Marlins Hire Don Mattingly as Manager
Just seven days after the Los Angeles Dodgers and Don Mattingly mutually agreed to part ways, the Miami Marlins have hired Mattingly as their new manager.
According to sources with knowledge of the situation, the Marlins and Mattingly have agreed to a four-year deal A formal announcement is expected after the World Series.
Mattingly managed the Dodgers for five seasons, compiling a record of 446-363. He was the first Dodgers manager in franchise history to lead the team to three straight postseason appearances. The former Yankees star and Joe Torre’s hand-picked successor, finishes as the sixth winningest manager in franchise history.
Yesterday on The Dan Patrick Show, Mattingly acknowledged that wasn’t enough however.
“We haven’t had the success in the postseason that a major market kind of demands,” he said. “There’s a lot of noise around me, which is a distraction for the team and what the guys are trying to do.”
With the Marlins coming off their sixth consecutive losing season, expectations should be more modest for Mattingly this time around. Plus he inherits a talented core of young players that include a superstar in Giancarlo Stanton, an ace in Jose Fernandez and this year’s N.L. Batting Champion, Dee Gordon. Gordon was a member of the Dodgers before getting traded to the Marlins prior to this season.
An associate close to Mattingly, who asked not to be identified because the deal has not been announced, said Mattingly is “excited” about the opportunity and likes the “mixture of kids” and veterans on the team.
“The key thing is these guys want him,” the associate said. “He was someone else’s guy in Los Angeles [because the current Dodgers administration didn’t hire him]. The expectations there were that if he didn’t win the World Series, he would be out. How many people have that pressure?”
Mattingly will become the ninth manager of the Marlins since Jeffrey Loria became the owner back in 2002.
