REPORT: Manager Skip Schumaker Requested to have Option Year Removed From Contract
The Miami Marlins could lose their award-winning manager after the season.
And they have no one to blame but themselves.
New reporting from the Miami Herald has shed more light on the news that the 2025 team option year was removed from the contract of reigning NL Manager of the Year Skip Schumaker.
As we speculated in that article, the Miami Herald confirms that the option year was removed at the request of Schumaker himself, giving him the ability to seek another job if he so desires after this season. The request, per the Herald, was made due to Schumaker's disappointment about the team's attempted demotion and subsequent loss of then-general manager Kim Ng, who owner Bruce Sherman attempted to drop in the team's power structure by hiring a president of baseball operations and installing them above her.
Per reporters Jordan McPherson and Craig Mish, the team has no issues with Schumaker and he has none with new GM Peter Bendix, who joined the team from the Tampa Bay Rays. Rather, Schumaker "was displeased with Ng’s departure and the change in the organizational hierarchy" and so the contrat change was made "as a show of good faith" by Sherman.
When asked for comment, Schumaker's only statement to the media was "Bruce has always treated me and my family great", while Bendix declined to comment on the matter.
Schumaker, who won the NL Manager of the Year after leading the team to a surprise playoff berth, their first full-season playoff berth since 2003, is expected to be one of the premiere managerial options on the market if he chooses to look for another job this offseason,
And if Schumaker does leave, he'd be just the latest in a long line of short-term managers in Miami. Across the thirty-two year history of the franchise, only one manager, Don Mattingly, has served in the role more than four seasons. He lasted seven years, from 2016 through 2022, and subsequently holds team records for both wins (443) and losses (587).
Schumaker, as of now, has the third-best winning percentage in team history at .491, behind just Jack McKeon (.522) and Fredi González (.497). That's definitely subject to change, however, if the team continues on the same trend line as their 1-10 start to 2024.
Managing Editor for Blackerby Media, covering the Atlanta Braves and Miami Marlins Also: Senior Baseball Writer for Auburn Daily, member of both the National College Baseball Writers Association and Internet Baseball Writers Association of America (where he won the 2023 Prospects, Minors, & College Writer of the Year award)