Jay returns to the organization with which he spent the majority of his playing career. The former outfielder spent six seasons with the Cards, appearing in 757 games between 2010-15. Jay hit .287/.354/.384 over that stretch and was a key contributor on the 2011 World Series team. He moved into journeyman fashion after leaving St. Louis, playing for six teams before retiring in 2022.

A Miami native and University of Miami product, Jay started his coaching career with the Marlins during the 2022-23 offseason. He joined former teammate Skip Schumaker’s staff with his hometown team. Jay served as Miami’s first base coach for two seasons but was let go after Schumaker left the organization last month. Daniel Álvarez-Montes of El Extrabase tweeted that the Marlins had interest in keeping Jay around, but the 39-year-old evidently preferred to look elsewhere rather than wait out Miami’s latest managerial hiring process.

Jay won’t work as a base coach in St. Louis. Woo reports that first base coach Stubby Clapp and third base coach Pop Warner will return to Oli Marmol’s staff. Bench coach Daniel Descalso, pitching coach Dusty Blake and assistant hitting coach Brandon Allen are also expected back, she writes. St. Louis moved on from hitting coach Turner Ward a couple weeks ago. That position is still unfilled, although it’s not clear if that’s the role which Jay will assume.

McGee, 65, has held the nebulous title of assistant coach on the St. Louis staff. The 1985 NL MVP has worked as a coach since the start of the 2018 season. He previously worked as a special assistant in the front office and has spent time coaching both MLB and minor league outfielders on defense. McGee is a member of the organization’s Hall of Fame.

11:40am: The Marlins are gutting their coaching staff, as Craig Mish of SportsGrid and the Miami Herald reports that the entire staff has been informed it will not return for the 2025 season. Mish notes that there are a couple “exceptions” who have been told there’s some interest in a reunion, but even that’s dependent on the hiring of the incoming manager and any preferences that person may have. Specifically, Daniel Alvarez Montes of El Extra Base reports that bench coach Luis Urueta and first base/outfield coach Jon Jay have been told there’s interest in a reunion, pending the managerial search. Both will be free to pursue other opportunities in the meantime, however.

All of this aligns with a report last night from Isaac Azout of Fish On First, who tweeted that the Marlins’ firings were being described to him as a “blood bath” that extended to the coaching staff, clubhouse attendants, performance staff and more.

Manager Skip Schumaker already departed the organization over the weekend. His impending exit was one of the worst-kept secrets around the league. The former big league utilityman and Cardinals bench coach was hired by former Marlins GM Kim Ng and won NL Manager of the Year honors last season in his rookie effort. His original two-year contract included an option for the 2025 season. However, after the Marlins hired Rays GM Peter Bendix as their new president of baseball operations, prompting Ng to walk away from the organization. Schumaker reportedly voiced frustration with the club’s direction — understandably so, given last year’s playoff berth — and management agreed to void the 2025 club option on his deal in order to allow him to explore new opportunities.

In addition to Urueta and Jay, today’s news presumably indicates that hitting coach John Mabry, assistant hitting coaches Bill Mueller and Jason Hart, pitching coach Mel Stottlemyre Jr., third base coach Griffin Benedict, infield coach Jody Reed, bullpen coach Wellington Cepeda, bullpen coordinator Rob Flippo and field coordinator Rod Barajas will all be at the very least free to pursue other opportunities, if not dismissed outright.

Among the group, Stottlemyre figures to be a particularly hot commodity on the coaching market. He’s spent a dozen years on big league coaching staffs, serving as both a pitching coach and bullpen coach in addition to prior stints as a minor league pitching coordinator. He’s worked with the D-backs and Mariners organizations in the past but has spent the past seven years as the pitching coach in Miami, building a strong reputation along the way.

While the Marlins have regularly been a doormat in the NL East — with the exception of the 2020 and 2023 seasons — a strong core of touted young pitching has been a hallmark of the team in recent years. Stottlemyre alone isn’t to credit for that, of course, but his influence on the staff and the organization’s pitching development as a whole is clear. Cepeda, it should be noted, has been in lockstep with Stottlemyre throughout his time in the organization. He was hired as the Marlins’ bullpen coach back in 2019. The two have worked alongside one another for seven years.

That’s not to say others on the staff won’t be coveted free agents in their own right. Urueta spent 15 years in the D-backs system, rose to their bench coach under Torey Lovullo, and has interviewed for MLB managerial posts in the past. Mabry and Mueller, in addition to lengthy big league careers, have extensive coaching backgrounds across multiple organizations. Barajas, who also had a lengthy big league career, has served as the bench coach and interim manager of the Padres and has interviewed for various managerial posts in recent years (in addition to several years as a minor league manager in San Diego’s system). Jeff Jones of the Belleville News-Democrat speculates that Jay could wind up a target of the Cardinals, for whom he played six MLB seasons — though Jay could also join Schumaker wherever he lands his next managerial assignment.

Broadly speaking, the Miami coaching staff can hardly be faulted for the disastrous record this season. Bendix spent most of the 2023-24 offseason focused on reshaping the baseball operations department and did little to augment the actual Marlins roster. Injuries waylaid much of the pitching staff, and when Miami opened the season with a significant losing streak, the front office wasted little time in waving the white flag. Luis Arraez was traded to San Diego in early May, signaling exactly what type of direction the new baseball ops staff would be taking. No manager or coaching staff could’ve spun the ’24 Marlins into a contender, and other clubs will surely be cognizant of that as they show interest in a wave of newly available coaching talent.

The somewhat under-the-radar nature of Green’s firing is a little surprising, though in the bigger picture, a change of bench coach commonly coincides with the hiring of a new manager.  With Craig Counsell now running the Cubs’ dugout, it makes sense that he would get some say in picking and choosing his staff — particularly at bench coach since the role usually serves as the manager’s top lieutenant.  For instance, Green was one of David Ross’ first hires when Ross became the Cubs’ manager during the 2019-20 offseason.

Beyond his four years of experience as Chicago’s bench coach, Green is best known for his four-year stint as the Padres’ manager from 2016-19.  San Diego didn’t have any winning seasons during Green’s tenure, though the Padres were rebuilding during the first few of those years before expectations were raised after the Manny Machado signing.  The lack of success with the Friars didn’t entirely dim Green’s prospects as a skipper, since he interviewed with both the Mets and Guardians just this winter about managerial vacancies.

The 38-year-old Jay only just retired in April 2022, hanging up his cleats after 12 MLB seasons (which included a stop with the Cubs in 2017).  It didn’t take long for Jay to jump back into the game, however, as Jay was named Miami’s first base coach shortly after ex-teammate Skip Schumaker become the Marlins’ manager last year.  Jay has been cited as a potential future managerial candidate himself, as he fits the trend of clubs looking to hire younger managers more recently removed from their playing careers.

Given the club’s peculiar season, it’s hardly a surprise that manager David Ross emerged as a polarizing figure among Cubs fans. That being said, club officials remained steadfast in their support of the manager, with both chairman Tom Ricketts and president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer backing Ross as the club’s manager headed into 2024. With that being said, The Athletic’s Sahadev Sharma and Patrick Mooney indicate that Ross’s spot as manager is less certain in the long term, saying that “The bottom line is that the 2024 team has to win or else Hoyer may be forced to look in another direction” for the club’s manager.

The 2023 campaign was Ross’s fourth season as manager, and his second with a winning record. He managed a third place finish in NL Manager of the Year voting when the Cubs made the postseason under his guidance during the shortened 2020 campaign, though the club was swept by the Marlins in the Wild Card Series. The club then began rebuilding in 2021 and 2022 with consecutive deadline sell-offs that saw the departure of established regulars like Anthony Rizzo, Javier Baez and Kris Bryant. Overall, Ross sports a 262-284 record as Chicago’s manager.

More notes regarding managerial situations around the league…

• After being fired as Mets manager last week, veteran skipper Buck Showalter is reportedly hoping to return to the dugout, with the vacancy in Anaheim drawing his particular interest. According to USA Today’s Bob Nightengale, the Angels are reciprocating Showalter’s interest, with Nightengale noting that Showalter was the first choice of ex-Angels GM Billy Eppler to lead the club following the 2019 season before the club ultimately decided on Joe Maddon. Eppler has since been replaced as the club’s GM by Perry Minasian, though Nightengale notes that he and Showalter worked together when Showalter was manager of the Rangers from 2003-06.
• Nightengale also discusses other potential managerial candidates around the league, describing Rangers associate manager Will Venable as “the favorite” to take over for retiring Guardians manager Terry Francona in Cleveland. 2023 was Venable’s first season as associate manager in Texas. Prior to joining the Rangers, he acted as bench coach of the Red Sox under Alex Cora and as a base coach for the Cubs. Venable has been a frequent subject of interest during a variety of managerial searches in recent years, interviewing for the position with the Cubs, Giants, Astros, Tigers and A’s in the past. Nightengale also mentions Marlins first base coach Jon Jay as a “potential candidate” for managerial openings around the league, though he does not specify which clubs may have interest in Jay, who just wrapped up his first season in the big league dugout.

Rod Barajas has been named the team’s field coordinator, while Jon Jay is the new first base and outfield coach. Brant Brown has been tabbed as Miami’s new hitting coach, and he’ll be assisted by John Mabry. Jody Reed will serve as the Marlins’ third base and infield coach, and Luis Urueta will take over as Schumaker’s bench coach. Griffin Benedict, meanwhile, has been hired as a quality assurance coach.

Since retiring as a player following the 2012 season, the 47-year-old Barajas has spent nine years with the Padres in various coaching roles and was also the Angels’ Major League catching coordinator in 2022. The former catcher briefly served as the Padres’ interim manager for their final eight games in 2019 and was also San Diego’s bench coach. Barajas hit .235/.284/.407 and won a World Series ring with the D-backs during a 14-year playing career.

Jay, 37, was an active player up through the 2021 season and will now take his first big league coaching role. A longtime teammate of Schumaker in St. Louis, he’s a Miami native who spent a dozen seasons playing at the MLB level from 2010-21. Along the way, Jay hit .283/.348/.373 while logging extensive time at all three outfield positions.

Brown, 51, played in parts of five big league seasons and saw a brief run with the then-Florida Marlins in 2000. He’s spent the past three seasons as a co-hitting coach with the Dodgers and has previously held coaching gigs with the both the Mariners and Rangers. He batted .247/.301/.445 in 424 big league games.

Mabry, who’ll take over as the new assistant hitting coach for the Fish, is no stranger to big league coaching. He spent seven seasons with the Cardinals, first as assistant coach and then as the lead hitting coach, and he’s been on the Royals’ staff for each of the past three seasons. The 52-year-old played parts of 14 seasons in the Majors, hitting .263/.322/.405 and, in his final season with the Cardinals in 2005, briefly overlapped with Schumaker, who made his big league debut with St. Louis that same season.

The 60-year-old Reed had an 11-year playing career himself, batting .279/.340/.350 while spending the majority of his time with the Red Sox. He’s since had minor league coaching and development positions with the Dodgers and Yankees, including a nine-year stint with the latter.

Urueta is one of two newcomers who doesn’t have big league playing experience, though despite being just 41 years of age, he joins Miami with a lengthy coaching history. After spending more than a decade coaching and managing in the D-backs’ minor league system, Urueta was added to the big league staff in 2018 and eventually elevated to the position of bench coach. He returned to a minor league role for the 2022 season, however.

Benedict was with the Cubs’ Triple-A affiliate in 2021-22, serving as the team’s hitting coach. Prior to that, he spent 10 seasons as a bullpen catcher and instructor with San Diego. Benedict played a pair of minor league seasons and also spent seven years working for the Padres’ scouting department.

ESPN’s Enrique Rojas first reported Urueta’s hiring back in November, while the hiring of Barajas and Reed were reported at the same time by Jon Heyman of the New York Post and Jordan McPherson of the Miami Herald.

Jay retired in 2021 after a 12-year career in the big leagues. He appeared for seven different teams, but is known mostly for his time with the Cardinals. There, he hit .287/.354/.387 across six seasons and 757 games in the Cardinals outfield, winning the World Series in 2011. After St Louis traded him to San Diego ahead of the 2016 season, Jay would spend a lot of time shifting around the majors, never appearing for the same team across multiple seasons. Between 2015 and his retirement in 2021, Jay appeared for the Padres, Cubs, Royals, Diamondbacks, White Sox, Diamondbacks again, before wrapping up his career with a short stint at the Angels.

It’s not a great surprise that a gig with the Marlins under Schumacher is his first. Jay is a native of Miami, and he and Schumaker spent a number of years together on the Cardinals, including on that World Series winning side of 2011. Jay joins pitching coach Mel Stottlemyre Jr. and bullpen coach Wellington Cepeda as those on board for 2023, but Schumaker still has a bit of work to do to fill out his coaching staff.

“As a kid I remember watching SportsCenter highlights and imitating my favorite MLB players,” Jay wrote. “It is still surreal to me that I played Major League Baseball. As I officially retire from the game that changed my life, I want to thank everyone who has played a role in getting me here.”

Jay, 37, was a second round pick of the Cardinals in 2006 and then made his MLB debut in 2010. He immediately hit the ground running with the contact-oriented approach that would be a trademark of his career. He hit .300/.359/.422, walking in 7.4% of his plate appearances and striking out just 15.5% of the time. That production amounted to a 116 wRC+, or 16% above league average. The next year, he put up a similar line of .297/.344/.424, 115 wRC+, helping the Cardinals qualify for the postseason and eventually win the 2011 World Series.

Jay stuck with the Cardinals for the next four seasons, with the team making the postseason in each of them. His production stayed largely consistent until wrist issues started hampering him in 2015. He underwent surgery prior to that season and then struggled at the plate, hitting .210/.306/.257. After that campaign, he was traded to the Padres for Jedd Gyorko.

He was able to bounce back somewhat in 2016, hitting .291/.339/.389 as a Padre, good enough for a wRC+ of 99. He signed with the Cubs for the 2017 season and had another solid season, hitting .296/.374/.375, 101 wRC+. He went into journeyman mode for the next few years, spending time with the Royals, Diamondbacks, White Sox, D-Backs again, and then the Angels last year, with none of those stints lasting more than 84 games.

In all, Jay played in 1201 games in 12 MLB seasons from 2010 to 2021. He will head into retirement with a lifetime .283/.348/.373 batting line, 37 home runs, 185 doubles, 25 triples, 1,087 total hits, 532 runs scored, 341 runs batted in and 55 stolen bases. He was a solid contributor to an excellent run of Cardinals baseball, earning a World Series ring in the process. MLBTR congratulates him on a fine career and wishes him all the best in his future endeavors.

9:54AM: The United States Olympic baseball team will have its full roster announced later today, though MLB Network’s Jon Heyman (Twitter link) reports that several well-known big league names will be part of Team USA.

Right-handers Homer Bailey, Edwin Jackson, and David Robertson will be part of the pitching mix, as will left-hander Anthony Gose.  Matt Kemp, Matt Wieters, and Todd Frazier are some of the veteran position players.  Bailey, Kemp, and Wieters all played in the majors as recently as 2020 and didn’t sign with a new team this past offseason, while Frazier appeared in 13 games for the Pirates just this season.  It was only back on May 13 that Frazier chose to become a free agent, after Pittsburgh designated him for assignment.

Beyond these experienced names, some notable youngsters will also be on the team, as Peter Abraham of the Boston Globe noted yesterday that Red Sox prospects Triston Casas and Jarren Duran are participating.  Rays right-handed pitching prospect Joe Ryan is also expected to be part of the team, according to Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times.  Any player not on a current 40-man Major League roster was eligible for Team USA, though naturally a team would have to agree to allow its minor leaguers to play.

Mike Scioscia will manage Team USA, and the team will take to the field on May 31-June 5 during a qualifying tournament in Florida.  The Dominican Republic, Nicaragua, Puerto Rico, Canada, Cuba, Colombia, and Venezuela are the other seven teams involved, and the winner of the tournament will automatically qualify for the Olympics.  The second- and third-place finishers will advance to a final qualifying tournament against Australia, Chinese Taipei, and the Netherlands on June 16-20 in Mexico, and the winner of that event will claim the sixth and final Olympic berth.

Japan, Mexico, Israel, and South Korea have already qualified for the baseball event at Olympic Games, which are scheduled to be held July 23-August 6 in Tokyo.  Originally set to take place in 2020, the Olympics were naturally postponed for a year due to the pandemic, and the Games are still slated to get underway in July despite a worsening COVID-19 situation in Japan.

The Angels designated Ramirez for assignment on Sunday, less than a week after selecting his contract on May 11. The 31-year-old, also a former Red Sox, has appeared in the majors with the Angels in each season since 2017. The Angels traded him to the Reds last winter in a deal revolving around fellow reliever Raisel Iglesias, but Cincinnati quickly cut ties with Ramirez, who then re-signed with the Halos. He has recorded a 4.20 ERA/3.74 SIERA with a 25.4 percent strikeout rate against an 8.8 percent walk rate in 214 1/3 major league innings, including 3 1/3 frames this season.

The Angels have designated Jay for assignment twice since April. The 36-year-old has only totaled 14 plate appearances with the club this season, though he may be more likely to receive an extended chance with center fielder Mike Trout battling a calf strain that will keep him out until at least July.

The Angels are welcoming back Rendon from his second IL stint of the young season. He went on the shelf on April 12 with a left groin strain and landed back on it May 5 with a left knee contusion. When Rendon has been well to play, he has continued to offer high-end production, having slashed .276/.348/.466 (131 wRC+) with three home runs in 66 plate appearances. The Angels used Phil Gosselin and Jose Rojas at the hot corner during Rendon’s most recent trip to the IL.

Jay has yo-yoed on and off the Angels’ 40-man roster this year, as this is already the second time the club has designated him since the middle of April. The 36-year-old has gone 5-for-14 with all singles this season.

Jay spent time in the majors with the Angels earlier this season, but they designated him for assignment on April 16 after he went 1-for-8 at the plate. He’ll rejoin an Angels outfield going through some upheaval at the moment, as Justin Upton is battling knee problems and Jared Walsh is heading to first base in the wake of the team’s decision on Thursday to designate Albert Pujols.

Kruger, 26, could make his major league debut with Stassi out for at least the next week. The Los Angeles native was a 20th-rounder in 2016 who hasn’t played above Double-A ball yet. He owns a .265/.326/.357 line with 15 home runs in 1,392 minor league plate appearances.

Rodriguez has held his own out of the Angels’ bullpen this year, having thrown 15 2/3 innings of 2.30 ERA ball with 17 strikeouts against eight walks, but manager Joe Maddon said his injury isn’t serious (via Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register). They’ll replace him with Pena, a regular in their pitching staff from 2018-20. Pena amassed 215 2/3 frames of 4.34 ERA ball during that span, though he hasn’t contributed this year after straining a hamstring during the spring.

Schebler had a decent run as a member of the Reds from 2016-18, a 1,243-plate appearance span in which he offered roughly league-average production with a .248/.323/.457 line (102 wRC+) and 56 home runs. His best effort as a power hitter came during a 30-HR showing in 2017, though both his pop at the plate and his playing time have tailed off since then. As a Red and Brave from 2019-20, Schebler only amassed 95 plate appearances, 94 of which came in the first of those seasons. He batted a woeful .123/.253/.222 with two HRs that year.

Thanks to his recent struggles, Schebler had to settle for a minor league contract with the Angels over the winter. For now, he’ll replace Jay as a sub for the Angels’ starting alignment of Mike Trout, Jared Walsh and Justin Upton.

Jay was also a minor league pickup for the Angels, but the 36-year-old couldn’t take advantage of his MLB opportunity early this season. He went 1-for-8 with a single and two strikeouts before the Angels designated him.

MARCH 26: The Angels have released outfielder Jon Jay and right-hander Jesse Chavez from their minor league contracts, per a club announcement. Both are once again free agents. As Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic points out, Jay’s release makes it quite likely that Juan Lagares, another non-roster veteran in camp with the Halos, will make the club as a backup outfielder.

Jay and Chavez become the latest in a long line of veterans to either opt out or be cut loose from minor league deals around the game, as teams whittle down their camp rosters with Opening Day looming. Both Jay and Chavez were Article XX(B) free agents — that is, players with six years of service time who were in camp on a minor league deal after finishing the 2020 season on a big league roster — and could have been retained into the season had the Angels been willing to pay a $100K retention bonus. Instead, they’re now free to pursue opportunities with other clubs.

The 36-year-old Jay struggled quite a bit this spring, going just 2-for-29 with an uncharacteristic 10 punchouts in 33 plate appearances. Jay, who can play all three outfield spots, is typically a contact-oriented lefty bat with a good approach at the plate, but the past couple seasons haven’t been particularly pretty.

He’s coming off a rough showing in 18 games with the 2020 D-backs, when he posted just a .160/.211/.240 batting line through an admittedly tiny sample of 57 plate appearances. Jay hit for a solid but fairly empty average with the ChiSox in 2019 when he batted .267/.311/.315 in 182 trips to the dish.

Like Jay, Chavez struggled this spring on the heels of an ugly 2020 showing. He was tagged for seven runs in 4 1/3 innings with the Angels during Cactus League play, and he was knocked arounf for a 6.88 ERA in 17 innings with the Rangers last season. The veteran righty had an outstanding season as recently as 2018 but has labored through 95 innings since that time.

Jay, 36 next month, has appeared with six different teams since he first entered the majors as a Cardinal over a decade ago. His finest years came from 2010-14, all in St. Louis, as Jay overcame low power to post above-average batting averages and on-base percentages en route to a .295/.359/.396 line (112 wRC+) in 2,424 plate appearances.

Jay struggled during his final year as a Cardinal, 2015, but rebounded to log league-average numbers in the ensuing two seasons with the Padres and Cubs (Angels manager Joe Maddon was the Cubs’ skipper then). Since 2018, though, Jay’s output has fallen off a cliff. In a combined 1,258 PA with the Royals, White Sox and Diamondbacks, he batted an underwhelming .272/.337/.347 (86 wRC+). Last season was especially tough for Jay, who hit by far a career-worst .160/.211/.240 as a D-back, though that came over just 57 trips to the plate.

Jay, despite his difficulties in 2020, did parlay a minors deal into a big league roster spot then. He’ll hope to do the same this year as outfield depth for the Angels. The fact that Jay has extensive experience at all three outfield positions surely appealed to the Halos.

As per the terms of the contract Jay signed with Arizona in February, making the MLB roster will guarantee him the prorated portion of a $1.5MM salary.  Prior to the league shutdown, Jay was already making a strong case for himself by posting a .947 OPS over 28 Spring Training plate appearances, though Jay’s ability to play all three outfield positions is probably more of a factor than a bat that has been increasingly shaky in regular-season action.

Jay hit .267/.311/.315 over 182 PA with the White Sox last season, though he was slowed by hip problems that eventually required surgery last August.  Overall, Jay generated a negative (-0.9) fWAR, thanks in large part to his struggles against right-handed pitching — over his career, the left-handed hitting Jay has been a decent (.286/.348/.389) if unspectacular performer against righties.

Jay and Tim Locastro will be Arizona’s primary backup outfielders behind the starting trio of David Peralta, Starling Marte, and Kole Calhoun.  Second-year player Josh Rojas still has a shot at making the team as a utility player, while Ketel Marte may get the occasional start in center field when he isn’t in his primary second base spot.  Trayce Thompson is also still an option for the outfield, though he was sent to the Diamondbacks’ minor league camp today.