Marlins managerial candidate makes a surprise choice

Peter Bendix is busy looking for a new manager for the Miami Marlins. We even have reports that there have been two finalists for the job. That said, one of those two leading candidates is no longer an option. I'm talking about Will Venable, who made his choice by agreeing to manage the Chicago White Sox in the 2025 season. This decision changes things.

The Miami Marlins can no longer hire Will Venable to manage the team.

Will Venable was considered a highly desirable managerial candidate around the Major Leagues. The Houston Astros, Chicago Cubs and San Francisco Giants all interviewed Venable for their then vacant managerial positions. He was in fact long seen as a future manager, and not only was it seen as a matter of time, but he actually turned down opportunities in the past.

Venable actually declined to interview for the New York Mets opening last season. He also declined to go after the Cleveland Guardians opening last off-season as well. It's unclear why he wasn't interested in those openings, but he was interested in the Chicago White Sox opening this year.

I'm actually surprised that he would even want to manage Chicago. The team was historically bad in 2024 and is unlikely to be significantly better in 2025. All of the reports that have come out since, indicate that they will actually cut payroll further and might even trade their remaining valuable players . Those players specifically being SP Garrett Crochet and CF Luis Robert Jr.. The team can only get worse without those players.

I'm not sure why Will Venable thought that this was a good opportunity, as I just don't see it. That said, maybe he wants a challenge or maybe he just wanted to manage in Chicago. It's also unclear if the Miami Marlins even offered him the team's managerial job, which could've played a big role in his decision to go to Chicago. I believe that the Miami Marlins will make a good choice (or at least hope on that), and that the next manager won't be a downgrade.