Miguel Cairo

Miguel Jesús Cairo

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 6' 0", Weight 160 lb.

• Debut April 17, 1996
• Final Game October 3, 2012
• Born May 4, 1974 in Anaco, Anzoategui, Venezuela

BR page

Biographical Information

"[A] very good defensive player, he can run, and he's going to come along as a hitter...he was one of the most talented players we had on the board." - Larry Rothschild

Miguel Cairo was a well-traveled utility man, playing with nine teams (and in ten organizations) during a productive 17-season career.

Originally property of the Los Angeles Dodgers, Miguel reached the majors with cups of coffee for the Toronto Blue Jays and Chicago Cubs in 1996 and 1997 respectively. While with the Cubs' Triple A outfit the Iowa Cubs, he stole 40 bases (second best in the level) and smoked 35 doubles (tops in the Cub organization). His reward was to be left unprotected in the ensuing expansion draft, joining the Tampa Bay Devil Rays for their maiden voyage in 1998. In his lone full-time starting season, playing second base, he hit .268 with 26 doubles and stole 19 bags, being named to the 1998 Topps All-Star Rookie Team.

Following two more seasons of fairly frequent play for the Devil Rays in 1999 and 2000, he began traveling around baseball in a utility role, with stops back with the Cubs, the St. Louis Cardinals, the New York Yankees (with a productive .292/.346/.417 line as a semi-regular second baseman in 2004), the New York Mets, the Seattle Mariners, the Philadelphia Phillies, settling down with a final three-season run with the Cincinnati Reds from 2010 to 2012. In 1,490 games, he recorded 1,044 hits and hit .264. Among his appearances were 313 games as a pinch-hitter and another 65 as a pinch-runner, in addition to playing seven positions and being a DH.

Upon his retirement following the 2012 season, Miguel was named a special assistant to Reds General Manager Walt Jocketty and remained in that role through 2017. In 2013 he also served as the interim bench coach for a few months while third base coach Mark Berry underwent treatment for cancer. From 2018-2020 Cairo worked with the New York Yankees as their minor league infield coordinator. In 2021 he was named bench coach of the Chicago White Sox under manager Tony LaRussa. With LaRussa away, he was acting manager for Sox for the iconic Field of Dreams Game against the New York Yankees on August 12th. He once again had to take over as acting manager the following season, on August 31, 2022 when LaRussa had to take a sudden indefinite leave of absence to undergo medical tests for a heart condition. He stayed until the end of the season as LaRussa was unable to come back, and then announced his retirement on October 3rd with two games left in the season. Cairo was one of the candidates under consideration for the permanent job after the season, but lost out to Kansas City Royals bench coach Pedro Grifol.

The New York Mets hired Cairo in 2023 to be the organization's minor league infield coordinator. In 2024, he returned to the coaching ranks as bench coach of the Washington Nationals.

Cairo also had a brief foray into coaching in the winter leagues. He started the 2023/2024 season as manager of the Navegantes del Magallanes in the Venezuelan League, but was fired on December 3rd. Firing the manager is a frequent event in the winter leagues when a team underperforms.

Miguel's son, shortstop Christian Cairo, was drafted in the 4th round by the Cleveland Indians in 2019.

Notable Achievements

• 1998 Topps All-Star Rookie Team

Preceded by Tony LaRussa

Chicago White Sox Manager 2022

Succeeded by Pedro Grifol

Year-By-Year Managerial Record

Year	Team	League	Record	Finish	Organization	Playoffs	Notes
2022	Chicago White Sox	American League	18-15	2nd	Chicago White Sox		replaced Tony LaRussa (63-66) on August 31

Related Sites

• Miguel Cairo on mlb.com