The Miami Marlins fired manager Mike Redmond less than an hour after his team was nearly no-hit by the Braves and fell to 16-22, 6.0 games back in the NL East.
That Redmond was fired was not a surprise, as many had speculated the move was imminent. What was shocking was that the Marlins replaced Redmond with Dan Jennings, their current general manager. The move was first announced by Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com.
Unlike other sports, there is typically a very clear line between the manager and the front office in Major League Baseball and rarely does one person try to be both the coach and the person in charge of player personnel. According to Jon Morosi of Fox Sports, Jennings is the first person to serve as both GM and manager since Atlanta Braves general manager Bobby Cox named himself manager in 1990 for one season before relinquishing his role as GM. In that case, Cox had previous experience as a manager.
Jennings does have coaching experience, but that came nearly 30 years ago at a high school in Alabama.
Rather, Jennings' specialty is personnel and scouting, having served the Marlins and previously the Devil Rays and Mariners in those functions for the past 27 years.
The move was so surprising that even Jennings' mother, who is married to a man who has been a high school coach for over 50 years, asked if he has lost his mind.
—Mike Berardino (@MikeBerardino) May 18, 2015
The one advantage Jennings may have is the support of Marlins star slugger Giancarlo Stanton. While Stanton has not commented publicly yet on the hiring, Jennings did just give Stanton a record $325 million contract this past off-season, a contract Stanton had to be talked into signing. Stanton wanted assurances the team was done jettisoning key players and now he is that much closer to the person who makes the moves.
