As October moves along, the search for the Atlanta Braves‘ next manager is taking an unexpected turn. A recent update from MLB.com’s Mark Bowman revealed that some top speculative candidates for the manager job could be out of the equation.
There is “no indication” that either David Ross or Mark DeRosa is up for consideration for the position. John Gibbons was confirmed not to be a candidate by a source close to Bowman. Internal candidates, such as Walt Weiss, seem to be out as well.
Three candidates who have risen to the top include Cubs bench coach Ryan Flaherty, who has had his name mentioned before during speculation, as well as Dodgers bench coach Danny Lehmann and Tigers’ bench coach George Lombard.
If these three prove to be the top candidates, it at least confirms that the Braves are looking to go younger. Lombard is the oldest at 50, and the other two are 39 and 40 years old. Lombard and Flaharty have a Braves connection as former players. Flaherty would be a former player under Snitker who could potentially succeed him.
All three of these candidates would be managers in the Majors for the first time. Flaherty has experience as an active manager while Bob Melvin was out due to testing positive for COVID-19 back in 2022. All three have at least three years of experience as a bench coach.
All three come with experience in being second in command behind the manager on playoff teams. Since Lehmann is up for
Part of this being a twist comes from reports involving Ross. He had expressed interest in the job and was seen, along with DeRosa and Snitker, at an Auburn football game a few weeks back. It was always possible that it was just a reunion, but now it’s becoming clearer that that’s exactly what it was.
It shows how quickly things can change. Essentially, all of the early candidates have gone out the window. Based on these recent reports, we should know who the manager is within the next couple of weeks. Lehmann is currently coaching a World Series team, which could delay announcements or even interviews for that matter.
As for the other candidates, they could, in theory, be hired at any time. However, it would make sense if they were hired after the World Series as well. This would give the Braves the chance to look at every option possible before making a decision.
