8:44pm: While not exactly a denial of Nightengale's report, Marlins owner Jeffrey Loria tells Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald that he “never comments on any ridiculous and fabricated rumors.”
3:00pm: The Marlins will re-structure their front office following a disappointing season, and it'll cost the team's top baseball executive his job. The Marlins are planning to fire president of baseball operations Larry Beinfest and replace him with assistant GM and VP of player personnel Dan Jennings, Bob Nightengale of USA Today reports.
The dismissal could occur as early as next week. Two Marlins executives told Nightengale they’d be stunned if the Marlins don’t make further changes.
The Marlins re-branded their franchise last offseason, changing the team's name, logo and colors before moving to a new stadium. They were not expecting a 66-84 record and a fifth place team when they generated national buzz by spending aggressively on free agents. But the additions of Jose Reyes, Heath Bell, Mark Buehrle and manager Ozzie Guillen weren't enough to make the team a contender.
The Marlins hired Beinfest more than ten years ago, before the 2002 season. Michael Hill was promoted to the GM role following the 2007 campaign with Beinfest assuming the role of president of baseball operations.
Jennings appeared on MLBTR's list of GM candidates last summer, drawing an honorable mention. He is not to be confused with Dan Jennings, the 25-year-old left-hander who pitches out of the Miami bullpen.
It’s ridiculous. It’s the worst ownership. But you can’t fire ownership so Beinfest takes the fall. The only thing he’s done for the Marlins is Dontrelle Willis, Juan Pierrre, help win 2003 World Series, trade for Hanley, Anibal, Nolasco, taking Uggla with Rule 5 draft. What a terrible employee.
He made some great moves early in his tenure as GM, but his moves haven’t been as good the last five years. The Cabrera trade was IMO the start of his not-so-great moves. In hindsight, it looked like a pretty good deal, as they got two top prospects in Andrew Miller and Cameron Maybin, who at the time looked to be cornerstones of the franchise, as well as many other arms who had the chance to be solid. However, Miller never commanded the strike zone well despite having electric stuff, and Maybin was rushed at an early age which is why I think he struggled with his time with the Marlins (his status is still up in air, but from last year’s play as well as him being only 25, he still has time to deem his worth). The Marlins did get rid of Willis, which saved them some money even if it was only for a year. I think the Padres won the Maybin side unless Cox, who was acquired for Mujica, turns out to be a solid MLB player. But other than the Nunez (now Oviedo) for Jacobs swap, his moves really haven’t panned out.
You would have thought with all the talent he was able to obtain in the mid 2000’s, that by now the Marlins would be contending (though Michael Hill probably deserves some blame as well). The free agent signings that were made last off-season were overpays by all means, though that could be more contributed towards ownership wanting to make moves with the franchise turning a complete 180, thus putting pressure on Beinfest and Hill to spend hard. I agree that its the ownership that is killing the franchise. But I honestly think that this club will have to go through a lot of changes before competing again.
Name one first round pick in the last 7 years that panned out. Compare that to the rest of the league. Also, he won with players he didn’t draft or acquire in 2003.
I do think it’s funny that they added the note that the rookie relief pitcher is not the actual guy being promoted. As if anyone actually thought a 25-year-old rookie reliever was getting promoted to the front office…
What about Michael Hill? Isn’t he next in the line?
The guy has not had a successful 1st round pick in 9 years. It’s not as if they went elsewhere and became stars. They simply weren’t good enough to be a MLB player, much less a first round pick. It’s time for a change. We’d prefer Loria sell the team, but he can’t so us as fans just hope for the best.
Hey Robbie, how is it the ownerships fault? They spent the money and Beifest failed to provide the team. Other than 2006 what has Beinfest done? He got nothing in the Cabrera trade and failed to build upon the 2003 championship. The dismantling didn’t occur until 2006 so he had two years and failed. Now don’t get me wrong, I am not a Loria or Samson fan but Beinfest has run his course with the Marlins. See ya Larry.
Yunel Escobar will be traded to the Marlins this off-season. Watch.
You know the Marlins already have Jose Reyes….
Escobar can be converted to 2nd. The Jays were already talking about that in order to play Hech at SS.
So they are promoting the assistant GM over his boss to be president of baseball operations? I mean heck, if that’s what they want to do more power to them. Seems strange though. I guess the good news from their perspective is that Michael Hill is already used to having no authority whatsoever, heh.
Hill is a Beinfest product, so I don’t think he will be kept around.
Bottom line is the 03 WS team was built by John Henry and Dave Dombrowski, Loria and Co came in and put the candles on the cake and took credit for it. No playoffs since 03, the worst trade in baseball (miggy), and an embarrassingly bad inagural season for the Miami Marlins.
A thought came to me when I read that. Wonder if Red Sox ownership would try to pry Dombrowski away in the offseason in his same front office role to be the experienced front office mind they’re looking for with helping Cherington. He has ties with Henry. It’s a LONG shot, but it would be interesting.