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Jeffrey Loria’s Miami Marlins are in crisis. The team just fired its manager and replaced him with their GM Dan Jennings.
Marlins manager Mike Redmond and bench coach Rob Leary were dumped after Sunday’s series sweep by the Atlanta Braves in a 6-0 loss.
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Jennings has served in one role or another with the team since 2002.
He said, “There’s really an element to surprise to everybody here regarding this press conference and this move. I’m extremely honored that Jeffrey Loria, David Samson and Michael Hill have shown this type of trust and faith in me to put me in this position. It’s an honor, and certainly a privilege to be able to lead this team that I had a hand in putting together.”
“I’m looking forward today to addressing this group of men, this staff and moving down the road toward the ultimate goal that is to play in October, ” he added.
But not everybody is impressed with the move.
The New York Post wrote that, “the decision to have general manager Dan Jennings replace Redmond is being lambasted because, among other things, Jennings last managed at the high school level, three decades ago. He admitted at his introductory press conference Monday that even his mother asked if he were crazy for accepting this job.”
On Loria it said, “He is George Steinbrenner, minus any wit or gravitas. He now has had eight managers since McKeon left after the 2005 campaign, including Joe Girardi for one year after which he was named the NL Manager of the Year. He is a revenue-sharing moocher who will now be paying three managers simultaneously — Ozzie Guillen, Redmond and Jennings — yet will have no one with a general manager designation.”
But some insiders were quoted as saying that Loria was not the one who made the decision.
Loria told the New York Daily News about the change, “The lack of energy spoke for itself. They were lifeless…I don’t see this as such a bold move. I see it as a move to get some energy in that dugout, and elevate some of the lack of energy.”
On picking a general manager to take over in the club house Loria said, “It’s not revolutionary Bobby Cox went from GM to manager. What you want are good baseball minds.”
