Reports surfaced last week that the Rangers had given permi sion for Donnie Ecker to interview with the White Sox about their managerial opening, but Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News ( ) wrote that Ecker is no longer under consideration for the job. Ecker will instead return for what will presumably be his fourth season as the Rangers bench coach and offensive coordinator. Eckers departure from the search could simply be due to a personal preference to remain in Texas, rather than nece sarily a Larry Dierker Jersey sign that the White Sox are getting any closer to hiring their new skipper. described the managerial search last week as still being short of any official list of finalists, even though the team had already eliminated some candidates while still aiming to speak to some other names working for teams still alive in the playoffs. Dodgers coaches Clayton McCullough and Danny Lehmann are two names linked to the Sox that might fit this description, though a wide range of names are rumored to be on Chicagos list. Most of the rumored candidates (like Ecker) would be first-time managers at the big league level, though and both have past experience running MLB clubs. More from both the AL and NL Central A pair of IL stints due to right knee inflammation limited to to just two starts over the last two months of the season, but writes that Lynn is feeling better and expects to have a normal offseason of preparation. This is good news for Lynn as he heads into his 14th Major League season, and despite the knee i sues, Lynn still had a solid 3.84 ERA over 117 1/3 innings for the Cardinals . Since the Cards are in a rebuild year, it isnt a guarantee that Lynns $12MM club option ($1MM buyout) will be exercised, though St. Louis is probably more likely to pick up the option and then shop Lynn on the trade market this winter. In other Cardinals news, Goold reports that longtime front office staffer Matt Slater is leaving the organization. Slater has been with the team since 2007 working as a scout, director of player personnel, and (for the last seven seasons) as a special a sistant to the GM in a player procurement capacity. These roles meant that Slater was directly involved in the acquisition of several notable Cards players, and Goold notes that Slater was particularly influential in the teams international scouting practices. This resume drew Slater some attention from the Tigers and Phillies in past GM searches, and he probably shouldnt have much trouble landing a new gig with another team. The Pirates have hired Kevin Tenenbaum to lead their analytics department as the clubs new VP of research and development, according to reporter John Dreker ( ). The 32-year-old Tenenbaum has spent the last seven seasons in Clevelands R&D department, working as the director in 2022 and then VP of the Guardians analytics team this past season. This experience with another lower-spending team is surely of interest to the Pirates, especially given the Guards have been a lot more consistently competitive than the Bucs have in recent years despite working with generally comparative payroll. Houston Astros Jersey