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Skip Schumaker

Cardinals To Hire Skip Schumaker As Bench Coach

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Nov. 7: Katie Woo of The Athletic tweets that Schumaker’s deal is a one-year contract with options.

Nov. 6: Skip Schumaker is returning to the Cardinals. The former infielder will join new manager Oliver Marmol’s staff as the bench coach, per Rob Rains of stlsportspage.com (via Twitter). The agreement will be finalized this weekend, per Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

Schumaker was thought to be a candidate to take over as manager after Mike Shildt was let go, and while that job ultimately went to Marmol, Schumaker returns to the Midwest anyway to serve as Marmol’s right hand. Schumaker was the Padres’ first base coach last season. He now steps into the role that Marmol himself filled for St. Louis last year.

The scrappy infielder/outfielder was a fan favorite of the Cardinals’ rabid fanbase during his playing days. He spent eight seasons in St. Louis, slashing .288/.345/.377 in 2,687 plate appearances.

Coaching Notes: Goodwin, Schumaker, Guardians, Brewers

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The Red Sox are parting ways with first base coach Tom Goodwin, chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom told reporters (including Molly Burkhardt of MLB.com). Goodwin had been in that role for the past four seasons, joining Alex Cora’s staff before the latter’s first year as Boston’s manager. After a fourteen-year major league playing career, Goodwin moved into coaching and minor league managing in the Red Sox’s system. Between two separate stints with the Sox, he spent six seasons as Mets’ first base coach. Goodwin’s departure might be the only change on Cora’s staff, as Bloom told reporters the Red Sox are hoping to bring back the rest of the group in 2022.

The latest on a few other coaching situations around the league:

  • The Cardinals have been in contact with Padres associate manager Skip Schumaker about potentially joining the  organization in some capacity, reports Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Almost immediately after the Cards dismissed Mike Shildt as manager, speculation arose about Schumaker — a former Cardinals utilityman — as a potential successor. St. Louis opted to promote bench coach Oliver Marmol instead, although it’s still possible Schumaker could assume some other position on the Cardinals staff. The 41-year-old remains employed by San Diego, but Padres’ coaches were given permission to explore opportunities elsewhere after the Friars dismissed manager Jayce Tingler.
  • The Guardians are on the hunt for a new hitting coach after parting ways with Ty Van Burkleo a few weeks ago. Paul Hoynes of cleveland.com reports that his replacement is expected to come from outside the organization. Searching for a hitting instructor is unfamiliar territory for the Guardians’ front office and manager Terry Francona. Van Burkleo had served in that role for the entirety of Francona’s tenure as Cleveland’s manager, joining the staff leading into the 2013 season.
  • Brewers coaching staff advisor Ed Sedar is retiring, the club announced this morning. Sedar was a longtime member of the staff, working as a base coach for the Brew Crew from 2007-20. He transitioned into an advisory role last winter, with former big league outfielder Quintin Berry stepping into the vacant third base coaching role. Sedar spent the better part of three decades in the Milwaukee organization, first joining the club as a minor league coach in 1992.

Latest On Cardinals’ Managerial Opening

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9:56 PM: The Cardinals plan to have their next manager in place by mid-November, per The Athletic’s Katie Woo. With the rest of the coaching staff remaining intact, it makes sense that the Cards could be relatively quick with their manager hire.

7:06 PM: The speculation has already begun on who might replace Mike Shildt as the next manager of the St. Louis Cardinals. The popular internal candidates appear to be Oliver Marmol and Stubby Clapp, per Jon Morosi of the MLB Network (via Twitter).

St. Louis usually likes to promote from within, and both Marmol and Clapp have surfaced before as candidates for managerial openings. Neither, then, would be a shocking choice, though given the surprising nature of Shildt’s release, anything could be on the table. Without knowing the real nature of the disconnect between Shildt and Cardinals’ president of baseball ops John Mozeliak, it’s tough to speculate on potential targets.

Players in San Diego, however, are hearing that former Cardinal fan favorite Skip Schumaker might be a candidate for the role, per Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune (via Twitter). There would be support from Padres’ players were Schumaker considered as the Padres’ next manager, notes Acee, though it’s not clear yet what direction President of Baseball Ops A.J. Preller will lean.

Latest On Red Sox Managerial Search

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The Red Sox won’t be interviewing Red Sox bench coach Matt Quatraro for their managerial vacancy. Per Sean McAdam of the Boston Sports Journal, Chief Baseball Officer Chaim Bloom cannot hire anyone from the Rays for a period of two years. The condition was put into Bloom’s contract when the Rays allowed him to be hired away by Boston, which certainly makes sense, given the number of Rays executives who have been poached by other organizations the past couple of years.

Expanding the agreement to include uniformed personnel also makes sense, given that the Rays and Red Sox are divisional rivals. One might imagine the Rays being more amenable to letting someone like Quatraro take a promotion with, say, the Pirates, a league away. They proved once again to be rather prescient in putting this agreement in place before letting Bloom join Boston.

Bloom has no shortage of candidates, however. James Rowson of the Marlins, Will Venable of the Cubs, Mike Bell of the Twins, Skip Schumaker of the Padres, Luis Urueta of the Diamondbacks, and Don Kelly of the Pirates are all rumored to be in the mix. And while none of those names carry the public weight of, say, Alex Cora, the rumored favorite for the position, the process is sincere, per Rob Bradford of WEEI. Bradford is quick to point out that Kevin Cash was an unknown of a similar ilk when Bloom and the Rays chose him to be their manager.

Alex Cora remains the favorite until we hear otherwise, but these other candidates have time to make an impression. Boston cannot speak with Cora until after the World Series when his suspension will be lifted.

Red Sox Interview Luis Urueta, Don Kelly, Skip Schumaker, James Rowson

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6:15pm: The Red Sox have also interviewed Marlins bench coach James Rowson, Speier tweets.

5:46pm: The Red Sox have asked the Twins for permission to interview their bench coach, Mike Bell, according to Speier.

3:33pm: Boston has also interviewed Padres associate manager Skip Schumaker, Kevin Acee of the San Diego-Union Tribune tweets.

10:45am: The Red Sox interviewed Diamondbacks bench coach Luis Urueta for their vacant managerial post last week, ESPN’s Enrique Rojas reports. It’s the second time in the past year that Urueta has interviewed for the position. He was also a candidate after Alex Cora was let go, although the team opted to instead stick with an internal option in Ron Roenicke, who won’t return as skipper in 2021. Meanwhile, MLB Network’s Jon Heyman (Twitter link) reports that the Sox interviewed Pirates bench coach Don Kelly as well.

Urueta, 40 in January, has held his current position in Arizona for three seasons. He’s previously served as Arizona’s minor league field coordinator in addition to managing the Diamondbacks’ Rookie-level affiliate, managing in the Dominican Winter League and managing Team Colombia in the 2017 World Baseball Classic.

The 40-year-old Kelly has fast risen as a popular managerial candidate after retiring as a player following the 2016 season. The longtime Tigers utilityman began working in Detroit’s player development part upon retiring and moved to their scouting staff the next year. He was hired as Houston’s first base coach for the 2018 season and hired as the Pirates’ bench coach under rookie skipper Derek Shelton last offseason.

There’s considerable speculation that Cora could return to Boston after his suspension for his role in the Astros’ 2017 cheating scandal has been served. That ban runs through the current postseason. However, the Red Sox have also reportedly interviewed Cubs third base coach Will Venable and, per Heyman, could talk to Dodgers first base coach George Lombard.

Padres Notes: Strahm, Coaches, Front Office

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Reliever Matt Strahm will undergo surgery on his right knee next week, Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune reports (Twitter link), and the southpaw is expected to be recovered for by Spring Training.  Strahm is looking to fix his right patellar tendon, three years after undergoing a procedure on his left patellar tendon.  The right knee issues bothered Strahm throughout the season, Acee said, and led to an injured list stint in September.

Despite the injury, Strahm still had some effective bottom-line stats over 20 2/3 relief innings, posting a 2.61 ERA and 3.75 K/BB rate.  With the caveat of a small sample size, the left-hander also posted a career-low (6.5 K/9) strikeout rate, and the lack of missed bats led to some unimpressive ERA predictors (4.93 FIP, 5.01 xFIP, 4.24 SIERA).  It’s possible that between these numbers and any uncertainty over his knee situation, the Padres could look to non-tender Strahm, who is projected to earn between $1.6MM-$1.9MM in his second trip through the arbitration process.  On the other hand, the Padres might prefer to retain a member of their bullpen considering Trevor Rosenthal and Kirby Yates could depart in free agency, and Luis Perdomo will miss 2021 after undergoing Tommy John surgery.

The latest from San Diego…

  • In another tweet from Acee, the Padres aren’t planning to make any changes to their coaching staff.  One potential exception could be Skip Schumaker, if Schumaker receives any consideration for any of the managerial openings around baseball.  Schumaker worked in San Diego’s front office for two seasons before becoming a first base coach in 2018-19 and then serving under skipper Jayce Tingler in an “associate manager” position.  Schumaker was a candidate for the Mets’ managerial job last winter prior to New York’s (short-lived) hiring of Carlos Beltran.
  • The Padres won’t be renewing the contracts of 25 employees in the baseball operations department, the club announced today.  Most of the 25 employees were offered severance packages.  According to The Athletic’s Dennis Lin (Twitter link), many of the employees let go were in player development roles related to the Padres’ farm system, indicating “continued uncertainty about the minor leagues.”  It isn’t yet known if there will be any sort of normal minor league season in 2021, and even if there is, several minor league franchises are expected to be contracted as part of a more uniform, MLB-operated farm system.

Padres Finalize Coaching Staff

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The Padres have promoted Damion Easley to hitting coach, the team announced. Additionally, Skip Schumaker will take over as the Padres’ associate manager and Rod Barajas will grab the reins as their catching and quality control coach.

Easley, a longtime major league infielder, served as the Padres’ assistant hitting coach/infield coach in 2019. It was the first season on a major league staff for the 50-year-old Easley.

Schumaker, an ex-major league utilityman, spent last season as the Padres’ first base coach. He then drew interest from the Mets as they sought a new manager this offseason, but they elected to hire Carlos Beltran instead. Now, with the Padres as another team with a rookie manager (Jayce Tingler), Schumaker has moved up in their pecking order to become an even more important assistant.

The Padres interviewed Barajas to take over as their next manager after they fired Andy Green, but he’s among several candidates who lost out to Tingler. Barajas, a former major league catcher, served in multiple roles for San Diego in 2019. He was the team’s bench coach before grabbing the reins as interim manager when it let go of Green toward the end of September.

Mets Notes: Managerial Search, Wheeler

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The Mets have begun narrowing the field in their managerial search, as Joel Sherman of the New York Post reports that neither Padres first base coach Skip Schumaker nor D-backs director of player development Mike Bell will receive a second interview. Joe Girardi, Eduardo Perez, Carlos Beltran, Mets quality control coach Luis Rojas, Nationals first base coach Tim Bogar and Twins bench coach Derek Shelton are all in line for second-round interviews in the near future. New York’s search doesn’t appear to be as far along as that of the Phillies, who are reportedly down to three veteran candidates with Girardi reported to be in the lead. The Phils could make Girardi an offer well before the Mets’ search is near completion, which would further narrow the field but remove a prominent contender for the position.

Meanwhile, Newsday’s David Lennon explores the lack of clarity in the Mets’ search, opining that it’s strange that an organization that has likely expected to be seeking a new skipper since midseason would still be so uncertain regarding the qualities it hopes to find in a new manager. The Mets have indeed interviewed a rather wide-reaching slate of candidates, and the remaining group is fairly eclectic without a clear front-runner.

Here’s more out of Queens…

  • Everyone loves a “mystery team” in free agency, but how about a “mystery candidate” in a managerial search? Both MLB Network’s Jon Heyman and SNY’s Andy Martino suggested the that a “bombshell” candidate is in the mix if none of the presently known options distinguishes himself (Twitter links). That only furthers the notion that the Wilpon family isn’t sure what type of skipper they’re seeking. Speculation and or eye-rolls will surely abound, though both Heyman and Martino both ruled out David Wright, while Heyman adds that Alex Rodriguez could only laugh when asked about the possibility. MLBTR’s Connor Byrne put his money on Benny Agbayani, and I’m calling that the Mets double down on their Brodie Van Wagenen investment and make him the manager as well (kidding … mostly).
  • Turning to the Mets’ actual roster, The Athletic’s Tim Britton explores Zack Wheeler’s impending free agency and whether he’s a fit to re-sign with the team in free agency (subscription link). The call on issuing Wheeler a qualifying offer is an easy “yes,” he opines — we at MLBTR are inclined to agree — as is Wheeler’s decision to reject it. As MLBTR’s Jeff Todd recently laid out, the Mets not only lack flexibility but are actually on pace to spend more on the current roster than they did in 2019. Britton notes that the Mets would need to be OK with surpassing or at least flirting with the luxury tax in order to re-sign Wheeler, though he contends that with Wright, Yoenis Cespedes, Jed Lowrie and Wilson Ramos all off the books following the 2020 season (to say nothing of Justin Wilson and Marcus Stroman), surpassing the luxury threshold would be justifiable for a win-now Mets club. Of course, despite playing in New York, the Mets haven’t crossed that line before and have not carried an Opening Day payroll greater than this season’s $158.5MM mark.

Mets Interview Skip Schumaker

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The Mets have interviewed Padres first base coach and former big league utility man Skip Schumaker for their managerial vacancy, Dennis Lin of The Athletic tweets. The interview took place yesterday, Joel Sherman of the New York Post adds.

Like the vast majority of the Mets’ candidates to this point, the 39-year-old Schumaker (40 in February) lacks any managerial experience. But since hanging up his spikes after the 2015 campaign, he’s worked in the Padres organization in a variety of capacities. Schumaker first joined the front office as a special assistant to the baseball operations and player development departments. He worked with the Padres’ minor league affiliates in that capacity and has since taken on a prominent role on the Major League coaching staff, beginning in 2018.

General manager Brodie Van Wagenen is surely somewhat familiar with Schumaker; while Van Wagenen didn’t represent him directly during his playing career, Schumaker was a client of Van Wagenen’s now-former agency, CAA Baseball (where he was represented by agent Nez Balelo). He joins a growing list of interviewees that includes Joe Girardi — the only candidate with Major League managerial experience — as well as D-backs director of player development Mike Bell, former big league outfielder Carlos Beltran, former Astros bench coach Eduardo Perez (currently of ESPN fame), Twins bench coach Derek Shelton and current Mets quality control coach Luis Rojas.

Notably, that list doesn’t represent the entirety of the Mets’ search, per Andy Martino of SNY (Twitter link). Additional candidates could yet receive interviews as the team continues its quest to replace the recently fired Mickey Callaway. You can keep up to date with the Mets’ managerial search as well as the six other active searches throughout the league by bookmarking MLBTR’s 2020 Managerial Tracker.

Padres Add Rod Barajas, Damion Easley To Coaching Staff

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The Padres have seen bench coach Mark McGwire step down from his post and dismissed hitting coach Matt Stairs and infield coach Josh Johnson in recent weeks. They’re filling the gaps on the coaching staff from within, per a team announcement. Former big league catcher Rod Barajas, who has been serving as the Padres’ Triple-A manager for the past three seasons, will be the Friars’ new bench coach in 2019. San Diego is promoting assistant hitting coach Johnny Washington to hitting coach. Meanwhile, another former big leaguer, Damion Easley, is moving up from the team’s minor league ranks to serve as assistant hitting coach and infield coach.

Barajas, 43, spent parts of 14 seasons as a catcher in the big leagues, seeing action with the D-backs, Rangers, Dodgers, Blue Jays, Mets, Pirates and Phillies. A career .235/.284/.407 hitter in 3784 plate appearances, he’s managed at three levels in the minors and also served as a hitting coach. He’s been connected to Major League managerial openings in the past, most recently seeing his name floated as a potential candidate in the Rangers’ ongoing search. I’s not clear if he ever received an interview, but presumably, his appointment as the bench coach in San Diego indicates that he is not under serious consideration in Arlington either way.

The 34-year-old Washington is among the league’s youngest coaches and has somewhat remarkably already spent two seasons on the Padres’ big league staff. He won’t turn 35 until next May, but Washington has already been coaching professionally since the 2010 season and has steadily risen to more prominent roles in spite of his youth.

Now 48 years of age, Easley is likely a familiar name for many fans after playing 17 seasons in the Majors — from 1992 through 2008. An All-Star and Silver Slugger winner at second base in a career-year back in ’98, Easley spent seven seasons with the Tigers, five with the Angels, two apiece with the Mets and Marlins and individual seasons with the D-backs and Rays. He was a career .253/.329/.404 hitter in his 17 seasons and has been coaching in the Padres’ minor league ranks for the past seven years.

The rest of the Padres’ coaching staff will include returnees Darren Balsley (pitching coach), Doug Bochtler (bullpen), Glenn Hoffman (third base) and recently retired utilityman Skip Schumaker (first base).

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