The Marlins "have parted ways" with GM Dan Jennings, "who will not return" to the position that he held before replacing Mike Redmond as manager in May, according to Barry Jackson of the MIAMI HERALD. Marlins President of Baseball Operations Michael Hill "will assume Jennings’ GM duties." A source said that Jennings’ "once strong relationship" with Owner Jeffrey Loria "soured in recent months, and the Marlins believed the front office dynamics would be better without him." Marlins President David Samson said that it was "his decision to sever ties with Jennings, and Loria allowed it." The Marlins "must still pay Jennings" $5.6M over the next three seasons. Samson said, "The way Mike operates the baseball department and the people he has in place put us in better positions to win games." Samson said Jennings “did not seem surprised” by his dismissal. Jackson notes Jennings "was offered a job to return to his previous role" as the team’s GM and "accepted that offer in early October." But Jennings "had questions about his level of authority and responsibilities, and Samson told Jennings that he needed to speak to Loria to answer those questions, before returning to work." It is a "surprising conclusion to Jennings’ 13-year tenure with the organization." Meanwhile, an announcement on the hiring of new manager Don Mattingly "won’t be made until after the World Series" (MIAMI HERALD, 10/30).
DONNIE BASEBALL: USA TODAY's Bob Nightengale wrote Mattingly "just accepted the worst managerial job" in MLB. Then again, "maybe it’s the best job in baseball." Nightengale: "Where else can you sign a four-year contract, and have a three-year paid vacation after you’ve been fired, just like Ozzie Guillen?" And if there was "any question about where Mattingly stands in his new team’s power structure, it was answered Thursday" when Jennings was fired. That means Mattingly "will have only one boss" -- Loria (USATODAY.com, 10/29). In Ft. Lauderdale, Craig Davis writes Mattingly "will be working under an owner known for meddling and second-guessing, but then he played for the master of those attributes with the Yankees" in late Owner George Steinbrenner. A "factor steering Mattingly to the Marlins job was it apparently was his only avenue to immediately return to manager" (South Florida SUN-SENTINEL, 10/30). CBSSPORTS.com's David Brown noted there are only 30 MLB teams, and positions "are scarce, yet it's still curious why anyone would commit to work for such a seemingly dysfunctional organization" (CBSSPORTS.com, 10/29).
NUMBERS GAME: USA TODAY's Nightengale notes if the Dodgers do not hire an African-American for the only MLB managerial opening remaining, this will be the first time since '87 that baseball "will open the season without a black manager." The "disturbing trend" is that Dusty Baker and Bo Porter "have been the only African-Americans to even interview for one of the five managerial openings." Former managers Willie Randolph and Jerry Manuel "never got a call." Neither did former MLBer Delino DeShields, who "has managed the last five years" in the Reds’ organization, or Blue Jays bench coach DeMarlo Hale. Baker said, "It just seems like everything’s about sabermetrics. And if you don’t agree with 100% of everything being said, then you’re against it." Nightengale writes GMs are "more enriched in analytics than ever before, and when it comes time to hire a manager, they’re choosing those with similar philosophies." Experience "no longer matters." Still, "no matter how many guidelines and initiatives MLB imposes, it can’t empower any club to make a hire of its choosing." If clubs "want analytical managers with no dugout experience like [new Mariners manager Scott Servais], so be it" (USA TODAY, 10/30).
