Guardians' coaching staff getting truly decimated after Orioles manager decision 

When Cleveland Guardians president Chris Antonetti spoke at his postmortem press conference after the Guardians’ season ended, he said he was expecting teams with managerial vacancy to inquire some of the members of the Guardians’ coaching staff. 

On Sunday we got even more empirical evidence of that, as ESPN’s Jeff Passan reported the Orioles were finalizing a deal with Guardians associate manager Craig Albernaz as their manager. 

He’s the second Guardians coach to be poached this offseason along with Kai Correa, who was hired as the Mets' bench coach. 

The loss of Craig Albernaz to the Orioles is going to hurt the Guardians

Albernaz joined the Guardians in 2024 when Stephen Vogt was hired as manager, and was promoted to associate manager this season after serving as the bench coach in 2024. 

A former minor league catcher, he had previously worked as a coach in the Rays minor league system before starting his big league career as a bullpen and catching coach with the Giants. 

He’s long been viewed as a future manager by executives throughout baseball, and the Orioles elected to become the team to pull the trigger. Baltimore fired previous manager Brandon Hyde in May after Baltimore started the season with a 15-28 record and finished the season with interim manager Tony Mansolino.

The Orioles posted a 60-59 record under Mansolino, who was a candidate for the full-time job alongside former big league managers Scott Servais and Luis Rojas alongside former players Albert Pujols and Ryan Flaherty.

This marks the second straight time the Orioles are hiring a first-time manager, as Hyde had never worked above a bench coach before being hired by Baltimore. 

This isn’t Albernaz’s first time being involved in the thick of a managerial race. He interviewed for the Guardians’ managerial vacancy (which eventually went to Vogt) and was a finalist for the Marlins and White Sox’s vacancies last offseason. 

“It was one of the highlights of the offseason for us,” Guardians president of baseball operations Chris Antonetti told MLB.com’s Mandy Bell about Albernaz last offseason. “He's endeared himself to so many people in such a short time. I think about how he didn't have many preexisting relationships coming in, and he's built so many great relationships across the organization.”

While the Orioles finished under .500 last season, they have a plethora of young talent like Gunnar Henderson and Jackson Holliday. They have some obvious holes to fill on their pitching staff, but they have the kind of core that you rarely see in a team with a managerial vacancy. 

Vogt will now have his work cut out for him to try to fill Albernaz and Correa’s spots on the bench, but the Guardians are among MLB’s best at developing coaching talent. 

Albernaz’s hiring adds to what’s been a busy offseason in managerial vacancies, as the Angels (Kurt Suzuki), Giants (Tony Vitello), and Rangers (Skip Schumaker) have already hired new managers, while the Nationals, Padres, Twins, Braves, and Rockies still have vacancies.