TODAY : The Marlins officially Schumakers departure. SEPT. 28 : Skip Schumaker will not return as Miamis manager in 2025, . His tenure with the Fish concludes after two seasons. The Marlins announced during Friday nights win over the Blue Jays that Schumaker would return home to attend to a family health matter. Bench coach Luis Urueta will be the interim manager for the final two games of the season, Isaac Azout of Fish on First. Pa san writes that Schumaker informed Miami players that he would not be back next season after tonights game. That couldnt have come as much of a surprise to anyone on the roster. Schumaker has seemingly been on his way out of South Florida for months. Former general manager Kim Ng hired Schumaker whod been the bench coach in St. Louis to replace Don Mattingly going into the 2023 season. Hed initially signed a two-year deal with a club option for 2025. Once the Marlins and Ng parted ways last offseason, Schumaker reportedly expre sed frustration with the organizations direction. The Marlins agreed to void the 25 option as a result, giving the 44-year-old the chance to pursue other opportunities after this season. The front office overhaul came within weeks of Miami surprisingly punching their ticket to the postseason. The Fish overcame a negative run differential to win 84 games and snag a Wild Card spot in 2023. While they were swept by Philadelphia in the first round, the unexpected postseason berth earned Schumaker the NLs Manager of the Year award in his debut season. It was the teams first playoff appearance in a 162-game schedule since their 2003 World Series title. Owner Bruce Sherman was neverthele s di satisfied with the organizations recent mi ses in the draft and some ill-fated free agent moves (e.g. , ). Sherman tabbed former Rays GM Peter Bendix as president of baseball operations a move that wouldve relegated Ng to Bill Buckner Jersey second in the front office hierarchy. After Sherman informed Ng of his plans to hire a baseball ops president, she declined her end of a mutual option and moved on. Bendix never seemed confident that the Marlins could replicate last years succe s. The Fish had a quiet winter their only MLB free agent signing was a $5MM rebound flier on and seemed ticketed for another rebuild. A disastrous 0-9 start sealed their fate within the first two weeks. Miami traded in early May and followed up with a major deadline sell-off involving most of their relievers, , , and . Were it not for a devastating series of rotation injuries, theyd likely have torn things down further. and would have been clear trade candidates if healthy. Bendixs skepticism about the short-term outlook has been borne out in this years results. The Fish lost 100 games for the fourth time in franchise history. Theyll either finish with the second- or third-worst record in MLB. (Theyre one game behind the Rockies at the bottom of the National League.) At the same time, its entirely unsurprising that Schumaker preferred not to embark on a multi-year rebuild orchestrated by a new front office just months after leading the team to the playoffs. There should be plenty of interest in Schumakers services. His aggregate 144-178 record wasnt great, but thats far more a testament to this years roster than an indictment of his managerial ability. His work in 2023 earned ample praise. The White Sox and Reds have managerial vacancies after firing Pedro Grifol and David Bell, respectively. Schumaker has been loosely linked to both jobs before his contract with the Marlins has expired. wrote a few weeks ago that he was among the Soxs top targets. reported on Friday that Schumaker and former Cubs skipper David Ro s are among the preliminary options under consideration for the Reds front office. Its po sible other jobs will open once the regular season concludes. In Miami, Bendix begins his first managerial search as a baseball operations leader. The front office has presumably been preparing for a while, as they were no doubt aware of the probability that Schumaker would depart. Its the next opportunity for Bendix and his group to put their stamp on the franchise as they go into another rebuilding year. Image courtesy of USA Today Sports. Gavin Hollowell Jersey