Mike Redmond couldn’t win with the players Dan Jennings picked out, so Jennings decided to try it out himself. The Miami Marlins general manager will move down from his front-office post and take over as manager, the team announced Monday.
Jennings discussed the transition, per Joe Frisaro of MLB.com:
I’ve always considered myself, now 31 years in the game, as a baseball man. … I respect the [manager] position because in my time, I know how hard these men have worked to get there. I also know that a lot of them take different avenues to arrive in that seat. This is definitely a different avenue to arrive in this chair.
The move received some criticism due to possibly violating the “Selig Rule,” as USA Today‘s Ted Berg pointed out. Fox Sports’ Jon Morosi provided a synopsis of owner Jeffrey Loria’s explanation on the matter:
Jennings has been with the Marlins since 2002. He has slowly moved up and built trust within the organization, starting as a vice president of player personnel before eventually landing the GM gig at the end of the 2013 season. His move down to the managerial position comes a day after Miami fired Redmond and bench coach Rob Leary after a 16-22 start, which the team announced on Twitter.
Mike Goff, who served as a bench coach for the Seattle Mariners in 2007, will take over as Miami’s bench coach. Goff was previously serving as an advanced scout for the Marlins.
Jennings’ managerial hire is an unconventional move to say the least. Working in player personnel for almost the entirety of his baseball career, Jennings has never held a coaching or managerial post in an MLB organization.
Jennings even shared some of the skepticism from his own family members, via Juan C. Rodriguez of the Sun Sentinel.
Expected to compete for a division crown, Jennings has his work cut out trying to right the ship. The Marlins are six games behind the New York Mets for first place in the National League East and have dropped six of their last seven games.
With Jennings boasting no managerial experience of note, his feet will be to the fire early and often for the remainder of 2015.
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