Photo: Skip Schumaker, manager of the Miami Marlins, looks on in a game against the Washington Nationals at loanDepot park on September 3, 2024 in Miami, Florida. (Photo by Jasen Vinlove/Miami Marlins/Getty Images)
Manager Skip Schumaker will miss the final two games of the regular season and will not return to the Miami Marlins for the 2025 regular season, Jeff Passan of ESPN and others reported on September 28.
BREAKING: Miami manager Skip Schumaker told Marlins players tonight he will not return to the team in 2025, sources told ESPN.
He immediately becomes the top available manager and will be a coveted free agent this winter. News, free and unlocked, at ESPN: https://t.co/HOhTzfzghC
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) September 28, 2024
Craig Mish, the Marlins beat reporter for the Miami Herald reported on September 27 that Schumaker was leaving the club due to a death in his family and would not return before the end of the season, noting that Schumaker was unhappy with changes in the Marlins front office, including the hiring of a new team president and general manager.
He will not return because he was unhappy with the Marlins decision to hire a new President, in conjunction with Kim Ng leaving the organization in 2023. After some discussion with the Marlins, they voided his 2025 club option in case he wanted to pursue other interests at the…
— Craig Mish (@CraigMish) September 28, 2024
Bench coach Luis Urueta, a native of Colombia, will lead the club for the remainder of the weekend series.
Schumaker won the National League Manager of the Year Award in 2023 during his first season in South Florida, when the club went 84-78 and made the playoffs, but went 60-100 this year and are last in the NL East with the worst record in the senior circuit.
The Marlins were hampered by injuries, including elbow injuries to righthanded pitchers Sandy Alcantara and Eury Perez and a back injury to southpaw Jesus Luzardo. Miami’s pitching staff is 29th in team ERA at 4.77, 10th in home runs allowed at 194, third in most hits allowed at 1,423, fourth in hit batsmen with 88, fifth in walks with 550, and 23rd in strikeouts with 1,302.
Miami also traded several key players during the 2024 regular season who were key contributors on the 2023 playoff team, including as two-time NL batting champion Luis Arraez, outfielder Jazz Chisholm Jr., outfielder Bryan De La Cruz and relief pitchers Tanner Scott and A.J. Puk.
Schumaker played for St. Louis, the Los Angeles Dodgers and Cincinnati in an 11-year career that ended in 2015.
He joined San Diego’s coaching staff in 2018 and served as bench coach for St. Louis in 2022. The Marlins hired Schumaker to replace Don Mattingly as manager following the 2022 season.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb
