“Favorite” for Guardians managerial opening to stay with current team

Cross another managerial candidate for the open position in Cleveland off the list of possibilities. Rangers associate manager Will Venable has told teams that he is staying in Texas. The Guardians will now have to consider other options to succeed Terry Francona. 

This news comes just days after Venable was declared the “favorite” for the job in a report by USA Today’s Bob Nightengale. However, this series of events, a report from Nightengale ultimately being proven wrong, should not come as a surprise. There have been plenty of instances of Nightengale reporting something and the complete opposite, or something similar, coming to fruition. Honestly, red flags about the possibility of Venable coming to Cleveland should have been raised the moment it was reported by Nightengale.

Venable is not the first person in the past few days who has stated their desire to remain with their current team. Rays manager Kevin Cash publicly addressed the rumor that he could return to Cleveland, saying that he was happy in Tampa. Cash's candidacy was always a longshot due to his being under contract, but it was still a remote possibility. This puts the Guardians in a spot where two of their presumably top options are not interested in leaving their current organization. 

It appears that the Guardians search for their next manager may be a bit more exhaustive than initially thought, considering these recent developments. Cleveland has also been linked to Craig Albernaz of the San Francisco Giants and Carlos Mendoza of the New York Yankees. 

These developments are far from massive blows, but that does not mean the team should not have some sense of urgency when it comes to filling the position. This is an organization that has been operating in a clear direction with a very stable manager and front office combination for quite some time. The longer the position remains open, the less stable it will appear to potential free-agent signings, and the Guardians cannot afford that, considering the clear holes on their roster that need to be addressed.