Former Padres Outfielder Has a Real Good Shot of Being an MLB Manager This Year

Maren Angus-Coombs | Oct 29, 2024

Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

Texas Rangers associate manager and former San Diego Padres outfielder Will Venable and Cleveland Guardians bench coach Craig Albernaz are the finalists for the Marlins' managerial opening, according to Barry Jackson and Craig Mish of the Miami Herald.

The search appears to be focused on these two candidates.

Mish also mentioned in a separate post on X that he’s “not aware” of any other finalists but left the possibility open for a potential surprise candidate to emerge.

The Miami Herald reporters also mentioned that both candidates are flying into South Florida this week for in-person interviews with Marlins president of baseball operations and owner Bruce Sherman.

Neither candidate has prior major league managerial experience. Venable may have secured an MLB position by now if he hadn't opted out of consideration in previous offseasons.

Venable has also been in the running for the Chicago White Sox managerial position and appears to be headed for a big league managing job with one team or the other.

The former Padre, who made a strong impression during his Zoom interview with the Marlins, has served as the Rangers’ associate manager for the past two seasons.

The 41-year-old previously worked as the Chicago Cubs' first base coach in 2018 and 2019 before transitioning to third base coach in 2020. After that season, he became the bench coach for the Boston Red Sox. On May 29, 2021, Venable had the opportunity to manage his first MLB game, stepping in for Alex Cora and leading the team to a 3-1 victory over the Marlins.

Albernaz, 41, did not play in the major leagues and has less coaching experience than Venable. He joined the Giants as a bullpen and catching coach during the 2019-20 offseason. After spending four seasons in San Francisco, he transitioned to bench coach for first-year manager Stephen Vogt in Cleveland.

Although Albernaz has just one year of experience as a bench coach, he is familiar to Miami's baseball operations president Peter Bendix, and assistant general manager Gabe Kapler. Albernaz previously played and coached in the Rays’ minor league system while Bendix served as Tampa Bay’s general manager. His four seasons with the Giants also overlapped with Kapler’s time as manager.

If the decision is truly between Venable and Albernaz, the Marlins will soon choose a replacement for Skip Schumaker. However, an announcement might not happen in the next few days since MLB typically discourages teams from making major announcements on days when postseason games are being played.

UPDATE:

Venable has been hired by the Chicago White Sox to be their next manager. The Marlins will have to look elsewhere.