coordinator Donnie Ecker, Dodgers first base coach Clayton McCullough and Padres special assistant A.J. Ellis.

Teams are generally discouraged from announcing big news on days when a playoff game is taking place. Even if the White Sox make a final decision soon, it may not be publicly reported until the World Series is done or gets to Thursday’s off-day.

Will Venable, Craig Albernaz Reportedly Finalists For Marlins Manager

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Rangers associate manager Will Venable and Guardians bench coach Craig Albernaz are finalists for the Marlins’ managerial vacancy, report Barry Jackson and Craig Mish of the Miami Herald. It seems the search will come down to one of those two. Mish notes in a separate post (on X) that he’s “not aware” of other finalists, though he leaves the door slightly open for the possibility of a mystery candidate emerging.

If it is indeed down to Venable and Albernaz, they’ll settle on Skip Schumaker’s replacement shortly. (An announcement may not come in the next few days, as MLB discourages teams from releasing significant news on days with a postseason game.) The Herald reports that both Albernaz and Venable are flying to Miami for in-person meetings with owner Bruce Sherman after conducting Zoom interviews for the first round. Jon Heyman of the New York Post tweets that Venable’s latest interview is occurring today.

Venable and Albernaz have been two of the hottest names in this year’s managerial cycle. They’ve both gotten consideration from the White Sox in their search. Venable has interviewed for the Chicago position. It’s not clear if Albernaz has had a formal sit-down with Sox brass or is simply on their list of potential hires.

Neither has major league managerial experience. Venable might have gotten an MLB job by now if he hadn’t taken himself out of consideration in previous offseasons. The former outfielder has a fair amount of experience as the #2 on a coaching staff. He spent two seasons as Alex Cora’s bench coach in Boston and has logged the last two years as an associate manager under Bruce Bochy in Arlington. The 42-year-old, a Princeton product, also logged three years on the Cubs’ staff after ending his playing career in 2016.

Albernaz, 41, did not reach the big leagues as a player. He has less experience than Venable in the coaching ranks as well. He joined the Giants as bullpen and catching coach during the 2019-20 offseason. After four seasons in San Francisco, he made the jump to bench coach for first-year skipper Stephen Vogt in Cleveland.

While Albernaz only has one year in a bench coach role, he’s a known commodity for Miami baseball operations president Peter Bendix and assistant GM Gabe Kapler. Albernaz was a minor league player and coach in the Rays’ organization while Bendix was Tampa Bay’s general manager. His four years with the Giants coincided with Kapler’s managerial tenure.

In other staffing news, MLB.com’s Christina De Nicola reports (on X) that Miami has hired Joe Migliaccio as director of hitting. Migliaccio, who had been with the Yankees as a hitting coordinator, will work in the player development department and oversee the team’s offensive performance at multiple levels. He is not going to be the MLB hitting coach. That role has yet to be filled and will probably wait until the managerial decision. Miami parted ways with Schumaker’s entire staff, including hitting coach John Mabry.

Latest On White Sox Managerial Search

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Reports from earlier today removed a couple of names from consideration as the next White Sox manager, though the team’s search continues to be seemingly pretty fluid.  Guardians bench coach Craig Albernaz is a new name in the mix according to Jon Heyman of the New York Post (links to X), while interim manager Grady Sizemore is still in the running and Tigers bench coach George Lombard is also no longer a candidate.

Since the White Sox and Marlins are the only teams currently looking for a new skipper, many of the same candidates are appearing in both searches, with Albernaz’s name the latest crossover.  Albernaz has already interviewed in Miami and is considered one of the favorites for the position, as he has previous working relationships with both president of baseball operations Peter Bendix and assistant GM Gabe Kapler.

Like the White Sox, however, it isn’t yet entirely clear how close the Marlins might be to making an actual hire, or if any other candidates might still emerge.  Lombard and Dodgers first base coach Clayton McCullough both interviewed with Miami and are apparently still under consideration for that job, even if Chicago is moving in another direction.

Albernaz (who turns 42 later this week) just completed his first season in Cleveland, after working as the Giants’ bullpen/catching coach over the 2019-22 seasons.  This makes him a known quantity to White Sox pitching advisor Brian Bannister, who was San Francisco’s director of pitching for the last three of Albernaz’s seasons in the Bay Area.  The Giants job marked Albernaz’s first role on a big league coaching staff, as he spent the previous five seasons as a manager, coach, and coordinator in the Rays’ farm system.

The 2024 season was also Sizemore’s first time on a Major League staff, and his first pro coaching job at any level.  After Pedro Grifol was fired in August, Sizemore was something of a surprise choice as Chicago’s interim manager, and he led the team to a 13-32 record in the final stretch of what ended up as a singularly disastrous 121-loss season.  GM Chris Getz said Sizemore would continue to be a candidate within the team’s search for a full-time bench boss, but Sizemore’s coaching contract runs through the 2025 season, so he might well be back anyway in some capacity if he isn’t retained as manager.

The list of known candidates still in the running for the White Sox position include Sizemore, Albernaz, former Marlins manager Skip Schumaker, former Angels manager Phil Nevin, Rangers associate manager Will Venable, Dodgers bench coach Danny Lehmann, and Cardinals bench coach Daniel Descalso.

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