2024 midseason report with Marlins manager Skip Schumaker

We've done it again: enjoy an exclusive interview with second-year Miami Marlins manager Skip Schumaker, co-hosted by Fish On First's Isaac Azout, Kevin Barral and Ely Sussman. Schumaker previous appeared on Fish Unfiltered in November (Episode #52).

In this conversation, Schumaker discusses his family life (1:15), Avisaíl García getting designated for assignment (3:20), the Luis Arraez trade (6:30), his relationship with Peter Bendix (9:50), criticism from fans and media (17:00), the development of Ryan Weathers (19:30) and Max Meyer (22:15), call-ups candidates for the second half of the season (24:45) and his interest in continuing to manage next season (26:15). 

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In 2023, Schumaker was crucial to leading the Marlins to their first postseason berth in a full-length season since 2003. He earned National League Manager of the Year honors from the BBWAA. It's been an entirely different story in 2024, however. The Marlins enter Thursday with an NL-worst 21-41 record. Even in a year where the Wild Card race is wide open, they're firmly out of contention. Overall, Skip's managerial record is 105-119.

As first reported by Bob Nightengale of USA Today, Schumaker is unsigned beyond this season after asking the Marlins to void the 2025 option in his contract. Here's what the 44-year-old told us about his future plans:

"I am very grateful that I get to manage the Miami Marlins. I'm also grateful—this is gonna sound weird—but I'm grateful that I had to go through this type of situation because you kinda find out what you're made of...When you're getting your butt kicked, you kinda figure out who you are. Do you really want to do this? Are you finger-pointing? Are you deflecting some blame on others? You grow up quick, and I grew up in this seat this year.

"You definitely have to make sure that, when you're a manager, it's not always gonna be winning. There's gonna be some highs and lows. I didn't want to lose a lot of games—that's not where I'm going with this. But I do feel like I needed this also, just selfishly, to figure out exactly who I am. Am I still worthy of this seat? Can I get guys to come in still wanting to come to the clubhouse, still positive, still willing to work, still trying to win even though the record is the record? And I think the answer is yes. I'm still loving coming to the ballpark. I still love trying to get guys better. I'm still trying to empower guys to become moral leaders. I'm still loving the staff I have and they're still having a great time until the end of the game. But I think the willingness, the energy level, all that stuff, man, I still love being a manager of the Marlins.

"Now having said that, all this stuff is not in my control. Being a manager, also there is if you don't do the job, they'll find somebody else. I'm very aware of how this seat works. If I wanted to be a first base coach my whole life and take shin guards and pat guys on the butt, I could've done that. But I wanted more of a challenge and more of a voice and see if I could do it. I'm very grateful for the opportunity that I got and I'm giving everything that I have to it, last year and this year and that will never change whatever position I'm in, whatever that means for my future.

"The one thing is, I'm not one foot in, one foot out, man. I love being here and trying to get these guys to a position where it's not only good for this year, but for their futures as well for these players because they mean a lot to me, and so does the staff. Having said that, I don't know what's gonna happen, but that's okay too."

Follow Isaac (@IsaacAzout), Kevin (@kevin_barral), Ely (@RealEly) and Fish On First (@FishOnFirst) on Twitter. Join the Marlins Discord server! Complete Miami Marlins coverage here at FishOnFirst.com.