Drayer: Where Mariners’ ‘wide net’ manager search could lead them

As the Seattle Mariners cast what they have called a “wide net” in the search for their next manager, Jerry Dipoto has said fresh thought is needed with who they bring in. He is looking for something new, be it a shift in programming, messaging and/or language, and the candidate will not be close at hand.

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“We will go outside to hire our manager,” Seattle’s president of baseball operations said at his end of year press gathering, adding that while MLB managing experience is preferred, it is not a requirement.

How important is that experience? Well, if the Mariners were to hire a manager who had previously managed at the big league level they would actually be bucking a recent trend. Since Dan Wilson took over as manager of the Mariners in August ’24, there have been 15 managerial changes with just one of the outgoing (obviously experienced) managers, Skip Shumaker, currently managing (Rangers) at the big league level.

Of the other 14 vacancies that were left, nine of them were filled by first-time managers with one – San Francisco’s Tony Vitello – coming from the college ranks, and five – Miam’s Clayton McCollough, Baltimore’s Craig Albernaz, Washington’s Blake Butera, Colorado’s Warren Schaeffer and Boston’s Chad Tracy – who had managed in the minors. The remaining three, two of which made the postseason – the Chicago White Sox’s Will Venable, San Diego’s Craig Stammen and the Los Angeles Angels’ Kurt Suzuki – had no managerial experience.

Which direction will the Mariners go?

While there are plenty of experienced managers currently available, a move in that direction shouldn’t necessarily be automatic as there are interesting options on big league staffs around the game. The names below are ones that are lesser known, but many have had the “sure-to-soon-manage” label attached. Most are bench coaches, a position that has given them the chance to see the speed of the game in the big leagues from the top step and contribute to decision making. Bench coaches are also usually heavily relied on for communication with the players. Most have minor-league-managing or college-coaching experience; some have high-level work in player development, which is seen as a huge plus in today’s coaching/managing environment.

For this exercise, no candidates with ties to the Mariners have been included.

Potential Mariners manager candidates

• Spencer Allen, first base coach, Brewers

Allen, 48, is a local product born and raised in Olympia where he played at Capital High School in Olympia and Green River Community College before transferring to Iowa State for his final two years of college.

Allen has heavy college coaching experience with stops at Creighton, Purdue, Washington State and Illinois before he took over the program at Northwestern where he was head coach from 2016-2021.

Allen joined the Brewers’ organization in ’22 as field coordinator and was promoted to director of player development two years later. Last January, he was added to the big league staff as first base coach. It is worth noting the Brewers did not run with a bench coach in ’26.

Coming from the college and player development worlds, teaching fundamentals have been noted as a strong point, with Allen specializing in baserunning and defense. Working alongside Brewers manager Pat Murphy, who also came near directly to the big leagues from college coaching, is no doubt a plus with Murphy likely to win his third straight National League Manager of the Year Award in the coming weeks.

• Kai Correa, bench coach, Mets

Correa, 38, also has local ties having played at University of Puget Sound.

Despite no managing or head-coaching experience, Correa has been a hot name around baseball for some time now and has been seen as someone who is very smart, well-versed in today’s game and a very good communicator. Originally hired into pro baseball by the Guardians in 2018 as a low-level minors coach, Correa is known to specialize in defense, baserunning and strategy, areas the Mariners intend to address.

Correa made it to the big leagues in 2020 when he was asked to join Gabe Kapler’s staff in San Francisco as bench coach and infield instructor. After Kapler was fired at the end of the ’23 season, Correa returned to the Guardians as major league field coordinator with organizational director of defense added to his title the following year, titles he held until he was hired to be the Mets’ bench coach last fall.

• Rodney Linares, bench coach, Rays

Linares, 49, was originally hired as the Rays’ third base coach in the fall of 2018 and has spent the past four years as their bench coach. Immersed and versed in the Rays’ system, one that requires much communication with the front office, he would no doubt be seen as a huge plus in organizations that lean heavily into analytics.

Linares brings more. He is a baseball lifer who is the son of a baseball lifer as his father, Julio Linares, is special advisor for Latin American player development for the Astros and has been a member of the organization since 1973.

Rodney, who was born in Brooklyn and raised in the Dominican Republic, has an extensive background in minor league managing with the Astros. In 2023, he managed team D.R. in the World Baseball Classic.

• George Lombard, bench coach, Tigers.

Lombard, 51, has spent the last six years alongside A.J. Hinch in the Tigers’ dugout. He brings experience as a player spending 16 years in the minors, which included parts of six years in the bigs. He has also spent significant time in player development and probably a little something extra in being the father of a young big leaguer George Lombard Jr. of the Yankees.

Prior to joining the Tigers, he spent five seasons with the Dodgers as first base coach, making three trips to the World Series with the team.

• Walker McKinven, bench coach, White Sox

McKinven, 37, has been on the watch list of sorts with his diverse background and time spent in the Brewers’ organization.

After playing collegiately at Binghamton University and Georgia College and State University, then earning his degree in Business Administration, McKinven got his start in MLB interning for the Cubs for two years before spending a year with the Rangers and then being hired by the Brewers in 2016 as an advance video scout. In 2020, he was promoted to the major league staff and a year later became the associate pitching, catching and strategy coach. He was then the run prevention coordinator for the 2024 season.

It has been reported McKinven played a vital role in devising and implementing Brewers strategies before being hired as bench coach by the White Sox prior to the ’25 season.

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