Marlins will hire GM Jennings as new manager

In one of the more interesting and surprising managerial twists in years, sources say general manager Dan Jennings will be hired to succeed Mike Redmond as manager.

Jennings, the GM since late in 2013, is a well-respected longtime baseball executive, but even by Marlins standards, this is a shocking hire. Baseball GMs just don’t become managers, as there is usually a clear delineation between the jobs. The Marlins have scheduled an 11 a.m. ET news conference to announce the move.

There is no word yet on if there might be a new GM, too, but the Marlins have team president Michael Hill, who is an experienced baseball man at the top of the baseball hierarchy, plus Mike Berger, another veteran baseball man in the front office. So there may not need to be a rush to add someone immediately.

Jennings has been a trusted employee since 2002 who’s seen as versatile, but both jobs are seen as 24-hour commitments, and splitting that job with one man is rare (the Braves did it for a few months in 1990 when Bobby Cox was the field manager and general manager before John Schuerholz became Atlanta’s GM), so it may be difficult to imagine in other quarters.

Jennings, who helped engineer the Marlins’ exciting winter, highlighted by the record signing of superstar slugger Giancarlo Stanton and exciting young player Dee Gordon, has limited coaching/managing experience. Very early in his career, he did coach high school in Birmingham, Ala.

An Alabama native who also has experience with the Reds and Mariners, Jennings has been a big presence in baseball circles for decades, helping the Rays in their early years before moving across Florida for a key front office role with the Marlins in 2002.

Dan Jennings (right) talks when Giancarlo Stanton is signed to a $325M contract. (Getty Images)

This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service – if this is your content and you’re reading it on someone else’s site, please read the FAQ at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php#publishers.