Mattingly interviewed with the Marlins on Monday after parting ways with the Los Angeles Dodgers last week after five years as the team’s manager. Mattingly has one year left on his guaranteed contract with LA, so the team will still have to pay the former manager in 2016. Mattingly becomes owner Jeffrey Loria’s seventh manager since June 2010. The news is traveling fast. Rosenbloom hired three head coaches in his life, who were Weeb Ewbank, Don Shula and Chuck Knox.
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Mattingly is coming off a successful run with the Dodgers in which they captured three consecutive NL West division titles.
Dodgers catcher A.J. Ellis praised Mattingly for speaking to players privately instead of calling them out in front of teammates. With a steady hand like Mattingly in the dugout and the right additions during the winter, this team could make a move up the standings. But his in-game strategy-especially late in games-opened him up to constant criticism from fans and sportswriters. After all, the man who hired Mattingly, Frank McCourt, is long gone from the organization, having been forced to sell the team after driving it into bankruptcy.
No wonder the most hard aspect of Mattingly’s new job may be figuring out the front office chain of command, with everyone pushing and shoving for authority these days. But even with baseball’s biggest payroll ($270 million), the Dodgers couldn’t get past the National League Championship Series under Mattingly and exited after the divisional round of the playoffs the last two seasons. Mattingly was in the same role with the Yankees from 2004 to 2007.
The rotation is still an area where the Marlins need to improve.
Loria persuaded Mattingly to enter the revolving door.
If Loria and Mattingly already have a friendly relationship, as Knight reports, then perhaps he’ll be more patient than he’s been with the Marlins’ previous managers. The Dodgers had the highest opening-day payroll last season, while the Marlins had the lowest.
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Zack Greinke made a very strong case to win the National League Cy Young award this year. The Marlins haven’t formally announced the hire, as teams are discouraged from making major announcements during the World Series.
