Marlins down to two finalists for their managerial job. Details on each
Cleveland Guardians bench coach Craig Albernaz and Texas Rangers associate manager Will Venable have emerged as finalists for the Marlins managerial job, sources told The Miami Herald.
Both candidates are flying into South Florida this week for in-person interviews with Marlins president/baseball operations and owner Bruce Sherman.
The Marlins have interviewed at least 10 candidates via Zoom, including Albernaz, Venable, Dodgers first base coach Clayton McCullough and former Marlins bench coach Luis Urueta.
Albernaz and Venable also are candidates for the Chicago White Sox managerial job.
In MLB circles, Albernaz has long been considered a top candidate for the Marlins job. Bendix and Albernaz overlapped in Tampa Bay from 2015 through 2020, when Albernaz was on the coaching staff of three Rays’ minor-league teams and then managed two other Rays minor-league affiliates — Hudson Valley and Bowling Green, where he was named 2018 Midwest League Manager of the Year.
He went 145-83 as a manager for those two Single A teams. Albarnez spent the 2019 season as one of the Rays’ minor-league field coordinators.
He then worked with the Giants as their bullpen and catching coach and spent last season as the Guardians’ bench coach. Albernaz, 41, was undrafted out of college and signed with the Rays as a free agent in 2006.
He never made the majors but spent nine years in the minors, hitting .199 in 380 games and throwing out 44 percent of basestealers.
Venable, who impressed the Marlins in his Zoom interview, has been the Rangers’ associate manager the past two seasons.
Venable, 41, was the Cubs’ first base coach in 2018 and 2019 and then served as their third base coach in 2020.
After that 2020 season, he left to become the bench coach for the Boston Red Sox. On May 29, 2021, Venable managed his first MLB game, filling in for Alex Cora in a 3-1 win against the Marlins.
Boston went 1-5 when Venable filled in as Red Sox manager in April 2022, when Cora was sidelined after testing positive for COVID-19.
Venable hit .249, with 81 homers and 307 RBI in a nine-year career, spending the first 7 1/2 of those seasons with the Padres. He also played for the Rangers and Dodgers.
In 2005, the Padres selected Venable in the seventh round out of Princeton, where he became the second person ever named All Ivy League first team in both baseball and basketball. He made his major league debut in 2008.
His first post-playing job was serving as a special assistant to Cubs president Theo Epstein in 2017.
Former Marlins manager Skip Schumaker, who parted ways with the team in a mutual decision earlier this month, is no longer a candidate for the White Sox managerial job.
This story was originally published October 28, 2024 at 4:14 PM.
