Marlins reportedly hire Don Mattingly as manager, signing him to four-year deal

Ever since Don Mattingly parted ways with the Los Angeles Dodgers, it was expected that he would become the next manager of the Miami Marlins. Confirming what been all but a certainty, it’s now happening: Mattingly and Miami are a match.

Source: The Marlins and Don Mattingly have agreed on a contract. He will be the club’s next manager.

— Molly Knight (@molly_knight) October 29, 2015

Molly Knight — an authority on the Dodgers, having just written a book about the team, The Best Team Money Can Buy — reported for Vice Sports that the Marlins have indeed hired Mattingly, signing him to a four-year contract. The team is expected to wait until after the World Series to make an official announcement, as MLB prefers its championship event to draw baseball’s biggest headlines while it’s being played.

Mattingly managed five seasons with the Dodgers, winning division titles in the past three consecutive years. The team’s failure to win a World Series despite a gigantic payroll and loaded roster was obviously a stain on his résumé, but that kind of success is more than welcome for many other MLB clubs. Obviously, Mattingly’s record looks great to the Marlins.

Owner Jeffrey Loria is a New York native and grew up a Yankees fan. Presumably, he was also an admirer of Mattingly, who played 14 seasons for the Yankees and was the team’s best players throughout the 1980s, winning AL MVP in 1985. Given the wide speculation of Loria’s interest in hiring Mattingly as manager and the owner’s immediate pursuit of him after leaving the Dodgers, it’s not difficult to imagine that the Marlins have been eyeing this move for quite a while. The team hired Mattingly despite not currently having a general manager, with Dan Jennings’ status uncertain following his failed stint as field manager.

If Loria and Mattingly already have a friendly relationship, as Knight reports, then perhaps he’ll be more patient than he’s been with the Marlins’ previous managers. Mattingly will be the team’s 11th skipper of Loria’s 13-year tenure as owner. His handling of the manager position this season may have been his worst, dismissing Mike Redmond after just 38 games and moving Jennings down from the front office into the dugout. Jennings’ only prior managerial experience was coaching a high school team from 1985 to 1988. To no surprise, Jennings seemed overwhelmed and unprepared for the job, and the Marlins finished with a 55-69 record under his watch.

Mattingly has dealt with tumultuous ownership before, having begun his managerial career with the Dodgers under Frank McCourt. The team was then purchased by Guggenheim Partners, led by Mark Walter, Stan Kasten and Magic Johnson, and the payroll increased significantly with the new ownership group’s vast financial resources. Mattingly also worked for two different front offices in Los Angeles, having been hired by GM Ned Colletti and retained by team president Andrew Friedman and GM Farhan Zaidi. The fact that Friedman and Zaidi didn’t hire Mattingly and ultimately wanted their own guy is likely why the two sides parted, despite Mattingly having one year remaining on his contract.

Unlike the largely veteran roster he had with the Dodgers, Mattingly takes over a young roster with rising superstars in Miami, led by Giancarlo Stanton and Jose Fernandez. Christian Yelich, Adeiny Hechavarria and Henderson Alvarez also provide developing players for Mattingly to manage, something he showed a talent for in Los Angeles with Joc Pederson and Corey Seager. Mattingly also wasn’t afraid to make tough decisions when necessary, such as benching Matt Kemp and Jimmy Rollins in favor of more productive players.

Can Mattingly find the success in Miami that eluded him in Los Angeles? The Nationals have the most talented roster in the NL East, though will be undergoing some offseason transition. The Mets won the NL pennant, but can they repeat that success if star hitters depart as free agents? The Marlins were expected to flirt with contention this year and much of the same team is in place. With a steady hand like Mattingly in the dugout and the right additions during the winter, this team could make a move up the standings. If that happens, Loria will somehow once again come out ahead, despite being perhaps the worst owner in all of professional sports.