Rangers hire former Manager of the Year to be their new skipper

The rapidity of the hiring confirms this was the preferred outcome. Young told reporters this morning the club was not speaking with any candidates outside the organization. It was only a matter of days for the team to finalize a contract that gets Schumaker back in the dugout.

A utility infielder during his playing career, Schumaker was a longtime role player for the Cardinals. He began his coaching days in San Diego, then returned to St. Louis as Oli Marmol’s bench coach for the 2022 season. Schumaker got his first managerial opportunity with the Marlins one year later. He signed a two-year deal with a club option for the ’25 campaign to lead what was expected to be a rebuilding Miami club.

The Fish outperformed expectations in 2023, winning 84 games and snagging a wild-card spot. Schumaker won the Manager of the Year award in his first season. Unsatisfied with the team’s player-development pipeline, owner Bruce Sherman made a change atop the front office after the season. Peter Bendix was brought in as president of baseball operations. Former general manager Kim Ng stepped down rather than work as the No. 2 executive after leading the front office for the preceding three seasons.

Bendix was unconvinced that Miami’s 84-win season really opened a contention window. They’d gotten to the playoffs despite being outscored by 57 runs during the regular season. The Phillies comfortably swept them out of the first round. Miami ownership certainly wasn’t going to approve significant free-agent spending. As Bendix geared up for the team’s latest rebuild, the Marlins agreed to void their option on Schumaker’s contract. He managed out a 100-loss season in 2024 and confirmed the long apparent news that he would not be back for a third season in South Florida.

The sour finish has not detracted from Schumaker’s reputation as one of the sport’s top young managers. It doesn’t appear as though he seriously pursued a position last offseason. He was loosely tied to the White Sox vacancy that eventually went to Will Venable — ironically, the previous presumed successor to Bochy in Texas — but decided to spend a season in the Texas front office while keeping his options open for 2026.

Rangers have underwhelmed since winning the World Series

Schumaker steps into a team that might be in the midst of its own youth movement, at least to an extent. The Rangers have disappointed in each of the past two seasons after winning the World Series during Bochy’s first year. The franchise has dealt with revenue losses related to the collapse of its local broadcast contract, leading to what is expected to be a reduced payroll. In announcing Bochy’s departure, Young told reporters the club was dealing with “financial uncertainty” and would place more emphasis on development.

A roster shakeup was necessary anyhow. Their veteran lineup simply hasn’t been good enough over the past two seasons. It’d be a surprise if at least one or two of Adolis García, Jonah Heim, Josh Jung and Jake Burger weren’t traded or non-tendered. Texas still has four huge contracts on the books for Jacob deGrom, Corey Seager, Marcus Semien and Nathan Eovaldi. They’ll be saddled with Joc Pederson’s $18.5M salary when he inevitably exercises his player option.

Trading any of deGrom, Eovaldi or Seager would signify a greater teardown than seems likely. They’d need to eat a lot of the remaining three years and $72M on Semien’s contract to find any trade interest, and Pederson stands a better chance of being released than traded. There’s a good chance all five of those players are back, but there should be significant turnover among their group of arbitration-eligible hitters. A 1-2 punch of deGrom and Eovaldi may alone be enough to keep them in the playoff hunt if both aces can stay healthy. They’ll need more foundational lineup pieces to around Seager, Wyatt Langford, Evan Carter and (eventually) top prospect Sebastian Walcott if they’re to have consistent success in the Schumaker era.