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CLEVELAND, Ohio — The Guardians have filled a significant vacancy on their coaching staff by hiring Andy McKay, who makes the rare transition from front office executive back to the dugout. McKay, who most recently served as an assistant general manager for the Seattle Mariners, joins Stephen Vogt’s staff as the team’s new field coordinator, replacing Kai Correa, who departed to become the New York Mets’ bench coach. What makes this hiring particularly interesting is McKay’s unusual career path. Unlike most baseball executives who climb the ladder toward the front office and stay there, McKay is reversing course, trading in his suit for a uniform again. “This is a guy that was hired in 2015 by Seattle as their director of player development. Really turned over that farm system, made them one of the better farm systems in the big leagues,” said Paul Hoynes, cleveland.com Guardians beat writer. The hiring reunites McKay with Vogt, as the two worked together in Seattle when Vogt served as the Mariners’ bullpen coach in 2023. That familiarity likely played a significant role in bringing McKay to Cleveland, where his player development expertise will be crucial for a young Guardians roster. Before joining the Mariners organization, McKay spent 14 years as a college coach at Sacramento State and also worked with the Colorado Rockies as a performance coach for four years. This diverse background gives him a unique perspective that bridges the gap between player development, front office strategy, and on-field coaching. The hiring pattern of executives transitioning back to on-field roles, while uncommon, isn’t entirely unprecedented. Hoynes drew a parallel to another notable career shift: More Guardians coverage Guardians face critical bullpen and rotation decisions this offseason without Emmanuel Clase and Luis Ortiz Can the Guardians build their 2026 roster with Emmanuel Clase’s contract still hanging overhead? “The whole game of baseball is in Jeopardy:” MLB falls short after Guardians scandal “It kind of reminds me of the transition that John Farrell made when he was with Cleveland. Farrell was the director of player development for the Guardians. And Terry Francona, when he was a manager of Boston, hired him as a pitching coach.” Farrell would eventually go on to manage both the Toronto Blue Jays and Boston Red Sox, showing how such a career path can lead to further opportunities. For the Guardians, McKay’s hiring addresses one of two key coaching vacancies. The team still needs to find a new bench coach following Craig Albernaz’s departure to become the Baltimore Orioles’ manager. Vogt spoke highly of Albernaz at his introductory press conference with Baltimore, saying he’ll always support his former bench coach except for the handful of times their teams face each other each season. What the Guardians lose in Correa, they potentially gain in McKay’s developmental approach. Correa was known for his work with young infielders and his commitment to continuing player development at the major league level. “Every day going out there and working and developing players, the young players, the young infielders at the major league level, you don’t stop, once you become a big leaguer, you don’t stop learning and developing,” said Joe Noga, cleveland.com Guardians beat writer. McKay’s diverse experience gives him valuable insights that most coaches don’t possess. As Hoynes noted, “He can approach different players and maybe counsel them in what the front office might be thinking of them, you know, might be thinking of them and how they see their career progressing, you know, and just not from, from a coach’s standpoint.” For a Guardians organization known for developing young talent, McKay’s hiring represents a perfect philosophical fit as they prepare for the 2026 season and beyond. Podcast transcript Joe Noga: Welcome back to another edition of the Cleveland Baseball Talk podcast. I’m Joe Noga, joined by Paul Hoynes. Hoynsey, the as, as expected, I guess kind of, kind of fun to say even. Vogt wins the Manager of the Year award in the American league for the second straight year. Named last night with 17 first place votes and he finishes the as the manager of the Year for the second straight year. And, and really beats out John Schneider of the Toronto Blue Jays. Pat Murphy wins the award in the National League. So both Managers of the year from 2024 again repeat in, in 2025 for vote. He’s the, the first manager ever to, to do it in his first two seasons back to back. Really just, you know, a nice, a nice feather in his cap. Certainly not the, the prize that he wanted at the end of the year. Obviously that’s a World Series ring. But you know, the, the recognition, I think, you know, we finally, I think after about 10, 15 minutes of talking to him last night got him to come around and sort of accept some of the accolades that, that go with being the guy in front, in charge and leading the team in this historic comeback season and to his second straight division championship, you know, just really a. Paul Hoynes: Kind of a neat honor for, for vote. Well deserved. And you know, I think you’re right. He really did, you know, say, you know, you know, I know, you know that and I’m part of this award. But as all managers of the years say, it’s a, you know, it’s an organizational award, it belongs to everybody. But you know, I, I like the question you asked him, you know, what, what do you think swayed the voters and he went right to the comeback. You know, the, the off the field adversity they faced, you know, and the on the field adversity they faced. The 10 game losing streak, you know, the 1 and 9 streak coming back from 15 and a half games. So all that was a, that was a hard story to ignore if you’re a voter. You know, we saw it firsthand. But if, if you have a Manager of the Year vote and you’re an American League voter, very, very hard story to ignore. Even though Josh Schneider did a great job at Toronto and Dan Wilson did the same in Seattle. Joe Noga: Yeah, and you saw Dan Wilson and John Schneider in the postseason in the American League championship season, our series and, and you know, managing against each other and their strategies working out and you’re thinking to yourself, boy, these guys, you know, are deserving of being finalists for that, that top award. But again, the Manager of the Year award is voted on before the playoffs start. So none of what John Schneider or Dan Wilson did in the postseason made a difference in, in the voting. It was based entirely on the regular season. And what Stephen Vogt did in the regular season was, was amazing. Like you said he did. He talked about the 10 game losing streak, the 1 and 9 stretch being 15 games back. But you know, to quote him, you know, when I asked him that question, he said about the voters and what resonated with them. He said they noticed that it was really cool to win this. Just knowing that, that people around the country saw what we did and really appreciated it. And so I feel very honored about that. You know, he, he’s aware of, you know, other markets and other, you know, writers in other markets recognizing what they accomplished as a team this year and sort of him being the front face of that is, is pretty cool. You know, I just think it, Manager of the Year award is a, is a nice, you know, title is a nice prize and all that. But I keep going back to what he said after Game 3 of the Wild card series. He says, you know, we know we’ve got a long way to go. We’ve got a lot of things to that need to get worked on. I, I go back to Stephen Vo’s hiring in November of 2023 and you know, thinking, man, they, they might have something here and proving it that first year in 2024. And now it’s just, you know, when does, when does the organization start thinking about extending him and getting him locked up so that, that he’s the, the manager of the year for years to come? Paul Hoynes: Yeah, I bet that conversation is, has already taken place, Joe. I don’t know that, but I really got a strong indication that, you know, they’re, they’re talking about an extension for vote. You know, this is his, he’ll be going into his last year of a three year deal in 20, 20, 20. The last thing you want is a lame duck manager, especially one that’s taking your team to the world to the postseason in his first two years. I’m sure this is something that’s going to get done. If not now, sometime in spring training. That’s, that’s a no brainer to me. Joe Noga: Yeah. If you’re, if you’re Stephen Vo, you probably wanted to wait to sit down at the negotiating table until you saw what the results of this, what the results of this award are because you come in there. What’s the Vince McMahon meme walking into the, the negotiations with the strut. But no, I think the Guardians, Chris Antonetti, Mike turn off, they know what they have here in Stephen Vogt and they know that he’s building on something special. So I think, yeah, I would be shocked if we get to spring training and they haven’t already announced an extension for vote. Like we, we’ve seen the negotiations and things like this don’t take place sort of out in the public or we don’t really aren’t really aware of them. Who was the manager who had a deal and extension already in the works and they just didn’t talk about it until the end of the postseason, you know, recently. So those kinds of things happen. It’s possible that Stephen Voats already got an extension and we just haven’t heard about it yet. So look forward to that as well. And we found out yesterday that one of the vacancies on Stephen Vogt’s bench will be filled. Kai Correa left and he was the field coordinator at the major league level for the Guardians. He left to take the bench coach job in New York with the Mets. So the Guardians hired somebody who Stephen Vogt is pretty familiar with in Andy McKay, who was an assistant general manager for the last few years in Seattle. What do we know about Andy McKay and his opportunity here now to be the field coordinator for the guardians? Paul Hoynes: Andy McKay, general manager of the, of the the Mariners for the last few years. As you said, him and Vogt got to know each other in 2023 when Vogt was the bullpen coach for the Mariners. This is a guy that’s, you know, really was hired in 2015 by Seattle as their director of player development. Really turned over that farm system, made him one of the better farm systems in the big leagues. He was promoted to Assistant GM in 2022 by Jerry Dep. And it’s really, you know, from all indications, good, solid baseball guy, former College coach for 14 years in Sacramento and has, has been really, really kind of dying to get back in the dugout. And this, this will give him an opportunity to do so. But he was really well thought of by the Mariners. Helped, as I said, turn that farm system around. Helped, you know, start producing good, good players for the big league team. So, you know, we’ll see how. One thing I don’t know if he’s going to have as as long a title as Correa. He’s field coordinator, coordinator and head of defense, baserunning and chief strategist. I’m not sure if he’s going to have all of that after his name. But at least, you know, they have filled that hole in the, in this coaching staff. Now they have one more to go, Joe. Joe Noga: Yeah, they have to, they still have to find a bench coach. As you know, we talked about with Steven Vogt and Craig Alburnez joining the, the, the Orioles. And, you know, Vogt was there at the press conference and he talked about how special that was for him and how he’s always rooting for Craig Albanez. Except for what, those six times a year that they play each other. Six or seven times a year that they’ll play each other. That will, that will be a little different in terms of who they’re rooting for. But just back to McKay for a second. This is a guy who was in the front office in Seattle and now is coming back to, you know, being in uniform, being on the field and, and everything. Every indication we got from Stephen V. Was that, that he was sort of itching to get back in uniform, be a little more hands on. And he’s, he brings with him that, that college coaching sort of mentality. And, and that’s something, you know, the Guardians, what they lost in, in Kai Karea was that developmental mindset. You know, every day going out there and working and developing players, the young players, the young infielders at the, at the major league level, you don’t stop, once you become a big leaguer, you don’t stop learning and developing. And I think, you know, with his background coaching at the college level and then, you know, transitioning over, I think he spent a few seasons in the Rockies system as well as a coordinator of some sort. This is a guy who can teach, and I think that’s an important part of what was attractive to the Guardians and bringing him in. Paul Hoynes: Yeah, you spent four years with the Rockies as their, you know, performance coach. And, you know, it’s just, you know, it kind of reminds me of the transition, transition, transition that John Farrell made when he was with Cleveland. Farrell was the director of player development for the Guardians, and Terry Francono, when he was a manager of Boston, hired him as a pitching coach. And Farrell, you know, you know, longtime pitcher with Cleveland, couldn’t wait to get back in the dugout. And, you know, he became, from there, he became Boston’s manager. He came, became Toronto’s manager. So it was, you know, I guess, you know, kind of a second career for a Pharaoh. But he had also been a college, you know, pitching coach. So he was able to, you know, work with pitchers and help develop players much, much as in the same vein as Andy McKay. So it’ll be interesting to see, you know, what he brings to the table. Joe Noga: Yeah, once you, once you reach the level of like being a front office guy as a veteran, it’s, it’s not typical to go back, put the uniform on and get back on the field and be in the dugout and be a, you know, bench coach or a field coordinator like that. This is, you know, what we’ve seen us a little bit more is even Kurt Suzuki just hired out as the manager of the Angels. He was in the front office for a few years there in Anaheim and was learning the ropes of sort of both sides of the executive side and the field side. So, you know, I just wonder if this, this gives a person like Andy McKay, you know, sort of a more well rounded view of what goes on and what it takes to get players to sort of buy in and be present and be there and reach their full potential every day. Paul Hoynes: Yeah, you know, the more information you have, the more experiences you have in your chosen craft, I mean, it’s got to help. You know, I think he can approach, you know, different players and maybe counsel them in what the front office might be thinking of them, you know, might be thinking of them and how they see their career progressing, you know, and just not from, from a coach’s standpoint. So, you know, he comes at this with, you know, you know, a little, a wider, wider field of experience to, you know, help players and help develop players. Joe Noga: It should be interesting. It’d be fun to meet Andy McKay and get to know him as part of the Guardians coaching staff moving forward now this upcoming season. All right, the latest on the Emmanuel Classe Luis Ortiz investigations scandal charges. Everything that we’ve been seeing and hearing coming through on that, obviously Major League Baseball limiting the, the prop bets, working with the sports books to, to put caps on and, and eliminate parlays from prop bets, micro bets that would take place on pitches. A direct response to what happened there with Clase and Ortiz. Any, any further developments? I, you know, we, we talked to Stephen Vogt yesterday as part of the manager of the year press conference. But you know, when he was asked specifically about his reaction to the indictments, he sort of gave the same company line, hey, we’re going to let things play out. But yeah, he indicated that there was a degree of shock like he, the. The team knew what was going on or the team knew what was going to be coming down the road eventually here that, that there would be some sort of investigation and charges. Paul Hoynes: Yeah, no doubt about it. You know, they, they, you know, you don’t take two players off your team for the last, what, three months of the season and the postseason. You don’t take them off your roster by, and, you know, put them on paid leave by accident. I think, you know, the next question with this is what happens with Class a’s, you know, $6 million guaranteed contract in 2026, Joe? And from the people I talked to the last couple days, you know, it all comes down to the ruling of Commissioner Rob Manfred. He imposes penalties on Ortiz and Class A. From everything I’ve heard, the guardians are free of that. They will not have to pay that, that guaranteed $6 million that they owe Class A, which is the final guaranteed year on his $20 million contract. There’s, you know, $2 million buyouts on the, the, the club options in 2027 and 2028. But those are club options, so they can turn those down. You know, obviously those, those will be turned down if, if he is, if Class A is found in violation of MLB rules. But the $2 million, you know, buyouts in each on each year are guaranteed as well. So we’re talking about $10 million that the guardians, you know, really used to move that money around elsewhere, use that money elsewhere to improve the ball club. So we’re going to have to see how this plays out. But from all indications, the MLB is content to let the criminal investigation play out and then they will, they will step in and make a ruling. The timeline on that, who knows, it could be at the start of spring training. It could be even leak into the regular season and just what those ramifications are, but we’ll have to wait and see. Joe Noga: Yeah, the nightmare scenario for the guardians would be that if this drags out, if they, you know, both players want to go to court and, and, and there’s a trial and that takes forever and it bleeds into the, the regular season. And then you’ve got to start paying them at some point because you’re, you’re obligated to do so. But if this is resolved at some point in spring training, as we’re hearing rumors that, you know, Major League Baseball wants to have this resolved by spring training, it, if that’s possible. I believe Ken Rosenthal had reported that yesterday and I’d seen it, there’s, there’s some hope that, you know, you’re free of that. About $10 million in money that’s committed there. But can that be reinvested back into the club? Is there a timeline where the club can know that they, they’re going to have that $6 million for this year and they can spend it on a free agent or two. You know, right now, Chris Antonetti’s hands are tied, basically, when it comes to using that particular stream of revenue for any sort of free agent or any sort of help for the roster. Paul Hoynes: Yeah, that’s a good point. And, you know, I would think they’d probably approach this situation like, okay, you know, we’re going to have to pay Class A. We’ve committed that money to Class A. It’s, it’s, you know, that’s where. And just operate like, okay, you know, we’re going to have to pay him at acting like he’s an active player on a team. And then if they find out otherwise, then you can use that money toward making the 2025 club better. I mean, the 2026 club better. So, Joe, I don’t think there’s a timetable on when you can invest in the club. Even if this goes into the early part of the regular season and they are, you know, penalized by mlb, you can still use that money, you know, at the trading deadline for an acquisition of a player. So, you know, that’s, I think that’s one thing in their favor. Joe Noga: Yeah, it would just be nice if it could be all resolved, you know, sooner rather than later so that they can move forward operating as they would with that financial flexibility, I guess, is the point there for the Guardians. Almost. It almost seems like you’re punishing the Guardians here while you’re, you’re looking to punish Ortiz and, and Class A. But again, you know, nothing in the world of, you know, legal matters like this, it moves at a, a glacier’s pace. You know, we should, we’ve got a few months to go before we hear any sort of resolution on all that, but in the meantime, replacing Class A and Ortiz sort of in, in the, on the roster and, and in the practical sense, how. How do the Guardians go about that? Is there, is there a move this off season that could take care of one or both of those spots? We saw what they did in September and, and really in the second half of the season with Cade Smith stepping in as the closer and I think really wants Kate Smith to be that guy. And, and, and for all practical purposes, he is right now the, the closer, whether or not Stephen Vodus specifically named him such. You’ve got Hunter Gattis, you’ve got, you know, potentially Tim Heron in the back there. The, the starting rotation did the job that they needed to do in taking that sixth inning and giving the, a little bit of relief to the, to the bullpen, but that’s not going to fly from the, from the jump next year. They’re going to need something extra. They’re going to need some extra arms to sort of address this issue. How do you see this happening? Paul Hoynes: Yeah, I think they’re going to have to go out and sign a couple free agents as they did this, you know, going into 2025. Guys like Allard or, or Jacob Junas, you know, really kind of two valuable free agents they traded for Matt Festa early in the season. So I think they can add some depth that way for the bullpen. You know, they, they signed Carlos Hernandez, they resigned him. He’ll be in camp on a minor league deal. So I think they’ll fill in the blanks in the bullpen that way. The rotation kind of a different story. Joe. They went with the six man rotation in September. It was highly successful, but I think you’re still going to need a little depth there. Wouldn’t, wouldn’t you think? Joe Noga: Yeah, I mean, losing Luis Ortiz, it wasn’t just losing him for 2025. It was the, he was a future piece. He was going to be a, you know, anchor spot in that rotation for, for years and he was a controllable piece that they could have had. And that’s what was so exciting about sort of his, his debut and what we saw flashes of early in the season from him. And now that’s gone and you, you basically traded away Andres Jimenez for very little return. Except for young prospects that you’re, you’re pretty high on leagues right now. Yeah, losing Ortiz as a depth piece in that rotation is really going to hurt, but you’re going to count on guys like Joey Cantillo and Parker Messick to step in and claim the spot in the rotation that would have been Ortiz’s. You know, whether it’s the third or fourth spot in that rotation and there’s really not a lot of major league ready guys in the minor leagues behind them. So do you look at going out and spending on, you know, a back of the rotation, fourth or fifth starter in free agency and, and what are your options there? Are any of them any good? Paul Hoynes: Yeah, I, you know, I would think they try to maybe sign a swing guy, a guy that, that could help them with an emergency start or two, and then help them in a bullpen as well, but I, I would think that they’re going to lean more heavily from a starting sense from the guys in, from who’s ever available in the Miners, Joe, guys like Doug Nikhazi and that I would think they’d, they’d want to give those guys a chance before they really went out and got like a pure starter as a free agent. Joe Noga: What about the, you know, at this point last year, they knew they had issues in the starting rotation, so they went out and made trades to address those. That’s the other way that you can control your spending is, is to trade for young, controllable arms, like a Slade Saccony, like a Luis Ortiz, like they did last year. Both Sacconi and Ortiz worked out. These were guys that they had targeted, you know, and we don’t hear, we’re not privy to their, their reports and their scouting or whatever in terms of who they like on other teams, who they would target in trades. So there could be a surprise name out there, but it might cost you a veteran. Like, if, if they’re really sincere about exploring the trade market for Stephen Kwan this offseason, I would imagine that the return for Kwon would have to include some sort of starting rotation piece. Paul Hoynes: No doubt about it. You know, if you trade Quan, you have to fill whatever your major need is. You’ve got to, you know, attack that and you’ve got to get some, some help in that area if you’re going to, if you’re going to trade a valuable player like Quan. I definitely, I, I would think they always try to. It seems like they’re always adding young starters. Doesn’t it seem like Joe? And when they do make deals, I would think they’d go out of their way to make sure that happened. Joe Noga: Yeah. And if you’re talking Quan, you’re talking, it would have to be maybe a top 100 prospect plus a major league ready starting rotation type arm. It doesn’t have to be a marquee name, but you know, somebody who’s going to be able to eat innings for sure at this point. All right, Hoyncy, that’s going to wrap up today’s edition of the Cleveland Baseball Talk podcast. We will check back in with you again tomorrow and see what the latest developments are. Paul Hoynes: Good deal.
