We were probably setting ourselves up for disappointment in the hours following the Miami Marlins firing of manager Mike Redmond on Sunday.
It’s difficult not to get caught up in the excitement of a change and something new happening. You’d expect that from fans. But it was a little bit surprising just how much the baseball media got pulled into that as well.
Maybe the Marlins would hire Dusty Baker! Or Bobby Valentine! What about Bo Porter? Hey, Ron Washington is available. Former Marlins hitting coach Eduardo Perez? Those were some of the candidates CBS Sports’ Jon Heyman tossed out there.
Approximately a month ago, the Miami Herald‘s Clark Spencer reported that the front office had discussed Mets Triple-A skipper Wally Backman as a possible replacement, so maybe he would be the choice.
It soon became apparent, however, that the Marlins wouldn’t make an outside hire, preferring to stay within the organization. Spencer tweeted that current Miami third base coach Brett Butler was favored for the job. Promoting someone from the current staff made sense. Yet the Marlins hadn’t made an announcement, which led to speculation filling that vacuum. The intrigue of a mystery candidate led to names such as Andre Dawson and Tony Perez being mentioned. MLB.com’s Joe Frisaro even tweeted that Pudge Rodriguez was a possibility.
A name that will shock, who played for #Marlins is Pudge Rodriguez, whose name is circulating w/n industry #FWIW
— Joe Frisaro (@JoeFrisaro) May 18, 2015
USA Today‘s Bob Nightengale reported that another former Marlins player, Jeff Conine — currently the special assistant to team president David Samson, as well as a pre- and postgame analyst for Fox Sports Florida broadcasts — was getting the gig. Nightengale quickly walked that back, however, after a front office official (who could have been Conine himself, for all we know) insisted Conine was not the choice.
The mistake everyone made was presuming that Marlins owner Jeffrey Loria had an immediate replacement in mind. Otherwise, why make such an impulsive decision? He had to have a new guy ready, right? Of course, we’re talking about an owner known for quickly turning tail on a season, regardless of how much money was spent, no matter what sort of new plan and new hope is sold to Marlins fans.
Giancarlo Stanton is 25. Dan Jennings will be the seventh manager he’s played under in his major league career. — Joe Lucia (@Joe_TOC) May 18, 2015
To be fair to Loria — certainly more fair than he was to Redmond — the plan was for the Marlins to contend this season. While there was excitement and anticipation over the Mets, Miami looked like the better bet to compete for a wild-card spot out of the NL East. They had a MVP candidate in Giancarlo Stanton, the best power hitter in MLB, freshly armed with the 13-year, $325 million extension that was supposed to signal a new era of Marlins baseball. Veterans Martin Prado, Mat Latos, Michael Morse and Ichiro Suzuki were brought in to supplement a young core of talent. Jose Fernandez was likely to rejoin the team by midseason, following recovery from Tommy John surgery.
Of course, the Marlins have been a huge disappointment at 16-22 and holding fourth place in the NL East, currently just a half-game in front of a Phillies team that was supposed to be the worst in baseball this year. Never mind that Jarrod Saltalamacchia was an overpaid bust who was designated for assignment at the end of April. Morse is batting .210 with a .557 OPS. Latos has a 5.54 ERA with 45 hits allowed in 37.1 innings. The bullpen has eight blown saves, led by four from Steve Cishek, who’s carrying an 8.78 ERA and given up 17 hits in 13.1 innings.
Redmond was the scapegoat for his players’ failure to perform, which is widely understood throughout MLB. Taking that into consideration, in addition to the Marlins’ history of impatience with their managers, what were the chances that an established skipper would agree to work for Loria? Sure, you could say that there are only 30 of these jobs, so when one opens, it has to be taken. That’s why speculation immediately zeroed in on the likes of Baker, Valentine, Porter and Washington.
PHOENIX, AZ – JULY 07: Manager Mike Redmond #11 of the Miami Marlins look son from the dugout during the MLB game against the Arizona Diamondbacks at Chase Field on July 7, 2014 in Phoenix, Arizona. (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images)
However, we’re talking about a team that just canned its manager six weeks into the season, seven months after he was given a two-year contract extension. The Marlins are still paying out the final year of Ozzie Guillen’s contract, so they’re already paying two managers on top of whatever commitment was offered to the new guy. None of this provides a picture of stability for a prospective manager, especially one who’s already had experience working for another major league club.
So should it really be a surprise that the Marlins settled for moving general manager Dan Jennings down into the dugout to take over for Redmond? OK, it actually is a surprise. So maybe Loria deserves some credit — or scorn — for still being able to shock (yet not awe) with his personnel decisions. The 54-year-old hasn’t managed any baseball club since leading Davidson High School in Mobile, Ala. 30 years ago. This is not a hire you make to salvage what you perceive as a playoff team. This is a “We’ll try again next year, folks!” kind of move.
Marlins president of baseball operations Mike Hill insists Jennings is not an interim hire, but of course he is. The dictionary definition of “interim hire” is being changed as we speak, accompanied a picture from Jennings’ introductory press conference. The idea that the front office is even trying to sell this as a long-term solution is perhaps the biggest load of fish heads ever served up from a team that’s made it a regular practice of doing so since Loria bought the Marlins in 2002.
Jennings is under contract through 2018, but if he’s the Marlins manager beyond the rest of this season, then the team is in even more chaos than we ever imagined and Loria truly has lost his mind. If there really is a plan in place, it’s that Jennings is a placeholder until a more viable name can be hired, whether it’s an established manager or a former player who has some credibility with players and can work with this front office.
But for now, you have to think that Stanton is so very thankful that his mega-contract has an out clause after the 2020 season. Obviously, he’s being paid lavishly by the same owner who has the Marlins a circus. However, the sooner he can get out of that asylum, the better. Maybe Stanton has already been on the phone with Redmond since his dismissal, asking how relieved he is to be done with this mess. An exit strategy has to look more appealing by the hour.
