Report: Marlins to ask Dan Jennings to return to GM role following season
The Miami Marlins have decided to reverse course. The club will ask manager Dan Jennings abandon his role as manager in order to return to the front office at the end of the season, according to Ken Rosenthal of FoxSports.
UPDATE: Clark Spencer of the Miami Herald took things even further Tuesday, saying Jennings could return to the front office, but it may not be as the general manager. Owner Jeffrey Loria is apparently planning on major changes within the organization, and that could impact Jennings’ status. Sources also told Spencer the relationship between Loria and Jennings has become strained after the team’s struggles this season.
The Marlins fired Mike Redmond after the team went 16-22 to start the season. In an unorthodox move, the club opted to have Jennings step out of the front office and into the dugout. Jennings hasn’t been much better than his predecessor, going 37-57. He did have to manage a fair amount of those games without slugger Giancarlo Stanton, but it’s not like Jennings reinvigorated the club.
Jennings’ era as manager hasn’t been smooth. There were initial rumblings that the clubhouse had a tough time adjusting to their general manager now making on-field decisions. Members of the team even skipped a charity event shortly after Jennings took over, and though it was never officially called a protest of the hire, that didn’t stop people from speculating.
It should be noted that most of those concerns have died down recently, and the Marlins have plugged along as usual. The fact that the organization wants to retain Jennings seems to imply that the clubhouse didn’t descend into complete anarchy once he took over. The team was bad, sure, but it was bad under Redmond as well.
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It’s unclear what happens if Jennings wants to remain in the dugout. Rosenthal’s report seems to imply the Marlins would like to go a different direction next season, meaning Jennings would have to look for work elsewhere. Presumably, he could also look for a new front office role elsewhere in this scenario. That would give him an opportunity to get away from Jeffrey Loria.
It would seem likely Jennings would stay if he can slot back into his former position, though. General manager is the higher title, and Jennings would presumably be able to hire his successor in the dugout. Now that he has experience in that area, perhaps Jennings is better suited to pick the ideal manager for the club.
There are only 30 general manager positions in the game and Jennings has an opportunity to slide back into one after a down season. Given the rumors about his relationship with Loria, though, Jennings might be one of the few to turn down that chance.
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Chris Cwik is a writer for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @Chris_Cwik
