Don’t rule out Stephen Vogt in Mariners’ manager search

Update: Stephen Vogt said on Thursday that he is “coming back” for his fourth season as Cleveland Guardians manager. Click here for more.

While he has seemed like an unlikely candidate from the start, Stephen Vogt has come up as a potential fit to be the next manager of the Seattle Mariners.

New name emerges in Seattle Mariners’ managerial search, per report

Vogt, a former All-Star catcher, went directly from playing to coaching after retiring in 2022 and spent a season as the Mariners’ bullpen coach in 2023 before he was hired as the Cleveland Guardians manager the following season.

Since being hired by the Guardians, Vogt has won two American League Manager of the Year awards (2024 and ’25) and led Cleveland to three straight division titles and a pair of AL Championship Series appearances.

Vogt is still under contract, which begs the question: Why would the Guardians let him go?

According to MLB.com writer Anthony Castrovince, the possibility that Vogt would want to be closer to home – the Vogt family lives in the Olympia area, where his wife Alyssa is from – could put him in play for the M’s.

“You can’t get it an honest answer from him about that, but I do know just from what I’ve observed in his time here, I mean, it kills this guy to be away from his family. It really does,” Castrovince told 92.3 FM The Fan in Cleveland. “His family is out in Washington and so from that standpoint, it makes all the sense in the world. Now, he’s under contract here and that’s complicated, but we have seen manager trades before. So, I don’t rule it out, personally.”

Castrovince clarified that he doesn’t think it is likely that Vogt would be traded, but that the family situation makes it a real possibility.

There have been just six manager trades in MLB history, which includes when the M’s traded Lou Piniella and a prospect to Tampa Bay for outfielder Randy Winn in 2002. The last one to happen was in 2012 when the Boston Red Sox acquired John Farrell from the Toronto Blue Jays.

‘It would be complicated’

When MLB Network insider Jon Morosi joined Seattle Sports’ Wyman and Bob on Wednesday, he said he also believes a Vogt trade to the Mariners shouldn’t be ruled out.

“I made a lot of calls and the response I was getting back largely was, it would be complicated,” Morosi said. “… But I have not yet heard from anyone in a position of authority on this to say that it’s not happening. I will say at this moment that until the Mariners hire someone else or until Vogt comes out and says publicly there is zero chance of me leaving, I’m not going anywhere, then I think we at least have to acknowledge the possibility.”

Morosi believes that landing Vogt would be a massive win for Seattle.

“Is it easily done? No, because you’d have to, A, decide that he’s the right person, which I think that probably is the easiest part of the process. The guy has won multiple AL Manager of the Year titles, he’s got ties to the organization, lives in the area, worked for the Mariners relatively recently up until they got hired by Cleveland. So, (he) checks every box you could possibly want,” Morosi said.

“The harder parts would be, would the Guardians allow him to go? Would they be open to a conversation about it? And then, what would the compensation look like? What would the contractual dynamics look like?” Morosi added.

Ultimately, Morosi agrees with Castrovince that a Vogt trade to the Mariners is unlikely.

“If Vogt says, listen, I’ve done everything I can do for the organization and now this is really for family reasons, I don’t want to be away from my kids for that amount of time, you could start talking yourself into it being a less arduous deal when you really line it up,” Morosi said. “So, again, I’m not yet to the point where I’m going to say it is likely or actively being discussed. I’m not gonna say those things, but I would land on it basically where Anthony did, which is I’m not gonna rule it out.”

Hear the full conversation at this link or in the audio player in this story. Listen to Wyman and Bob weekdays from 2-7 p.m. or find the podcast on the Seattle Sports app. 

Seattle Mariners news and more

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• A closer look at reported Seattle Mariners manager candidate Joe Espada

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