TODAY: The Marlins officially announced Schumaker’s departure.
SEPT. 28: Skip Schumaker will not return as Miami’s manager in 2025, reports Jeff Passan of ESPN. His tenure with the Fish concludes after two seasons.
The Marlins announced during Friday night’s win over the Blue Jays that Schumaker would return home to attend to a family health matter. Bench coach Luis Urueta will be the interim manager for the final two games of the season, tweets Isaac Azout of Fish on First. Passan writes that Schumaker informed Miami players that he would not be back next season after tonight’s game.
That couldn’t have come as much of a surprise to anyone on the roster. Schumaker has seemingly been on his way out of South Florida for months. Former general manager Kim Ng hired Schumaker — who’d been the bench coach in St. Louis — to replace Don Mattingly going into the 2023 season. He’d initially signed a two-year deal with a club option for 2025. Once the Marlins and Ng parted ways last offseason, Schumaker reportedly expressed frustration with the organization’s direction. The Marlins agreed to void the ’25 option as a result, giving the 44-year-old the chance to pursue other opportunities after this season.
The front office overhaul came within weeks of Miami surprisingly punching their ticket to the postseason. The Fish overcame a negative run differential to win 84 games and snag a Wild Card spot in 2023. While they were swept by Philadelphia in the first round, the unexpected postseason berth earned Schumaker the NL’s Manager of the Year award in his debut season. It was the team’s first playoff appearance in a 162-game schedule since their 2003 World Series title.
Owner Bruce Sherman was nevertheless dissatisfied with the organization’s recent misses in the draft and some ill-fated free agent moves (e.g. Avisaíl García, Jean Segura). Sherman tabbed former Rays GM Peter Bendix as president of baseball operations — a move that would’ve relegated Ng to second in the front office hierarchy. After Sherman informed Ng of his plans to hire a baseball ops president, she declined her end of a mutual option and moved on.
Bendix never seemed confident that the Marlins could replicate last year’s success. The Fish had a quiet winter — their only MLB free agent signing was a $5MM rebound flier on Tim Anderson — and seemed ticketed for another rebuild. A disastrous 0-9 start sealed their fate within the first two weeks. Miami traded Luis Arraez in early May and followed up with a major deadline sell-off involving most of their relievers, Jazz Chisholm Jr., Trevor Rogers, Josh Bell and Bryan De La Cruz. Were it not for a devastating series of rotation injuries, they’d likely have torn things down further. Jesús Luzardo and Braxton Garrett would have been clear trade candidates if healthy.
Bendix’s skepticism about the short-term outlook has been borne out in this year’s results. The Fish lost 100 games for the fourth time in franchise history. They’ll either finish with the second- or third-worst record in MLB. (They’re one game behind the Rockies at the bottom of the National League.) At the same time, it’s entirely unsurprising that Schumaker preferred not to embark on a multi-year rebuild orchestrated by a new front office just months after leading the team to the playoffs.
There should be plenty of interest in Schumaker’s services. His aggregate 144-178 record wasn’t great, but that’s far more a testament to this year’s roster than an indictment of his managerial ability. His work in 2023 earned ample praise. The White Sox and Reds have managerial vacancies after firing Pedro Grifol and David Bell, respectively. Schumaker has been loosely linked to both jobs before his contract with the Marlins has expired.
Daryl Van Schouwen of the Chicago Sun-Times wrote a few weeks ago that he was among the Sox’s top targets. Gordon Wittenmyer of the Cincinnati Enquirer reported on Friday that Schumaker and former Cubs’ skipper David Ross are among the preliminary options under consideration for the Reds’ front office. It’s possible other jobs will open once the regular season concludes.
In Miami, Bendix begins his first managerial search as a baseball operations leader. The front office has presumably been preparing for a while, as they were no doubt aware of the probability that Schumaker would depart. It’s the next opportunity for Bendix and his group to put their stamp on the franchise as they go into another rebuilding year.
Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.
Pretty sure this was the worst kept secret in MLB consideration the voided option at the beginning of the season.
I expect Schumaker will be the next Skip(per) of the Reds…
I disagree with “Bendix’s skepticism… has been borne out.” The tear down was done so quickly that we did not get to see how the prior roster wound fare. I don’t think the fish were making the playoffs, but a team there was no reason to trade Arraez for so little that soon. I strongly believe that the fish could have got that much or more for Arraez a full six weeks later. How about the blushing Bride last night? Two pops!
At the time arraez was slumping and Peter didn’t want to risk the slump going over a longer period of time
I still wouldn’t have made the trade then, but I can see the reasoning
He was hitting.299 when he left
You don’t trade Arraez if you think BA is a very important stat. Clearly Bendix didn’t and nor do most GMs.
I agree. Arraez is an average MLB regular.
He’s a career 323 player.
Avg isn’t THAT devalued. Still reflects how often you’re getting hits.
I don’t. He’s more than proven he was going to figure it out.
And, in a case like Arraez, how often you’re not walking. .370 career OPB, no power. OPS is the measuring stick and Arraez’s batting title delivered a .739 OPS. Let’s compare to Ramon Urias who has a .745 OPS this year and .736 for his career, plus a Gold Glove, but with a .250 BA. Arraez is a bit better offensively, net, but not if this year is the comparison. Arraez’s batting title in a down year by even his standards is completely meaningless.
I don’t think Bendix made a good trade, but Arraez was a devalued player and it was reflective of his value.
Schumaker already knows his phone will ring within an hour of the final out tomorrow from the Reds.
More likely, he received an offer before leaving.
This was known in April. He cried over Kim NG leaving. Who hired her by the way once she became available?
“In July 2024, Ng joined the Athletes Unlimited Pro Softball as a senior advisor”
======================
I’m still thinking she should’ve taken the interview with the RS. They are loaded with young talent, and she’d have gotten credit (deservedly or otherwise).
MLB.
You’re leaving the job in Miami because they won’t spend money, and the two teams that are immediately showing interest in your services are the Reds and White Sox. I’ll put my bet on the field. I don’t see him putting himself back in the same situation.
I don’t think it’s the lack of spending but more direction of franchise.
I’m sure he’ll react well when the Reds deal away Elly, Greene, McLain, etc. and break up yet another team in a few years.
Reds signed votto long term, why not Elly ?
Whiffa, I would have locked up Elly and Steer already. The price on Elly may be out of reach now, and I’m suspecting he will want to go bright lights, big city. Just a feeling. I would have Lowder, McLain, Friedl and Stephenson on my radar for next year. Other than Greene, Votto was the last big deal they did, and Greene was not really massive or too much beyond his FA year.
I wonder if they drafted Sammy last year planning on Elly being elsewhere eventually.
I can’t see the reds giving up Elly unless something like a Ken Griffey jr situation happens where he demands to go to a place
The royals are a notoriously cheap team and signed Bobby to that extension, the mariners locked up j-rod, the rays locked up wander (will they pay him for being in prison?), the reds should do the same thing
Should…but remember they did not with Castillo, and it would not have taken a mint as we saw with Seattle.
Elly had already said he wants to play in LA it’s his “kinda town”
Well, I suspect it’s much more of a personal bond he had with Ng, and he was pissed that they were basically telling her that she wasn’t the person to lead the organization going forward. He knows he has to take a bad situation somewhere – not many teams fire their manager if they are winning.
NG was so great. What team hired her? She thought she had other offers. Nothing panned out.
If she replaces zadi in SF, it’ll be her last job and not bc of a long tenure
There has to be an opening and a right fit to get hired. CEOs often have a year between gigs in the real world.
I said that when the story came out about her turning down the RS interview. A great BB town, plenty of money, and a top-tier farm.
This is a fair statement. Miami does and always has scoured well and arguably better than the reds. Interesting point, both pinch pennies.
Huh? What in the world are you talking about?
I could see the Reds but no way does he go to the White Sox.
That being said I’m taking the field also. There’s change afoot in the Cardinals front office, If Mo is out and Bloom steps in I could see him pulling Skip in there but that’s not a better situation than Cinci either.
Wish the Mariners were in on him. Looking forward to seeing where he goes.
Reinsdorf is already paying Girifol to go away. He’s not going to get the most expensive hire he can find. The things you can count on with Ole Jerry is he will be cheap, A yes man, And be the wrong guy. You can set your watch to it. What they really need is a Manager who has an extensive Pitching background because that’s the only thing the Organization has going for it right now. Very good young pitching.
“Skip, skip, skip to my Lou
Skip to my Lou, my darlin’”
Ahahaha!
Then Pirates phone call will follow on Monday. Two disoriented franchises….will be a tough choice. But there will be other openings too.
He’s got future Twins manager written all over him
He would be the next cardinals manager if the cardinals did the right thing and fired marmol
Reds should be all over this guy. He comes from the Cardinal way when it was a success, and would be a great fit to guide the team’s young core of players to play championship baseball.
You mean when they had a HOF’er manning 1B during his prime? Why does that mean Skip will be able to bring the hapless Reds to a winning culture?
I suppose nobody is buying the family health matter?
Could be real. No shame either way. I thought Ng made a great hire of Skip and some great trades and non-trades. I thought the Soler signing was ok, but yeah, Avisail was a disaster and Segura was both a disaster and a head-scratcher with the musical chairs infield. Bendix has yet to prove himself any better or worse than Ng because with their owner, the fish payroll is limited and the margin for error is low. I do give Bendix props for trading Rogers for Norby. A healthy Alcantara and Luzardo will go a long way to getting back to 75-80 wins.
Yeah, nobody would create a “death in the family” if it wasn’t real.
Alcanta and Luzardo are both leaving next yr if there are takers. Luzardo may be heading for a TJ. The guy is always hurt, has tons of hard hits against him and has one decent yr in MLB. 75-80 wins? Not this team.
“Skip Schumaker is leaving the Marlins due to a death in his family,” reported Marlins beat writer Craig Mish on X, formerly Twitter. “He is not expected to return before the end of the season. In all likelihood his time managing the Marlins has come to a close.”
This piece of info isn’t in this story, which by my reading treated his departure before the of the season as unsurprising for other reasons.
His grandmother passed away
The Marlins shouldn’t return to Florida.
Yes. But in all fairness you can’t expect a dedicated fanbase when your team is a joke and every time they have been good you tear down the team for profit. As a baseball fan I wouldn’t support them if I lived there my whole life. Couple that with a bad MLB market and here we are. But if your learning to play an instrument and want an isolated place where you won’t annoy anyone you can always go to a game there.
They could move to a city farther up the East Coast and become the Bluefish.
Or the Stankfish.
I like what bendix is doing, they need to rebuild but it will (and should) be a multi year tank job and I understand that skip doesn’t want to go through that especially since it is unknown how much money the ownership will spend to support the new core when it is ready in 2-3 years.
Tanking doesn’t help anymore. Teams can only have a pick in the lottery for 2 years then they are out of the top 10 like the White Sox will be in the upcoming draft.
Who said tanking. The owner has no money, so he isnt going to bother with huge free agents, many of which turn out to be a bust after a few yrs if that. They passed on JD Martinez for one yr. He got 12 million and hits .230 for the Mets. Thats the only kind of guy they can afford. Old. But not cheap so it was a pass. JD is worth .40 WAR for the Mets and was hurt. What else is new.
Rob, at least READ the comment that is being answered. Better yet, shut up.
It is not just the picks, also the prospects you gain by trading away assets when you “tank”. The picks is just a Part of that (albeit picking top5, 10th and then top5 again would still a good gain for the System).
What assets?
As a reds fan, I’d rather have the former gm of rays over skip
Chuck LaMar?
I’d rather have Venable.
Fire Mo and Oli, hire Skip, get a 3-hole hitter, don’t re-sign Goldschmidt…win baseball games.
The Cardinals are gonna need to rebuild their entire rotation again next year. Goldschmidt and Arenado were a problem this year, but not the only one. And I’ve heard they may be less worried about competing the short term while they completely rebuild their player development system from the top down. The Cardinals are never go into full tank mode, but I wouldn’t count on them making in huge investments towards players or coaches the next couple years.
Marlins are destined to continue to lose for another 3-4 years if not more. But Sherman is guaranteed to make a profit.
Shelton next to go please?
and take the entire coaching staff with Shelton
I’d be happy to replace Shelton with Schumaker.
Gotta say.. Not been to Miami for 3y, but before that generally have most every year for decades, since Fish been there and before that? Many times, reported there for what used to term “AFEES” cpl times when joined USN actually decades back and really, some things learned about Miami is there are many places u just don’t go, like not same areas, or connected, but areas u set foot in and are liable to get mugged, or worse. It’s (to me) never been as so called safe as equally large FL cities Tampa/Orlando, which also have seedy locales.
Reds better move fast ! Lots of fan fair for this guy. I think I prefer the young fresh face vs Ross
If you look around the Marlins clubhouse, you would see:
a bunch of currently injured guys who will be a very good Rotation next year;
several coaches who are ready for their shot at Major League manager
Offensive players who are currently MLB 6th best in average and runs scored over the past 30 days. 10th in OPS over past 30 days
In August the offense was middle of the pack.
The Marlins offense over the past 2 months has easily outperformed the line-up that made the post-season last year.
I agree they have a nice pitching pipeline but never trust August offense output. It’s a long season and more times the not August output is fools gold
Over the last 2 months of 2024 the Marlins scored 2.6 runs per game. In 2023 they scored 4.1 runs per game. They far underperformed 2023. In terms of OPS+ it’s an even more stark underperformance.
As far as pitching goes they traded away the most consistent starter and their 2 best relievers. They lost another starter to TJ and are likely to lose Luzardo who was both injury played and just plain bad when healthy.
White Sox will probably get outbid and select someone not qualified in the organization.
Its a tough loss to lose Skip. Lose with him, Lose without him. He made a big deal about Kim leaving, but she left on her own. Who hired her? Nobody. Lose 100 games with him, We can do the same without him. He has a big chip on his shoulder and we will see what would happen if he was in a city that has pressure. Miami is zero pressure. No media, few in attendance. Imaging him in a NY pressure cooker or a city where there is big attendance.
Interesting. I am one of gods more pathetic creatures also known as a Reds fan and though I do follow baseball as a whole and rent him as a player, I truly do not know anything about his managerial abilities.
Though, I suspect any change from Bell has to be better?
Remember him*
Mariners, reds or cardinals. Perhaps the dodgers if they are eliminated early again this postseason.
Miami’s 2023 playoff slot was the biggest piece of luck in recent times. They were almost bound to crater in 2024. Bendix was right to start the rebuild. It won’t be pretty but there are a few hopeful signs. This ain’t the White Sox.
Red Sox trade Cora to Miami in exchange for a front line SP.
Jerry Reinsdorf is prepared to submit a lowball offer to Schumaker, which he will reject, and he will take the “interim” tag off of Grady Sizemore. We have seen this movie before #AJHinch
I know the sentiment is that Skip will end up in Cincy, but there is a team that he did play for that might be a dark horse in the St. Louis Cardinals.
Marmol is finishing up his forth season as the team’s skipper, including two straight disappointing ones. I appreciate that he didn’t have the starting staff to be overly competitive in 2023, but there were higher expectations for 2024 which the team didn’t hit.
Don’t get me wrong, Moz should go as well if Oli’s gone, and I don’t think it’s unreasonable to expect Bloom to moves at multiple levels in the organization. Skip and a new GM may give the team a much needed fresh start to 2025.
The Marlins are Keith Moon of MLB, just trash the place and pay for a rebuild.
Good for Skip. Not a place for a real baseball man anyway.
I think Schumaker made it clear last year that if you give him something to work with, he’ll do his job well. It’s not his fault the Marlins did so poorly this year. Look at their top 12 players in WAR (according to Baseball Reference) from last year:
-Luis Arraez: traded in April
-Jesus Luzardo: injured for most of the season
-Braxton Garrett: injured for most of the season
-Tanner Scott: traded at the deadline
-Sandy Alcantara: Tomm John surgery
-Eury Perez: Tommy John surgery
-Jon Berti: traded in the off-season
-Andrew Nardi: Still on the ML roster
-Jorge Soler: left in free agency
-Edward Cabrera: Still on ML roster
-Jesus Sanchez: Still on ML roster
-Garrett Hampson: Left in free agency
Not to mention others like Jazz Chisholm, Josh Bell, David Robertson, Huscar Brazoban, AJ Puk, and Bryan De La Cruz who have since either left in FA, or have been traded to other teams.
Maybe it is his fault all the pitchers got injured.
The cardinals better send their manage packing and run to hide skip.
I hope the Pirates get rid of Shelton and go after him.
Oli maybe Mo’s errand boy — which he is — but the reality is unless Mo goes as well, who’s managing is almost meaningless.
Mike Schildt pushed back and got fired for it. Now it’s apparent why.
Skip will be, and is a fine manager. But if the organization he’s working for is worthless and useless, it almost doesn’t matter.
Agree w/ you on all counts above bpskelly.
Cardinals need to get rid of Mozeliak and let Bloom clean house. Mo ran the org straight into the ground, particularly on the development side.
What’s ironic about your comment and others here is this…….
Obviously someone from the Cardinals hired Bloom. We don’t know for sure who it was.
Bloom built his rep with the Rays.
People here want the Cardinals to go back to ‘The Cardinals Way’…..Branch Rickey baseball.
Posts above condemn the Marlins under PoBO Peter Bendix, and say it’s good that Schumaker left.
–
Now here’s the problem…..
Bendix and Bloom worked together in the Rays FO. The only commonality they have with Branch Rickey baseball is developing players in a farm system. But once they get to the majors, those players are used up and discarded before they burn out….and that’s the thing – Branch Rickey / Cardinals Way baseball (also “Dodgers Way’ and Orioles Way’) is about building a solid core of players and keeping them for years.
Do the Dodgers today have a infield like: Garvey, Lopes, Russell, and Cey – that played together for years? Frienman came from the Rays.
Who knows where the Cardinals go from here.
The closest thing to Branch Rickey baseball in MLB today is in Houston.
Jeff Luhnow came from a non-baseball background (engineering), took Rickey baseball that the Cardinals were playing when he was hired by St. Louis to be an analyst, and added statistical analysis. Then he went to Houston (with Sig and and Elias) and built the Astros dynasty (they are my favorite to go to the WS this year from the AL…but it’ll be close).
Elias and Sig are trying to replicate that in Baltimore. Which is why the kids that come on here and moan about Elias not trading their best position prospects for pitchers just don’t get it.
Boone’s replacement in NY.
White Sox sign Skip, because Tony connection. Sox have fantastic pitching prospects in minor leagues. They will probably only lose 110 games next year. Go Sox!
I’d bet the SOX go with AA manager Sergio Santos given his familiarity with their upper minors pitching, his cool strong demeanor and acumen, and his connection with Getz & Reinsdorf. Plus, he will be a ton cheaper than Skip, who will field multiple offers.
Birmingham won their league Championship this week, largely due to Santos’ excellent handling of their pitchers, plus he’s a good strategist. Frankly, I think he’s the best we can hope for given the poor choices made in the past. I could see him bringing his staff with him, Nicky Delmonico as hitting coach & John Ely as PC, both former SOX.
Good call!
Oh, I already see the Bendix and Sherman stamps. Sherman hired a Rays FO guy, so he wants the appearance of success while making little or no investment in the lineup. Bendix’s stamp is a sell-off & 100 Ls after the last guy (girl) made the playoffs for the first time since ’03. Feel bad for Fish fans. Meet the new guys, same as the old ones.
What are you talking about? The team has significantly more talent on the roster right now than at any point in the last five years.
The Marlins ownership is everything that is wrong with baseball. They could care less if they win or lose. Just send them their $$$$
How are the A’s, Reds, Rockies, Pirates ownership groups any different?
Hey SKIP, come on back home to St Louis, Marmol has got to go.
The revenge of Kim Ng
Cardinals should have fired Marmol – who is as overrated a manager the MLB has ever seen. – and brought in Skip
Dark horse candidate for the Marlins’ job: Morgan Ensberg, former big leaguer and currently the Rays’ AA manager.
I’d love for him to manage the dodgers! Don’t worry folks, Robert’s can be the new coach of hugs!
Bye bye Derek Shelton, welcome Skip to Pittsburgh! Let’s do this Bob Nutting! Now or never!