Sports
The Guardians’ bench coach has resigned following the White Sox appointment of Will Venable
Cleveland, Ohio — Craig Albernaz, the Guardians bench coach, could soon be preparing to take over the Marlins after the White Sox hired Rangers associate manager Will Venable late Tuesday as their new manager.
Venable and Albernaz were supposedly finalists for managerial positions in Chicago and Miami. Scott Merkin of MLB.com quoted sources who said the White Sox are planning to designate Venable, 42, the 44th manager in franchise history. Chicago has not verified the hire.
Albernaz, 42, who was Stephen Vogt’s bench coach in Cleveland this season, will take up the Marlins role. Albernaz joined Vogt last November after four seasons as the Giants’ bullpen coach.
Albernaz has a close relationship with Marlins president of baseball operations Peter Bendix, who was a vice president in Tampa Bay in 2019 while Albernaz was a minor league field coordinator for the Rays. He also worked with Marlins deputy general manager Gabe Kapler for four seasons while Kapler was manager in San Francisco.
After the Guardians clinched their return to the playoffs on Sept. 19, Vogt emphasized Albernaz’s achievements as bench coach throughout the season, which enabled the club to enjoy success early on.
“He’s one of the smartest people in baseball,” Vogt said of Albernaz. “He’s going to manage soon, and he has kept me steady. He’s kept me under control. He helped me learn, and he’s been patient with me. I couldn’t imagine working with anybody else.”
If Albernaz quits, he will become the second member of Vogt’s staff to resign, following hitting coach Chris Valaika, who left last week to join Terry Francona in a similar job with the Reds.
Chris Antonetti, the Guardians’ head of baseball operations, stated last week that he had “every intention of wanting everybody back” on Vogt’s coaching staff, but acknowledged that other teams would strive to replicate Cleveland’s performance.
“With the success of a team like this, there’s going to be people that want a piece of it,” Antonetti said. “We intend to have everybody back. We just have to let the dust settle and see where things end up.”
Albernaz was Vogt’s teammate in the Rays development system from 2006 to 2013. He began coaching in 2015 and has managed in multiple minor league organizations, winning a New York-Penn League championship at Hudson Valley in 2017 and Midwest League manager of the year honors with Bowling Green (Ky.) in 2018. In 2019, he joined Kapler’s staff as catcher and bullpen coach.
Major League Baseball discourages teams from making major announcements on game days during the postseason, so official word on Venable’s employment would most likely come on Thursday, when the World Series may either be over or returning to Los Angeles for Game 6.
It is unknown when the Marlins will make an announcement about the employment. Albernaz reportedly had an interview in Miami last week.
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