4) Don Mattingly
Don Mattingly isn’t getting any younger but of the available managers, he might know New York and the Yankees even more than Joe Girardi.
Mattingly, who turns 62 in April, played for the Yankees in the majors from 1982 through 1995. He coached for them from 2004 through 2007 before he went to the Dodgers with former Yankees manager Joe Torre. Mattingly succeeded Torre in 2011 before he went to Miami to manage the Marlins before the 2016 season.
Given how little he was given in Miami, it was amazing that they got to the playoffs in 2020 but otherwise, they really struggled in 2019, 2021, and 2022.
He resigned from his managerial job with the Marlins after this season, so it’s unknown whether or not if he would want to manage again. If he does, he would likely be willing to come back to the Yankees and try to bring them a World Series title.
5) Mike Shildt
Of the five former managers on our list, Mike Shildt is the youngest as he is 54 years old.
Shildt was the manager of the St. Louis Cardinals for parts of four seasons from 2018 through 2021. In his first full season managing the Cardinals in 2019, he won the NL Manager of the Year Award.
In each of his three full seasons with the Cardinals, the club made it to the playoffs and Shildt received NL Manager of the Year Award votes. In addition to winning in 2019, he was a finalist in 2021.
However, after the 2021 season, the Cardinals fired Shildt due to “philosophical differences.” The Padres then hired him as a coach for the 2022 season.
He has expressed an interest in managing again and he has the best track record of all of the managers on this list, despite being the youngest and the manager with the least amount of experience on this list.