The Nationals fired manager Davey Martinez on July 6, replacing him with Miguel Cairo as interim manager. They could keep Cairo around going forward, but could also look to other candidates. A writer on Federal Baseball speculated that current Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol might get fired at the end of this year and would then be the best choice. But Marmol’s track record in St. Louis isn’t that great, in part due to a disappointing 2023 season. He also might remain in St. Louis anyway.
Before we begin, it’s important to point out that we don’t know yet who’s going to be the general manager, who will be involved in making this decision. District on Deck’s JJ Phillips suggested on September 14 that current Cubs GM Carter Hawkins (serving under president Jed Hoyer), who has been rumored to be an option, might be a good choice, but he has since dropped out of contention for the position.
Here’s a list of the ten best options.
1. Rickie Weeks Jr.
The Brewers made Weeks their associate manager before 2024, and he’s been a part of two straight regular seasons that have wildly exceeded expectations. He was Milwaukee’s assistant to the player development staff in 2023. It will be interesting to see if the Brewers falter in the playoffs yet again this year; if they do, the entire team—including, to a small extent, Weeks—will lose a bit of its aura. After a bye, they’ll most likely be facing the winner of Cubs-Padres, and there will be pressure on them to win that series.
2. Brandon Hyde
Hyde took over a destitute Orioles team in 2019, and the team predictably struggled mightily for three years. But then he oversaw a remarkable turnaround as they went from 52-110 in 2021 to 83-79 in 2022 to 101-61 in 2023; the 2023 season earned him Manager of the Year. He had a good 2024 season as well. The team seemed to be developing all the young talent it stockpiled during the rebuild very well, and he competed in a very tough division. His 0-5 postseason record is a bit concerning, and in 2025, he was fired after a 15-28 start. The team has been mediocre since the firing (58-55). It would seem that the Orioles overreacted a bit to the bad start in 2025, forgetting about all the good work he’d done before this year.
3. James Rowson
This is the most outside-the-box option, as Rowson has never been a manager or even a bench coach. But he has an excellent track record as a hitting coach, and acquiring him would potentially be a major boon to the Nationals’ hitters. He was Minnesota’s hitting coach from 2017-19; in 2019, they set the all-time record with 307 home runs, which was far more than anyone expected out of them. And he’s been the Yankees’ hitting coach for the past two seasons; 2025 in particular has been a great year offensively in the Bronx. One stint of success could be random, but going 2-for-2 suggests that he’s just really good at working with hitters, something he could presumably continue to do as a manager.
4. Rodney Linares
Linares has an extended track record of playing a part in success. He became an Astros minor-league manager in 2007 and oversaw the development of such players as Jose Altuve, Alex Bregman, Carlos Correa, J. D. Martinez and George Springer. He has a strong 762-697 career record in the minors. And he’s been in Tampa Bay’s organization since 2019, contributing to probably the most overachieving team in the game over that time span. He’s been bench coach for the past three years, including their excellent 99-63 season in 2023. While the past two seasons haven’t been as amazing in Tampa, the Rays are an excellently run organization and are always a good place to look for potential coaches and executives.
5. Charlie Montoyo
Montoyo took over a weak Blue Jays team in 2019, but turned them around fairly quickly. They had success from 2020-21, but after a fairly disappointing 46-42 start to 2022, he was fired. The team has more or less been the same post-Montoyo. He’s 0-2 in the postseason in his career. Toronto’s turnaround under Montoyo didn’t feel too surprising since they had a lot of emerging young talent, headed by Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Bo Bichette, and also brought in Robbie Ray midway through 2020 and George Springer in 2021. But there were also other positive developments that speak well to Montoyo, such as the emergence of Teoscar Hernandez in 2020.
6. David Ross
David Ross was hired by the Cubs prior to 2020 and had a solid first year, going 34-26. In 2021, the Cubs tore the team down midseason, trading away Kris Bryant, Anthony Rizzo, and Javier Baez. They struggled in 2021 and 2022, but then surprised most in 2023, going 83-79. Ross was then dismissed, but that mostly seemed to be so that the Cubs could get Craig Counsell. He has an 0-2 career playoff record. He’s not in baseball right now, but he appears to still be interested in managing, given that he’s been the subject of multiple rumors. Jon Heyman linked him to the Orioles, and Buster Olney suggested the Braves could target him if Brian Snitker retires.
7. Scott Servais
In 2016, Servais took over a Mariners team that had mostly been struggling for a while and turned them into fairly consistent winners. They were decent from 2016-18, then sort of went into rebuild in 2019. But by 2021, they were winning very consistently. They were extremely unlucky to only make the playoffs once from 2021-23, as they won 88 or more games each year. His regular-season record of 668-624 is solid. While he had some talent at times, it also felt like he overachieved a bit. Seattle’s firing of him in 2024 felt like a bit of an overreaction to one midseason slump (although it is worth noting that the team has turned things around since firing him). This year, he’s serving as a special assistant for player development with the Padres. The fact that he’s involved in player development indicates that he might be a good fit for a young Nationals team that needs to start moving along its young players more effectively.
8. Skip Schumaker
It’s true that Shumaker only has two years of managerial experience, but in one of those two years, 2023, he won Manager of the Year. He took a team that had struggled mightily for years, and out of whom little was expected, and led them to an 84-78 record. They did fall back down to earth in 2024, going 62-98. But it seems like the good 2023 would probably at least cancel out the bad 2024. He has an 0-2 career playoff record. He’s currently the Rangers’ senior advisor to president Chris Young.
9. Gabe Kapler
Kapler was Philadelphia’s manager from 2018-19 and then San Francisco’s manager from 2020-23. The Phillies disappointed a bit in 2019, going 81-81 after making numerous offseason acquisitions, and then Kapler was fired. Three of his four seasons with the Giants ended around .500, but they had one spectacular year: 2021, when they went 107-55, earning Kapler Manager of the Year. How much of that great year was due to Kapler? If even some of it was, he’s worth looking into. However, he’s currently Miami’s assistant general manager, a role that might be hard to pry him away from.
10. Miguel Cairo
Sure, Miguel Cairo’s gone just 27-40 since taking over, which is similar to Martinez’s 37-53 mark before getting fired. But he’s been with the organization for two years now, whereas all the other candidates on this list are outsiders. There would be some disruption involved in changing things up again; it might be best to keep everything running as it is. And while there are many other promising candidates out there, there probably isn’t going to be one overwhelmingly great one.