The Seattle Mariners are on the hunt for a new manager, and Rocco Baldelli has surfaced as a name to watch.
Baldelli is currently working as a special assistant to Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman, but he has not been in a big-league dugout since Minnesota let him go in the middle of the 2025 season. Before that, he built a résumé that should keep him in the conversation: a 101-win debut season with the Twins in 2019 and, in 2023, Minnesota’s first postseason series win in 19 years.
He also comes with a background that fits the kind of search Seattle appears to be running. A Rhode Island native who spent his playing days entirely in the American League East, first with the Rays and then with the Red Sox, Baldelli has now spent time on the West Coast in the Dodgers’ front office. In an offseason where few manager jobs are open, that kind of experience could make him a natural interview candidate.
Jon Heyman of the New York Post mentioned Baldelli on Tuesday as one of several high-profile “possible candidates who would fit [president of baseball operations Jerry Dipoto's] preference for experience” in replacing Dan Wilson. The others Heyman listed were Brandon Hyde, former Dodgers catcher David Ross and Joe Espada.
Espada’s name is already in play. Earlier Tuesday, multiple reports said the Mariners had received permission from the Astros to interview him. Houston finished 81-81 and still won the American League West.
Seattle’s decision to move on from Wilson came in September after a 76-86 finish that made the change feel inevitable. That said, Wilson also oversaw the franchise’s first-ever American League Championship Series appearance in 2025, and much of that roster’s veteran core remains intact.
That reality helps explain why Seattle may lean toward someone who has already managed in the majors. Baldelli would fit that mold, and if the Mariners view him as a serious option, Dipoto may already have reached out to Friedman.
“We need fresh thought," Dipoto said at his end-of-season news conference. “We need something new.
It could be a shift in programming. It could be a shift in messaging.
It could be a shift in language. We'll collaborate with whoever our future manager is, and try to find the right person.”
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