Mike

Matheny

Heyman adds that Rays bench coach Matt Quatraro has “been seen as the favorite” to fill the managerial position in Kansas City. McCullough, Wilson, Thorman and Grifol have all been mentioned in various reports as potential candidates, but this is the first time that Venable’s name has come up as one of the Royals’ targets. The 40-year-old former big leaguer has spent the last two seasons as the Red Sox bench coach.

A former minor league manager for several years in the Blue Jays’ system, McCullough joins Rays bench coach Matt Quatraro and a number of internal candidates, including Pedro Grifol, Vance Wilson, and Scott Thorman. Mike Matheny was let go from the job in early October following a three-year run that yielded just a 165-219 record.

A decision doesn’t appear to be imminent in Kansas City, but the notable new inclusion here among the internal candidates is Thorman. He served as the club’s manager at Triple-A Omaha this season and has extensive experience coaching the Royals’ young core of talented offensive nucleus in the minors.

The Royals parted ways with Mike Matheny earlier this month after he put up a 165-219 record over three seasons. Quatraro has been the Rays’ bench coach since 2019 and has interviewed for multiple managerial gigs in recent years. He’s also reportedly a candidate for the Marlins’ current opening.

Kansas City officially parted ways with Mike Matheny -- and pitching coach Cal Eldered -- on Wednesday night after a three-year run that yielded a record of just 165-219. That’s a winning percentage of .430. Grifol served as the Royals’ bench coach under Matheny and Wilson was the third base coach. They have both been in consideration for other managerial openings around the major leagues in recent offseasons.

Bradshaw, a former major league outfielder, has served as the Royals’ hitting coach since 2018. Kansas City’s offense has scored the fourth-fewest runs in baseball this season, and also rank 28th in home runs with just 21 round-trippers through 32 games. Alec Zumwalt will join Kansas City’s coaching staff to coordinate their hitting efforts and Mike Tosar is also joining Mike Matheny’s big-league staff.

No more lame-duck status for Matheny, who has overseen a 100-122 record in Kansas City since taking the dugout reins in October 2019. He had a 591-474 managerial record in his nearly seven-year run as the Cardinals’ skipper from 2012-2018.

DeRenne has been working as an assistant hitting coordinator for the last two seasons and will join the big-league staff for the first time. Hollins, who served as the Royals’ first base coach back in 2020, returns to the role again in place of Rusty Kuntz, who will be moving into the front office next season.

Kuntz will also work in quality control for the organization after a long tenure as the major league first base coach. There aren’t expected to be any other significant changes to manager Mike Matheny’s staff.

Kuntz opted out of the 2020 season due to concerns over COVID-19. Damon Hollins -- who filled that role for the Royals last season -- will return to his previous post as a minor league instructor. Tony Pena Jr. joins manager Mike Matheny’s staff as their infield coach, while Rafael Belliard (who served as the infield coach in 2020) will return to being a special assistant to general manager Dayton Moore.