Mattingly and Marlins destined for failure?

Yesterday the Miami Marlins confirmed that they struck a four year deal with former Yankee great and Dodgers’ manager Don Mattingly.

In a quick move, the Marlins approached the former first baseman after he was fired by the Dodgers. Oh yeah, the Dodgers said that both sides agreed that further continuation would not work: “The Los Angeles Dodgers and Don Mattingly have mutually agreed that Mattingly will not return to manage the club in 2016,” the team said in a statement.

The Dodgers blame Mattingly for not bringing them a championship in his five years at the helm of the star studded team. He was blamed for not making decisions at times during games. But could it be that he just is the victim of a complete overhaul of the Dodgers’ front office, minor league coaching and scouting department. Apparently the Dodgers wanted to get rid of the left overs of the Coleltti / McCourt era. Apparently the Dodgers want to start 2016 with a brand new organization. It must have been bitter for Mattingly because the team never finished below .500 in the five years that he was at the helm. And the team even made the play offs in every year of his stint with the club.

The Marlins were in about the same situation as the Dodgers; without a manager that is. Impatient as always, Jeffrey Loria pulled Dan Jennings as the team’s manager. Only fifty games into the season, Loria fired Mike Redmond and replaced him with Dan Jennings, who used to be the club’s GM. Eventually the Marlins asked Jennings to return to his former position. But guess what? Loria fired Jennings yesterday in another mind boggling move. With Jennings at the position of GM, the Marlins needed another manager, their tenth since Loria took over as owner in 2002. During his tenure as owner he proved to be very impatient and unpredictable.

With a club in which the position of manager is like a revolving door, the combination of an impatient owner and a manager who is known for making bad decisions at times or even doesn’t make a decision at all, is an accident waiting to happen.