Marlins will not bring Dan Jennings back as manager next season
The Miami Marlins are shaking things up again. The team announced Tuesday that manager Dan Jennings will not return in the same role next season.
The news doesn’t come as a huge surprise. Jennings was marginally better than Mike Redmond, the man he replaced, but didn’t perform well enough to keep his job. Under Redmond, the club posted a .421 winning percentage this season. With Jennings at the helm, that improved slightly, finishing at .444.
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On top of that, Jennings’ transition from the front office to the dugout was tough. While the players never openly criticized the move, it was speculated that some players boycotted a charity event shortly after Jennings was hired in order to protest the direction of the club.
Things were mostly quiet after that, though. The Marlins continued to lose, and even had to play without star outfielder Giancarlo Stanton. Things were bad, but at least the initial hesitancy about Jennings in the dugout had subsided.
That didn’t last long, of course. Reports surfaced in September that Jennings would likely be asked to leave his role in the dugout. There was some uncertainty over whether the club would welcome Jennings back to the front office, though that’s been cleared up now.
With Jennings out as the manager, the club will interview between four and 20 candidates, according to team president David Samson.
Since the new manager will have total control over his staff, the team has also told its current coaches they are free to seek employment elsewhere.
This type of upheaval in the dugout has become commonplace for the Marlins in recent years. The club has torn through seven different managers since 2010, though that includes a one-game stint by interim manager Brandon Hyde.
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Still, that figure is not ideal. While moving Jennings down from his general manager position was a good way to keep the organization consistent despite another big change, it ultimately failed.
For Miami, it’s just more of the same. Another manager will come in and attempt to lead the team until Jeffrey Loria tires of him and decides to move on. At least, that’s what recent history tells us.
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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