3 dark horse candidates for open SF Giants manager role

Three candidates not being talked about much.

Nick San Miguel

San Francisco Giants v Arizona Diamondbacks / Norm Hall/GettyImages

The SF Giants are looking for a new manager and they have been connected to a lot of names in their search thus far. However, there are some dark horse names not many people are talking about who could make sense for the job.

3 dark horse candidates for open SF Giants manager role

Curt Casali

The former Giants backup catcher getting a lot of attention right now is Nick Hundley. However, another former Giants catcher who has long been thought of as a future manager is Curt Casali.

He spent time as a backup for the Giants in 2021, 2022, and 2024. He was solid behind the plate for the Giants and always seemed to call a great game. He was teammates with president of baseball operations Buster Posey in 2021 so there is familiarity there.

He would be green with no managerial experience, but if Buster likes the way he sees the game then he could make sense as a young manager who can connect well with the players.

David Bell

Many believed that David Bell was going to be the successor to Bruce Bochy in San Francisco when he rejoined the organization in 2017 after he played for the Giants in 2002 and had a very memorable moment with the team.

Instead, he went to the Cincinnati Reds and served as manager from 2019 to 2024 with a record of 409-456 and was fired after last season. Maybe he could make sense as a guy with managerial experience and ties to the Giants.

Mike Matheny

Turning back to the former Giants catcher theme, Mike Matheny was with the Giants in 2005 and 2006. He ended up facing off against the Giants a couple times during their championship runs last decade as the manager of the St. Louis Cardinals.

His first four seasons with St. Louis resulted in playoff berths, but the team declined after that and he ended up being fired in 2018. He landed with the Kansas City Royals as their manager a few years later but was fired after a few bad seasons.

Perhaps if he got another chance he could help the Giants out.

These names have not come up a lot in early discussions for the Giants manager, but perhaps one or two of them will emerge as the process plays out in the coming weeks.

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Nick San Miguel

Nick San Miguel has been writing at FanSided since 2017. He began as a contributor writing about the San Francisco Giants at Around the Foghorn and became a Site Co-Expert for AtF in 2024. A die-hard Bay Area sports fan born 10 minutes from Levi's Stadium, he has also written about the San Francisco 49ers for Niner Noise as a contributor since December 2023. In October 2025, he joined Blue Man Hoop as a contributor to write about the Golden State Warriors. He graduated with a degree in History from San Diego State University and is now based out of Chicago. He is the same age as Oracle Park.