Who else was in the running for the Nationals' manager job?

On Wednesday, Miguel Cairo was informed that he will not be returning as manager of the Nationals next season. The remaining staff, highlighted by pitching coach Jim Hickey and hitting coach Darnell Coles will also reportedly not be back in Washington in 2026 unless the newest manager of the team in Blake Butera chooses to retain them, which would be a surprising development to say the least.

However, this article is not about Butera and his candidacy for the job he ended up getting, but about the other names he was competing against, as we also learned many of the initial candidates to replace Cairo as the team's head skipper. In addition to Cairo, Brandon Hyde and Craig Albernaz (who is no longer an option) are known to have interviewed with the Nationals for the role. Rocco Baldelli and Danny Lehmann had also been linked to Washington as presumptive candidates.

There have been a few managerial hirings already this offseason, including former Marlins skipper Skip Schumaker (Rangers), University of Tennessee head coach Tony Vitello (Giants), front office special assistant and former Nationals catcher Kurt Suzuki (Angels), Guardians assistant Craig Albernaz (Orioles), and reportedly former Pirates manager Derek Shelton (Twins). That would leave the Nationals as one of four teams left with a vacancy, along with the Braves, Rockies and Padres.

While Cairo's tenure as interim manager was servicable, the results speak for themselves. After being promoted from his bench coach role on July 7, Cairo finished the season with a 29-43 record in the head chair. In many respects, he was a continuation of the Davey Martinez era, and that on its own may have been Cairo's biggest flaw. Aside from carrying himself fairly similarly to Martinez, the simple fact that he was one of Martinez's former assistants led to his tenure being viewed as more of the same. In short, it was time to move on to something new.

Out of all the names we know about that were tossed around in the interview process, Hyde (Orioles) and Baldelli (Twins) have been managers as recently as this past season, and experienced moderate success in the position. On the flip side, Lehmann was a younger option who has gained experience in multiple roles with a highly successful organization (Dodgers). Although he has since been hired by Baltimore, the same was true for Albernaz (Rays, Giants and Guardians).

Baldelli has publicly stated that he is interested in managing again, and that as many as 10 teams have reached out to him. This underscores the quality of manager that he is and the relative success of his tenure with the Twins. Following an eight-year big league playing career, Baldelli stepped into a front office role with the Rays, before transitioning to coaching in Tampa in 2015. His time in a renowned new-age organization earned him the Twins managerial position. In his first season at the helm, he was named AL Manager of the Year, after winning 101 games. He led the Twins to three playoff appearances in seven seasons, although he never advanced beyond the ALDS. He finished with a 527-505 record in Minnesota.

Hyde also finds himself among the top managerial candidates on the open market. Much like Baldelli, Hyde led a successful big league team in his recent past, but fell far short of expectations in 2025. After a few dry years with an undertalented roster, he guided the Orioles to the postseason in 2023 and 2024, although they were swept in the ALDS and Wild Card Series, respectively. Interestingly, he was staff mates with Davey Martinez with the Cubs from 2015-17 under Joe Maddon, shortly before each of them became managers in the DC metro area. Hyde's time in Baltimore ended with a 421-493 record.

Lehmann is a lesser known option, but has an interesting resume. After an extended playing career in the minor leagues and independent baseball, he joined the Dodgers in 2015 as their Advance Video Scout. In 2018, the Dodgers promoted him to Game Planning and Communications coach. He served as a Dodgers' special assistant in 2019, resumed his Game Planning and Communications coaching position in 2020, and was then promoted to bench coach in 2023. He is also currently a candidate for the Braves opening, and was previously discussed for the White Sox vacancy last offseason. Since the Dodgers are still actively playing in the World Series, the vetting process has been slower for Lehmann.

A candidate from Boston was also revealed, which seemed logical, as Paul Toboni and the new regime likely hold him in high regard. It remains to be seen how serious of a candidate Chad Epperson is for other processes, though. It's also possible that the Nationals would prefer to hire him as an assistant coach. As an example, a role with catchers would be very logical.

It's currently unclear who else is in the running to be the next manager of the Nationals, but there likely are other unnamed candidates. Regardless, it is nice to see a few candidates with interesting resumes from differing backgrounds.

What do you think about the other potential candidates who were in the running for the job? Let me know your thoughts @stephen_newman1 on X.