After being swept by the Mets in mid-April the Miami Marlins were 3-10, and team ownership made no secret of manager Mike Redmond’s position firmly atop the hot seat. The team then won nine of ten games including a five game winning streak, and Redmond’s job seemed to be safe. However, now in mid-May the Marlins sit at 16-22, falling fast, and owner Jeffrey Loria has seen enough. Following a near-no-hitter at the hands of Shelby Miller, Redmond and bench coach Rob Leary were fired Sunday night.
Back in April there had been substantial rumors of Mets Triple-A manager Wally Backman taking over for Redmond, on Sunday immediately following Redmond’s firing there were strong indications that the job would go to former Marlin Jeff Conine, and in a not so standard turn of events, the job now somehow belongs to general manager Dan Jennings.
Loria has been known to make snap managerial changes, as Jennings will be the team’s seventh manager since 2010. The tactic has panned out before, as in 2003 Loria fired then manager Jeff Torborg after 38 games as well, only for Jack McKeon to take over and lead the team to a World Series title.
But of all Marlins managerial shake-ups in the last half decade, this one rings most questionable. Loria cited the organization’s emphasis on familiarity and not bringing in “an outsider,” but Jennings has no previous managerial experience and will be taking on a role that’s not been filled in a quarter century, last done by Bobby Cox with the Braves in 1990.
In an organization laden with young players and budding talent, the desire for familiarity and closeness is understandable. But with star OF and team leader Giancarlo Stanton now playing for the seventh manager of his short major league career, it’s evident that recent years have been tumultuous in the Miami organization, and this unexpected move doesn’t clear anything up.
Offseason acquisitions of proven talents such as Dee Gordon, Michael Morse, and Mat Latos show that the Marlins are in some sort of win-now mode, and with a losing record approaching the end of May, Loria has once again flashed his flair for the unconventional.
Jennings’ managerial abilities remain unseen, and unlike recent inexperienced managerial hires such as Brad Ausmus, Mike Matheny, and Craig Counsell, Jennings lacks on-field experience and proven in-game leadership, which will surely be tested in weeks to come.
Jennings is expected to remain as manager at least through the end of the 2015 season, though he is signed with the club as GM through 2018.
In Monday morning’s press conference Jennings addressed the issue as “out of the box” and containing an “element of surprise,” before mentioning a conversation with his mother, during which she asked “Are you crazy? Have you lost your mind?”
Of all of Loria’s impulsive, unorthodox decisions in the last decade plus, this may top the charts. Ownership and Jennings alike seem confident that this is the kick to the rear that the Marlins need, and only time will tell if Jennings’ mother was right, and Dan, among other Marlins ownership, has truly lost his mind.