OCT. 9: Jennings will return to his previous role as general manager, reports Jon Heyman of CBS Sports. An announcement could come anytime between Sunday and Tuesday of the coming week, he adds. Jennings is under contract with the Marlins for three more seasons.
OCT. 6: The Marlins have announced that Jennings will not return as the manager, as Clark Spencer of the Miami Herald reports (all links to Twitter).
Club president David Samson explained that Jennings is the general manager as he is a “signed member” of the front office. Though president of baseball ops Michael Hill seemingly indicated that Jennings had yet to decide whether to continue that arrangement, Samson said that “there’s no decision for him to make.”
OCt. 4, 8:28pm: A pair of tweets from USA Today’s Bob Nightengale suggests Jennings might return to the Marlins’ front office, but not in the GM position. The Marlins could make Berger GM, with Jeff McAvoy as assistant GM, Arnold as player personnel director and David Keller as pro scouting director. Jennings would then occupy some other position. Frisaro, meanwhile, writes (via Twitter) that the Marlins are planning to establish an analytics department and that Arnold could head it.
8:08pm: The Phillies have granted the Marlins permission to interview bench coach Larry Bowa for their manager position, Jim Salisbury of CSNPhilly.com writes. Bowa is expected to interview on Monday, MLB.com’s Joe Frisaro tweets. Bo Porter and Manny Acta have already interviewed for the job. In addition, Frisaro reports that Dan Jennings, who posted a 55-69 record as the team’s manager following the firing of Mike Redmond earlier this season, is expected to return to the Marlins’ GM job.
As of yesterday, Jennings was still deciding whether to accept a return to the Marlins’ front office. Jeff Passan of Yahoo! Sports reported that the team’s front office would undergo changes, with assistant GM Mike Berger taking over something resembling a GM position. The Marlins also recently interviewed Rays director of player personnel Matt Arnold about a front office position. It has lately appeared that Jennings’ power in the organization was somewhat diminished. If Jennings does return to the GM position, it’s not clear how the Marlins will manage their decision-making process given the presence Jennings, Berger and other front-office voices.
Bowa, 69, was previously the manager of the Padres and Phillies. He led the Phillies to a 337-308 record from 2001 through 2004 and won the NL Manager of the Year award in 2001. He also served as a base coach for the Yankees and Dodgers and as an analyst for ESPN and the MLB Network before rejoining the Phillies organization in 2014.
Lets just say I think there is a reason the Phillies chose Mackinin over Bowa.
Bowa can’t even coach 3rd base, he’ll be a disaster as Manager
Bowa has a lot of managerial experience including 2 second place finishes with the Phillies. He was the 2001 Manager of the year.
How much worse can Bowa be than Dan Jennings? The man is a business man in a baseball situation. Works well for GMs, doesn’t work well for managers.
Unless he’s changed significantly since his last stint as a manager, he could be much worse. At least Jennings doesn’t upbraid his players constantly and alienate franchise icons.
Larry Bowa could be worse. He’s a rigid, old-school hothead with an emotional (re: angry) style of managing that could easily wear thin on a young Marlins team. It’s a pretty uninspired choice, imo.
By the way, Matt Williams has 1 first place finish with the Nationals and was 2014 Manager of the Year. He would also be worse than Jennings.
Jennings displayed absolutely no knowledge of baseball while managing the team. I think they would’ve won more games with the team mascot running things.
I don’t really know what Jennings is “deciding” on. Nobody is going to put him back in a uniform, and I can’t imagine he’d be a choice for any of the open GM jobs.
The same choice you make when you decide to hold a gun to your head or put the gun back on the table and walk away? Sometimes nothing is better than Loria.
I have so many issues with this article. Larry Bowa? When you could have Bo Porter or Manny Acta? Come on. Then again, if they hired a young guy they’d probably just fire him way too soon after they refuse to field a halfway decent team again.
Also, if I’m Dan Jennings and I’ve been given the option of returning to the front office or leaving, I’m already packed up and on the next flight to anywhere but Miami.
Bo Porter and Manny Acta? That’s like taking tires of a car that spun out and driving with them in a rain storm. Porter and Acta have both been found out as lacking the ability to successfully lead a baseball team. Some managers are good for young players and some are good for more veteran teams. Porter did a good job getting guys ready to perform on the big stage, but that’s what you want in a AAA manager, not a guy running you big league club.
Good thing you made the second paragraph to limit the thumbs down. Because acknowledging that leaving would be a more desirable outcome than working for Loria is absolutely true. It’s hard to find an owner more disconnected from his fan base. Hell, he makes Artie Moreno look engaged to the ebb and flow of Angels Nation (aka Anaheim of Los Angeles, which somehow is a “nation”)!
so, so far it’s bowa, acta, proter, baker, and maybe someone i missed. anyone stand out? keep hearing people praise porter. who can do something with a talented hitting team, but lacking pitching team. maybe that’s the problem.
Ron Washington is one of the best managers in recent memory and if he was willing to step back into the managerial chair, any team should give him whatever he wants, especially a team like the Marlins with plenty of talent, but no stability.
Totally agree. Wanted him to manage the Marlins for a while now.
I called it a while back. Bowa would be such a Loria move.
As smart a baseball guy as Bowa may be, the message this would send to the clubhouse is: “The beatings will continue until morale improves.”
Players today have trouble with a manager like Bowa. And it’s understandable. I remember him visibly pissed at his pitcher for walking someone and thinking, “Im glad I’m not a fan of that team! Bowa’s got such a negative vibe about him”.
You know what helps with this? Getting 25 guys that belong on an MLB roster. EVERY manager gets pissed when some AAAA pitcher is forced on them and they have to use them or risk damaging a player they depend on.
Check out Doug Mientkiewicz. He’d make a great manager. Was in the running for Twin’s manager before they chose Paul Molitor.
How come this team seems to think do highly of Jennings yet no other team has given him a sniff throughout this whole job switching thing