Because the Marlins proceed to search for their subsequent supervisor, the membership has lined up an interview with Dodgers first base coach Clayton McCullough concerning the place, Isaac Azout of Fish On First studies (by way of X). McCullough turns into the second candidate identified to formally interview with Miami, after Tigers bench coach George Lombard.
This isn’t the primary hyperlink between McCullough and the Marlins, because the staff additionally interviewed him of their final managerial search two years in the past, earlier than Skip Schumaker was employed. Schumaker’s two-season tenure noticed the staff attain the postseason in 2023, but proprietor Bruce Sherman’s want to concentrate on the farm system led to former GM Kim Ng leaving the group final offseason, and the following hiring of Peter Bendix as the brand new president of baseball operations put the Marlins again into rebuild mode. As was broadly anticipated, Schumaker additionally parted methods with the Marlins after this season, leaving the membership as soon as once more seeking a brand new bench boss.
Although McCullough is now talking with a brand new Miami entrance workplace, he’ll have a well-known face available in Marlins assistant GM Gabe Kapler. McCullough and Kapler labored along with the Dodgers when McCullough was the staff’s minor league area coordinator and Kapler the director of participant improvement, earlier than Kapler left Los Angeles to turn into the Phillies’ supervisor within the 2017-18 offseason. Following stints managing each the Phillies and Giants, Kapler was employed by Bendix as Miami’s assistant GM final December.
Past the Marlins’ search in 2022, McCullough has been a candidate for a number of different managerial openings lately. Most instantly, he has been linked to the White Sox and their present emptiness, which places much more on McCullough’s plate as he’s making ready for interviews in addition to serving to the Dodgers prepare for the World Sequence. The Mets, Brewers, Guardians, and Royals all had McCullough into account for managerial jobs, and McCullough was reportedly a finalist in Kansas Metropolis earlier than the staff employed Matt Quatraro.
The 44-year-old McCullough has been the Dodgers’ first base coach for the final 4 seasons, after working because the minor league area coordinator since 2015. Whereas McCullough doesn’t have any managerial expertise on the MLB degree, he did handle at a number of ranges of the Blue Jays’ farm system through the 2007-14 seasons, as he turned to teaching quickly after his minor league taking part in profession resulted in 2005.
Lombard, Giants assistant coach Alyssa Nakken, Guardians bench coach Craig Albernaz and former Marlins bench coach Luis Urueta are the opposite candidates reportedly on Miami’s radar. It isn’t identified how shut the Marlins might be to creating an precise rent, although it’s potential that their search might be considerably difficult by the Dodgers’ prolonged playoff run, in the event that they’ve been ready to talk with McCullough.
