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The Chicago White Sox are looking for a new manager, and we now know that Skip Schumaker will not be the guy, according to Jim Margalus of Sox Machine.
It's unclear whether Schumaker pulled out of consideration himself or if the organization decided to go in a different direction.
Either way, Chicago will miss out on one of the most coveted names on the coaching market. Schumaker has only two years of managerial experience under his belt, but in year one with the Miami Marlins, he led the team to an 84-78 record and a postseason bid. That was a 15-game improvement from the year before and it earned him National League Manager of the Year honors.
His second year at the helm did not go as smoothly. The Marlins finished 62-100 and Schumaker left the team just days before the season ended to tend to a family matter. He then told his players that he would not return for 2025.
“It has been a tremendous honor serving as manager of the Miami Marlins,” Schumaker said in a statement. “I’ve built long-lasting friendships with the staff and players and am proud of all that we accomplished together. I am grateful to Bruce Sherman, as well as the entire Marlins organization and the fans for their support during my time in Miami and I’ll always cherish our 2023 playoff season.”
Craig Albernaz emerges as a candidate for White Sox manager
With Schumaker off the table, the White Sox will turn their attention elsewhere in their managerial search. Guardians bench coach Craig Albernaz has emerged as a candidate, according to Jon Heyman of the New York Post. Heyman also reported Albernaz is a candidate for the Marlins job.
Albernaz has been coaching since 2015, spending the first few years of his career in the Tampa Bay Rays' minor league system. The San Francisco Giants then hired him in 2019 to be their bullpen and catching coach before Cleveland brought him on as Stephen Vogt's bench coach last offseason.
If he lands the White Sox job, Albernaz will go from a team that went to the 2024 American League Championship Series to arguably the worst team in baseball history. Chicago went 41-121 this season, breaking the modern MLB record for most losses in a season and the most losses before the All-Star break (71). When they were eliminated from playoff contention on August 17, they also set the record for the earliest playoff elimination in the divisional era, which began in 1969.
MLB Trade Rumors reports that Los Angeles Dodgers bench coach Danny Lehmann, St. Louis Cardinals bench coach Daniel Descalso, Texas Rangers associate manager Will Venable, former Los Angeles Angels manager Phil Nevin and White Sox interim manager Grady Sizemore are also among the candidates to manage Chicago in 2025.
