Marlins Parting Ways With Assistant GMs Oz Ocampo, Dan Greenlee
The Marlins informed assistant general managers Dan Greenlee and Oz Ocampo that their contracts will not be renewed in 2025, report Barry Jackson and Craig Mish of the Miami Herald. The front office changes go beyond the AGM ranks. ESPN’s Alden González reports that the Fish are overhauling a lot of their player development department and are parting ways with international scouting director Roman Ocumarez.
It’s common for new baseball operations leaders to replace a lot of their top personnel fairly early in their tenure. Miami hired president of baseball operations Peter Bendix last November. Shortly before Bendix’s hiring, former GM Kim Ng declined her end of a mutual option after owner Bruce Sherman informed her the team was planning to hire a baseball ops president (thereby dropping Ng to second in the front office hierarchy).
Greenlee and Ocampo predated Bendix in the Miami front office. The Fish hired Greenlee back in 2017 and promoted him to AGM at the end of the 2020 campaign, just before they tabbed Ng to run baseball operations. Ocampo was an Ng hire, joining the organization over the 2022-23 offseason after spending time with the Astros and Pirates in international scouting.
The Marlins operated with four assistant GMs this season. They don’t actually have a general manager following Ng’s departure. Brian Chattin has been a part of the organization for more than a quarter century and has held an AGM title for nine seasons. Bendix surprisingly tabbed former Giants manager Gabe Kapler as an assistant GM last December. Jackson and Mish report that Chattin is expected to remain with the organization.
Both The Miami Herald and ESPN write that Kapler is expected to continue serving as an assistant GM next season as well. That should end any speculation about Kapler potentially making the jump back to the manager’s office in Miami. The Fish are generally expected to part ways with second-year manager Skip Schumaker at season’s end. While Schumaker won the Senior Circuit’s Manager of the Year award in his first season, the Marlins agreed to void a 2025 club option on his contract last winter after the manager reportedly voiced his displeasure with the organization’s handling of Ng’s situation.
It’s entirely possible that Bendix would have put his stamp on the front office regardless of how the team performed in 2024. The way the team played immediately solidified that they were headed for an organizational overhaul. Bendix oversaw a quiet first offseason from a player personnel perspective. The Fish never seemed strong believers that they’d repeat last year’s surprising playoff berth.
An 0-9 start tanked their season from the beginning and the Marlins pulled the trigger on a Luis Arraez trade just six weeks into the season. They followed up with trades of Jazz Chisholm Jr., Bryan De La Cruz, Josh Bell, Trevor Rogers and most players of note from their bullpen (e.g. Tanner Scott, A.J. Puk, Huascar Brazoban). Were it not for a brutal stretch of injury luck in the rotation, they’d probably have dealt Jesús Luzardo and potentially Braxton Garrett or Ryan Weathers as well.
It’s yet another full rebuild in Miami, one that’ll certainly continue into next offseason and quite likely the ’25 trade deadline. There are likely to be more changes throughout the roster, coaching staff and potentially in the front office as they try to turn the page on one of the worst seasons in franchise history.
Marlins To Hire Oz Ocampo As Assistant General Manager
The Marlins are hiring Astros executive Oz Ocampo as an assistant general manager, reports Jon Morosi of MLB Network.
Although the offseason hasn’t officially begun, Marlins general manager Kim Ng has been busy putting pieces together for non-playing roles. The Fish added Skip Schumaker to the dugout two days ago, replacing Don Mattingly as the manager. Now they will also have Ocampo on staff, bringing him over from Houston.
Ocampo has worn various hats in his career, starting out by acting as a scout for the Cardinals in the Dominican Republic. He then worked in the International Baseball Operations department of Major League Baseball before joining the Astros. He worked in Houston’s international scouting and player development department but left after 2019 to join the Pirates as a special assistant of player personnel. In February of this year, he returned to the Astros’ international scouting department.
At the time of Ocampo rejoining the Astros, Chandler Rome of the Houston Chronicle noted that Framber Valdez, José Urquidy, Luis Garcia and Cristian Javier were all signed during Ocampo’s time with the organization. He adds that Ocampo wanted the Astros to sign Yordan Alvarez, who signed with the Dodgers but was later acquired by Houston in a trade. Baseball scouting departments are large entities that consist of many people, making it difficult to assign credit or blame to a single individual. Still, it’s apparent that Ocampo’s work is respected around the industry and there’s no doubting the fact that the Astros have a strong track record of international player development in recent years.
The Marlins are not an organization that spends at a high level, having not had an Opening Day payroll north of $100MM since 2017, according to Cot’s Baseball Contracts. Given that they share a division with four clubs that have shown a much greater spending capacity, it’s very important that the Marlins succeed in terms of acquiring and developing younger and cheaper players. As Morosi notes, the hiring of Ocampo comes at a crucial time, with the Marlins opening a new academy in the Dominican Republic tomorrow.
Marlins Interview Astros’ Oz Ocampo For Assistant GM Position
The Miami Marlins have interviewed Astros executive Oz Ocampo for an Assistant General Manager position, reports MLB Network’s Jon Morosi (Twitter link).
With Derek Jeter’s surprise departure as the Marlins’ CEO back in February, and manager Don Mattingly’s announcement that he would not be returning to the Marlins for the 2023 season, General Manager Kim Ng has been tasked with both rebuilding the Marlins’ organization and roster. Miami currently has two other Assistant GMs — Daniel Greenlee, who joined the organization in 2017, and Brian Chattin, who has been with the organization for over a decade.
Ocampo began his baseball career as a scout for the Cardinals in the Dominican Republic. He then worked directly for the league in an International Baseball Operations role before joining the Astros and helping to develop their international scouting and player development pipeline, signing four key pitchers currently on the Astros’ roster: Framber Valdez, Cristian Javier, Luis Garcia, and Jose Urquidy. He then left the Astros and joined the Pirates in a special assistant role before returning to Houston this past offseason.