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.