Marlins fire Dan Jennings for second time this month — now from GM job
During the 2015 season, Dan Jennings served as both the Miami Marlins’ general manager and their field manager. In 2016, he’ll be neither.
Jennings was “relieved of his duties” as general manager on Thursday, ending a guessing game about whether he’d return to that role after being fired as the team’s field manager on Oct. 6.
Yep, the Marlins fired him twice in one month. Even for Jeffrey Loria, Miami’s notorious manager-firer, this is an accomplishment.
[Related: Don Mattingly might be the answer to Miami’s revolving-door manager job]
It caps a weird, weird year for Jennings. He started the season as GM, as expected. He’d had that role since the end of the 2013 season. When the Marlins decided to fire manager Mike Redmond on May 17, they shocked everyone in baseball by making Jennings their field manager. He backed away from his GM duties then. When he was fired as Miami’s manager after going 55-69 to finish the season, the Marlins offered Jennings his old GM job back. He was said to be mulling it over.
Something changed between then and now, because he’s 100 percent out the door. The Marlins announced Michael Hill, their former GM and current president of baseball operations will also “assume the full responsibilities of the general manager position.” And if you missed the news earlier, the Marlins are reportedly hiring ex-Dodgers manager Don Mattingly as their new skipper.
[Related: Alex Anthopoulos departure signals big changes coming to Blue Jays]
The complete exile of Jennings reportedly is because of a rift between he and Loria. USA Today’s Bob Nightengale said their relationship soured when Jennings played outfielder Marcell Ozuna against Loria’s wishes. This goes back to when Ozuna, who was struggling in his third year in the big leagues, was sent to Triple-A, then called back up.
Loria has long had a reputation for meddling with his managers and/or giving them directives. What’s interesting about this particular situation is that deciding how and when to play Ozuna would be the job of the manager and general manager — both jobs Jennings had experience in — yet Loria stuck his nose in anyway.
The message from the Jennings saga is clear: If you want a job with the Marlins, stay on Loria’s good side.
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Mike Oz is the editor of Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @MikeOz
