Marlins Owner Jeffrey Loria is "staying ominously silent while reports circulate, for the second straight September," that President of Baseball Operations Larry Beinfest "could be gone," according to Ken Rosenthal of FOXSPORTS.com. The "lingering tension within the Marlins’ front office, meanwhile, is damaging to the organization." Sources said that Beinfest, "frustrated that his job security is again a matter of public discussion, confronted Loria last week and asked him to decide upon his status one way or the other." The sources added that Beinfest is "miserable." Rosenthal: "You would be miserable, too, if your owner over the past four years had gone from merely meddlesome to completely hands-on, even vetoing minor league call-ups for reasons unrelated to performance." Sources said that the Marlins’ power structure essentially consists of Loria and VP/Player Personnel & Assistant GM Dan Jennings "on one side" and Beinfest and VP & GM Mike Hill "on the other." Sources said that Marlins President David Samson has been "all but invisible this season and also is on the outs with Loria." The "logical move" would be for Jennings to replace Beinfest. Rival execs "are predicting such a shake-up." Loria has "no problem punishing journeymen, no problem dumping salaries, no problem reneging on free agents he promised not to trade." But he "will not address the divisions in his front office, divisions that he mostly created" (FOXSPORTS.com, 9/16). In Ft. Lauderdale, Juan Rodriguez cites a source as saying the details in Rosenthal's report were "all dead on and understated if anything" (South Florida SUN-SENTINEL, 9/17). In Miami, Clark Spencer cites sources as saying that Loria is "now making most -- if not all -- of the baseball decisions, which is fueling speculation" that Beinfest and Samson "could be ousted after the season." A source said of Loria, "He has marginalized the front office. The front office isn't making decisions. Loria makes them all" (MIAMI HERALD, 9/17).
