Craig Albernaz will not be next Marlins manager

The search for the 17th manager in Marlins franchise history continues. With the Chicago White Sox officially announcing Will Venable's hire on Thursday morning, it was expected that the Fish would soon follow suit with Craig Albernaz. However, Albernaz has opted to remain as Cleveland Guardians bench coach for the 2025 season, Jeff Passan of ESPN reports. And now Miami has to scramble for an alternative.

Albernaz, who turned 42 on Wednesday, began coaching in 2015 after a nine-year playing career as a minor league catcher, eight of which were spent in the Tampa Bay Rays organization. Once retired as a player, Albernaz coached the Princeton Rays in the Appalachian League in 2015 and the Hudson Valley Renegades in the New York-Penn League in '16. His first taste as manager came in 2017 when he took over the Short-Season A Hudson Valley squad. 

The following season, he managed the Bowling Green Hot Rods in the Midwest League, where he earned the 2018 Midwest League Manager of the Year award. Following the 2019 season, he was hired by the San Francisco Giants as their bullpen and catching coach, where he served under now-Marlins assistant GM Gabe Kapler. 

Albernaz interviewed for managerial vacancies with the Giants and the Guardians following the 2023 season. Stephen Vogt beat Albernaz out for the Guardians job, but hired him onto his major league coaching staff. Albernaz was originally tabbed as Cleveland's field coordinator. He was elevated to bench coach in November when DeMarlo Hale departed to join the Toronto Blue Jays. The Guardians won the AL Central title this year and advanced to the ALCS.

Throughout the search process, due to his pre-existing connections to Kapler and Marlins president of baseball operations Peter Bendix, Albernaz appeared to be the most likely pick to replace outgoing manager Skip Schumaker. Craig Mish had reported on Monday that he and Venable were the two finalists for the job, though he backtracked on that to acknowledge the possibility of additional candidates.

Clayton McCullough, fresh off winning a World Series title as first base coach of the Los Angeles Dodgers, looks to be Miami's initial fallback plan, per Passan. McCullough interviewed with the Marlins last week.

Stay tuned for more updates...