Guardians name ex-All-Star Vogt new manager
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Jeff Passan, ESPN
The Cleveland Guardians hired Stephen Vogt as their new manager Monday, tabbing the former All-Star catcher with no managerial experience but who has widespread respect through the game for his knowledge and leadership skills.
Vogt agreed to a three-year deal, sources told ESPN.
The Guardians will introduce Vogt during a news conference Friday at Progressive Field.
Vogt, 39, replaces Terry Francona, the future Hall of Fame manager who retired after 11 seasons with Cleveland. Vogt inherits a team in transition after a 76-86 season but just one year removed from winning the American League Central.
For the past year, Vogt served as bullpen and quality control coach for the Seattle Mariners. He retired as a player following the 2022 season after a 10-year major league career that included two All-Star appearances.
Almost immediately upon his retirement from playing, Vogt was seen as a future manager. Teams often target former catchers as managerial prospects — Vogt is the 14th former catcher among big league managers — and his experience as a clubhouse force players rallied around prompted Cleveland to look beyond his lack of experience running a team.
“Stephen earned a reputation as one of the best teammates in the game across his 16-year career as a player, and we’ve greatly enjoyed the opportunity to get to know him over the past several weeks,” Chris Antonetti, the Guardians’ president of baseball operations, said in a statement.
“Stephen has thought critically about the type of leader and manager he wants to be. His deep care for others, his ability to build meaningful relationships with those around him, and his open-mindedness and curiosity make him an ideal fit to lead our club moving forward. We couldn’t be more excited to partner with Stephen.”
The Guardians return one of the best pitching staffs in baseball, with the emergence of three rookie starters — Tanner Bibee, Gavin Williams and Logan Allen — to complement Triston McKenzie and Shane Bieber, the latter of whom could be traded this winter. Cleveland’s offense remains something of a black hole, though Josh Naylor’s emergence alongside star third baseman Jose Ramirez, and the potential signing of a free agent outfielder could help in a wide-open AL Central.
Cleveland’s managerial search spanned a wide variety of candidates, including Milwaukee Brewers manager Craig Counsell, New York Yankees bench coach Carlos Mendoza, Los Angeles Dodgers first-base coach Clayton McCullough, Chicago Cubs bench coach Andy Green and San Francisco Giants bullpen coach Craig Albernaz.
SUNRISE, Fla. — Brad Marchand put the puck in the back of the net for the Florida Panthers on Saturday night then pointed a finger in the air and looked to the sky.
The reason was obvious.
This goal was for Selah.
Marchand’s sixth goal of this season and the 430th of his career was unlike any other. It came three days after he was home in Nova Scotia paying tribute to the life of 10-year-old Selah Panacci-MacCallum — the daughter of his close friend JP MacCallum. Selah died Oct. 24 of adrenal cortical carcinoma, a rare form of cancer.
“The hockey gods always come through,” Marchand told the Panthers’ broadcast after the second period in an interview aired throughout the arena. “It was a really, really tough week. That’s a special one to get for Selah.”
Marchand missed Florida’s game Tuesday against the visiting Anaheim Ducks to be with his friend’s family in Nova Scotia and did so with the Panthers’ blessing. Marchand filled in for JP MacCallum as the coach of the under-18 March and Mill Co. Hunters in Halifax on Wednesday night; Marchand co-owns that team.
That game Wednesday was a fundraiser for the MacCallum family.
“We fully appreciate the things that are most important, and hockey’s very, very important,” Panthers coach Paul Maurice said earlier Saturday. “But there’s some things that just easily outweigh it, and they need to be dealt with. And what he’s going through is real.
“There’s things that just trump the game of hockey.”
Marchand said his bond with JP MacCallum goes back for many years and that he simply had to make the long trip home to pay tribute to Selah.
“She lived life to the fullest,” Marchand said during Saturday’s in-game interview. “And walking away from the week, I have such a new perspective on life and what it all means and how precious it is and how precious time is. It’s every day. It’s not just a game. It’s not just a sport. It’s how we live every single day, and she lived to the fullest.
“To carry on her memory, that’s what we’re going to do. We’re going to live every day to the fullest, enjoy it, and we’re not going to take it for granted.”
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