This season is trending towards another miss at October baseball. With continued failure will come with speculation of managerial moves. Following 2025, Davey Martinez's contract has a club option, and fans have lead much speculation that the team will move on from him. It surely is a critical topic as Martinez helped the team win a World Series, but 6 years later, all things must eventually come to an end. If a change is what is deemed necessary, it shall happen. Today we look at potential dream candidates for the job opening should that come to reality.
Ryan Flaherty
The former player has risen amongst coaching groups rather quickly. At age 38, Flaherty is the bench coach for the Cubs under hyped and now succeeding new manager, Craig Counsell. This situation reminds me of common NFL situations where a team has quick success and a young offensive coordinator quickly lands a head coaching gig. E.g. Sean McVay, Shane Steinchen, Dave Canales. This now translates to the MLB where the Cubs are amongst the MLB's best teams overnight and Flaherty is a hyped managerial candidate. If the Nationals wants a new young prospect to lead the team, perhaps he may end up being the guy.
Joe Maddon
Talk about a big name... Joe Maddon has been outside of managing since the Angles parted ways with him in 2022. His resume includes two World Series championships - 2002 Angels, 2016 Cubs , and he has expressed interest in managing again should the situation work for him. Like many veteran coaches, Maddon wishes to maintain heavy control on his staff and the roster and though any team may be hesitant to give that control over, not every team comes across candidates that have won multiple championships.
At age 71, you can likely expect that he would not be a long-term option, but perhaps a quicker success option. Though very much a longshot with minimal speculation, adding Maddon would create fireworks and many hot takes.
Mark DeRosa
DeRosa is a very respected figure in the baseball community and now a co-host on MLB Network. The only managing experience he holds in with the 2023 USA World Baseball Classic team where they made it to the Championship game. This came with the iconic at-bat where Shohei Ohtani struck out Mike Trout to win the Classic. That aside, DeRosa did a fantastic job. As a well-liked figure, it is very much possible he may be managing an MLB team very soon. A respected, knowledgeable figure familiar in many circles, this may be the leading choice for the DC job if it is available.
Bonus: Kevin Long
How about Kevin Long? His career includes two world series titles and notable success as recently as the Phillies hitting coach. Prior to his Phillies job, Long was the hitting coach for the 2009 Yankees, followed by great success with the Mets helping Daniel Murphy win a batting title and the team to a World Series appearance. Following, Long came to DC and was hitting coach for the World Series title. Now doing the same job with the Phillies, at same point he may eventually get his managerial shot. If he is deemed ready, and I am sure he is, the Nationals should give him a hard look at manager.
What do you think about these options? There is a plethora of capable names to be interviewed. Unlisted are Miguel Cairo, Matthew LeCroy, Buck Showalter, and we can list even more. Let's discuss on X - @jetbets17.