Dodgers Coach Receives Interest For Another NL Managerial Vacancy: Report

As the Dodgers hunt down their second consecutive World Series title, one of their coaches has quickly become a hot name among Major League Baseball teams still looking to fill managerial vacancies for 2026.

Danny Lehmann was reported earlier this month to be a candidate for the Atlanta Braves' opening by Mark Bowman of MLB.com. The Dodgers' bench coach is now also under consideration for the Washington Nationals' job, according to Andrew Golden of the Washington Post.

The Nationals have informed interim manager Miguel Cairo, who replaced the fired Dave Martinez at midseason, that he won’t be the full-time manager in 2026, per Golden. In addition to Lehmann, Golden reports the Nationals are looking at former Twins manger Rocco Baldelli — who was himself fired earlier this year. 

Lehmann joined the Dodgers as an advance video scout in 2015 and worked his way up to bench coach from within the staff. He's familiar with Braves executive Alex Anthopoulos, a former front-office assistant to Andrew Friedman in Los Angeles.

Lehmann's connection to the Nationals is less clear. Washington recently tabbed Boston Red Sox executive Paul Toboni for their top baseball operations job.

Lehmann won his only game as a fill-in for Dave Roberts, in May 2023 in San Diego, while the manager attended his son's college graduation.

After retiring as a player in 2014, Lehmann enrolled at Rice University, then put his degree on hold to work for the Dodgers. He's worked under a variety of titles in the organization since then, often feeding information to Roberts and impressing with his bandwidth.

If hired, Lehmann would be tasked with his first full-time managing job at any level of baseball. In a 2023 interview with the Southern California News Group, Lehmann expressed the belief that his resume would help, not hinder, him from managing in the future.

“How managers are picked today is very different than 10, 15, 20 years ago,” Lehmann said at the time. “There was a progression in the past, where it was kind of like you managed whatever league in the minors, and you progress, or became a base coach. It’s just very different. I think now it’s a little bit more specific in how you want to run your team, and I think that makes a lot of sense."

Lehmann received interest from the Chicago White Sox in their managerial search last offseason before they hired Will Venable. If the Nats and Braves are both holding off on appointing a new manager so that Lehmann can wrap up his season with the Dodgers first, they'll have to wait at least a few more days.

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