Marlins hire Clayton McCullough as their new manager

On 11/6/2024 at 5:27 PM, Isaac Azout said:

The first base coach of the World Champion Los Angeles Dodgers has become the 17th manager in Marlins history. 

The Miami Marlins have hired Los Angeles Dodgers first base coach Clayton McCullough as their next manager, as first reported by ESPN's Alden González. McCullough replaces 2023 NL Manager of the Year Skip Schumaker, with whom the Marlins agreed to part ways on September 29.

On Monday afternoon, the Marlins officially announced McCullough as the 17th manager in franchise history.

McCullough, who turns 45 in December, has an impressive player development background. The son of a scout, he began coaching after a four-year playing career (2002-2005) as a minor league catcher in the Cleveland Guardians organization. He spent one season as a volunteer assistant coach for his alma mater, East Carolina University, then managed for seven seasons (2007-2013) with the Rookie and Class-A affiliates of the Toronto Blue Jays. He was a minor league coordinator for Toronto in 2014.

Next, the Los Angeles Dodgers hired McCullough as their minor league field coordinator in 2015. He joined their major league coaching staff as first base coach entering the 2021 season.

During Miami’s managerial search two years ago, McCullough was interviewed for the position before the team ultimately hired Schumaker. Following their postseason appearance in 2023, the Marlins and then-general manager Kim Ng, who hired Schumaker, mutually decided to go in different directions. After that, it became highly unlikely that Schumaker would remain with the team beyond 2024.

In addition to the Marlins, the White Sox, Mets, Brewers, Guardians and Royals all had McCullough under consideration for managerial jobs over the last couple offseasons. 

The Marlins interviewed several candidates for their open managerial spot after the regular season. Sources told Fish On First that Tigers bench coach George Lombard, Guardians bench coach Craig Albernaz and former Marlins bench coach Luis Urueta were each interviewed virtually over the past couple of weeks. 

The Miami Herald then reported that Albernaz and Rangers associate manager Will Venable were the finalists for the Marlins position. Venable took the White Sox gig instead, and a few days later, Albernaz decided to remain with Cleveland. 

Fish On First learned of the Marlins' intent to interview McCullough on October 23. He later met with team officials in person during the first couple days of November in advance of the GM Meetings, according to the Miami Herald's Barry Jackson.

Sources told Fish On First that Diamondbacks pitching coach Mike Fetters and Red Sox coach Andrew Bailey both declined to interview for the Marlins managerial position.

Once McCullough arrives in Miami, he’ll find a familiar face in assistant GM Gabe Kapler. Kapler was the director of player development for the Dodgers from November 2014 until October 2017, overlapping with McCullough. After managing the Phillies and Giants, Kapler was hired by Miami a year ago. 

McCullough will look to lead a 100-loss Miami team back into contention and hopefully bring about continuity at the Marlins manager position. Previous to this hire, during the club's 32-year history, Miami's 16 managers have averaged roughly two seasons at the helm. The New York Yankees, for example, have had just four managers in the same time frame (Showalter, Torre, Girardi and Boone).

 

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I’m usually skeptical anytime the Marlins hire a first time manager but I feel like this one could be different. McCullough is coming off a World Series win with the Dodgers that was powered by their offense. I feel like he’s a good offensive guru that should be able to bring in the right guys under his coaching staff. Most importantly, he needs to bring in a good pitching coach because Stottlemyre Jr played a key role in developing some of our young pitchers. McCullough is also known for being good at developing players so this feels like the right choice since Bendix is trying to rebuild the roster at the same time. 

On 11/16/2024 at 5:25 PM, One Regend said:

To me, a manager's job is to put players in the best position to succeed in. Skip Schumaker did a masterful job at this in 2023, even in spite of how extremely flawed that roster was. And while 2024 was a complete and utter failure, I don't think any other manager would have done a better job with the roster Schumaker had. That team was a total trainwreck no matter who managed the team. Could've had Prime Whitey Herzog manage the team and that team still would have lost 100 games.

The question is, can this team catch lightning in a bottle twice in a row? Because filling Schumaker's shoes is going to be a tough follow-up act. I have a feeling McCullough might be able to do it, but I do have my concerns, still.

I agree that Schumaker was a great coach. He won me over during the 2023 season. We had minimal expectations with that roster and yet he was able to bring us to the Wild Card. I truly thought we could've signed a couple more free agents and then be in contention for the NL East title in 2024. 

I was actually surprised that no other team took a chance at him to be their manager next season. I'm sure a good season or two for him in the Rangers front office will attract some teams in a managerial role setting. 

Filling any coaches' shoes will be tough but since Schumaker was already a "lame duck" manager last season, the locker room would just have to easily adjust to McCullough. He's coming off a title run so I have a feeling that the players will at least feel some sort of momentum to compete.