Who will replace Terry Francona as Guardians manager? 15 candidates for your consideration

DETROIT -- The search is on to find Terry Francona’s replacement as manager of the Guardians.

If the next man up doesn’t mind replacing the winningest manager in franchise history, this can be a good gig. It’s a stable franchise with a well-respected front office and sound ownership.

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If the new manager likes starting pitching, and what manager doesn’t, so much the better. The Guardians know starting pitching. They lost veterans Shane Bieber, Cal Quantrill and Triston McKenzie to injuries for a large part of the season, snapped their fingers and promoted Tanner Bibee, Logan Allen and Gavin Williams from the minors.

When it comes to hitting and scoring, well, that’s where the new manager is going to have to earn his paycheck. Especially if the front office keeps trading hitters such as Nolan Jones, Yandy Diaz and prospect Junior Caminero.

Hey, but no job is perfect.

So just who will be the next manager?

Well, Guardians executives Chris Antonetti and Mike Chernoff have been digging and gathering information for a while. When Francona indicated at the end of August that this would be his final season, it did not catch them by surprise.

In a way, Francona gave them a head start on any other team that may be making a managerial change. There’s no time frame when a team is seeking a new manager. They can ask a team for permission to talk to a candidate at any time during the regular season, postseason or offseason.

There’s usually a seven-day window in which a team will deny or grant another team permission to talk to one of their employees. But that window tends to open wider when a big league manager’s job is involved.

Here are some candidates to consider, starting with some, but not all, within the organization:

Naming Alomar would be a popular choice among fans. When asked recently if he was interested in replacing Francona, Alomar said, “Now is not the right time to discuss that.” When the Guardians interviewed Francona after the 2012 season, Alomar was the only other person to interview.

This is Alomar’s 14th year as a coach in Cleveland. He played another 11 years in Cleveland, going to six All-Star Games as a Gold Glove catcher. In 2020, when Francona couldn’t manage because of illness, he led Cleveland to the postseason in the pandemic-shortened season.

He is more than ready to manage. He is finishing his third season as Francona’s bench coach and 21st as a big league coach. He stepped in as interim manager in 2021 when medical problems sidelined Francona and guided the team to 30-33 record over the final 63 games of the season. Hale managed five years in the minors.

He played 16 years in the big leagues as a utility infielder. After retiring he joined the organization as a special assistant in 2015. He’s been Cleveland’s minor league field coordinator for the last four seasons.

Has been a member of Francona’s staff for 11 years. He’s been in the Cleveland organization as a player, coach or manager since 1990. He managed nine years in Cleveland’s minor league organization, compiling a 697-511 record.

This is Counsell’s final year under contract with the Brewers. If Milwaukee doesn’t keep the Wisconsin native, he would be an expensive sign, but an interesting one.

The Brewers won the NL Central this year and will be making their fifth postseason appearance under Counsell, 53, since he replaced Ron Roenicki during the 2015. Counsell, playing for Florida Marlins, helped beat Cleveland in Game 7 of the 1997 World Series. He tied the game with a sacrifice fly in the ninth and scored the winning run in the 11th inning.

Milwaukee has made no secret that it wants Counsell back.

He was an outfielder for nine years. This year Venable, 40, was hired as associate manager to Bruce Bochy in Texas. Before that he was Alex Cora’s bench coach in Boston and coached first and third base for the Cubs from 2018-20.

Venable was a college teammate of Chernoff’s at Princeton.

Correa, 35, spent two years as a minor league coach with Cleveland before joining Gabe Kapler’s staff in San Francisco. Kapler was fired on Friday and Correa was named interim manager for the last weekend of the series.

He played 14 years in the big leagues as a shortstop. Weiss, 59, managed the Rockies from 2013-16. He’s been the Braves bench coach for the last five years.

He coached Counsell at Notre Dame and has been his bench coach with the Brewers since 2016. Murphy, 64, was the head coach at Arizona State before joining the Padres, where he managed in the minors and took over as interim manager in 2015.

DeRosa, 48, managed Team USA in the World Baseball Classic this spring. DeRosa played 16 years in the big leagues, including part of the 2009 season in Cleveland.

He spent 21 years in Cleveland’s organization, serving as assistant pitching coach and interim pitching coach at the big league level before taking the Padres’ pitching coach job after the 2021 season. Niebla, 51, helped create the Cleveland’s Pitching Factory when he was a minor league coordinator.

Napoli, 41, was one of the driving forces behind Cleveland reaching the World Series in 2016. He hit home runs and kept the clubhouse together. For the last three years he’s been on the Cubs’ coaching staff, the last two at first base. When Buck Showalter was named Mets manager before last season, he interviewed Napoli to be his bench coach.

Espada has been the the Astros bench coach since 2018. He has interviewed with Texas, the Cubs and the White Sox when they were looking for managers. Espada, 48, was the third base coach for the Marlins and Yankees before joing the Astros. As a player, his career topped out at Triple-A.

There’s a rift between Melvin and GM A.J. Preller that may lead to one, if not both, men being fired. If Melvin, 61, hits the open market, he might make a good fit. He had success in Oakland, reaching the postseason six times in 10-plus years, with a payroll that was usually smaller than the Guardians’.

Melvin has managed the Mariners, Arizona, Oakland and San Diego in a 20-year career.

He took over the Cardinals in 2018 when Mike Matheny was fired. Shildt, 58, led the Cards to three straight postseason appearances in his first three full seasons as manager. But after the 2021 season, he was fired over “philisophical differences” with the front office, despite having a 259-199 record.

An earlier version of this story said Pat Murphy was the former baseball coach at the University of Arizona. That was incorrect. He coached at Arizona State.

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