Associate Manager isn’t exactly a position that is very popular around Major League Baseball.

However, in 2023 the Texas Rangers named one.

Will Venable joined the Rangers after being the bench coach for the Boston Red Sox from 2021-2022.

Due to coaches not being able to join different teams without earning a promotion, Venable was named to the rare associate manager position on Bruce Bochy’s first coaching staff in Texas.

Following the 2023 season in which Texas won the World Series, Venable was a top priority for many teams looking to hire a new manager.

Two playoff teams, the New York Mets and Cleveland Guardians had Venable high on their radars and were looking to interview and potentially hire him away from the Rangers.

However, Venable was adamant that he wanted to remain in Texas and turned down both of those potential jobs.

Flash forward to this offseason and the Rangers are entering the final year of Bruce Bochy’s three-year contract. At his end-of-season press conference, Bochy told the media he hasn’t thought about what’s to come when his contract expires.

Many Rangers fans however have, and it’s easy to consider Will Venable to be the next Texas manager when Bochy steps aside.

Nonetheless, the question that remains is if Venable will have taken another managerial position at that point.

Just like the last offseason, Venable has received interest from teams looking to hire managers although this time it’s gaining more smoke.

On Monday, sources confirmed that Venable was a finalist for both the Chicago White Sox and the Miami Marlins managerial positions.

Whether or not Venable will be offered and or accept those positions is still up in the air but for the Rangers, they sure hope he sticks around.

Neither of those positions are ideal spots for a first-time manager. Chicago finished an abysmal 41-121 and the Marlins at 62-100.

At 42 years old, the Rangers know they have a future big league manager sitting in their dugout, the question that remains is Will the man they call Will be the future manager of the Texas Rangers or will he take the bait of another job?