A report surfaced over the weekend that Miami Marlins' manager Dan Jennings is likely to return to the front office after the 2015 MLB season. If that's the case, he's most likely relieved because now he can lay off the bottle.
The Marlins (44-68) have lost eight of their last 10 games to become the worst team in the MLB, falling below the division-rival Philadelphia Phillies. Jennings has the worst winning percentage of any manager in franchise history that has been with the team for at least 60 games.
That calls for a drink.
"Thank God there's no Prohibition in baseball," Jennings told Clark Spencer of the Miami Herald.
The Dan Jennings drinking quote is the last thing you want your manager to say
— Mark Laming (@marklaming19) August 10, 2015
Miami had high hopes heading into the season, but a slow 16-22 start under manager Mike Redmond resulted in owner Jeffrey Loria inserting Jennings - the team's general manager at the time - as the team's skipper.
Jennings made a number of trades and signings in the offseason to acquire key players such as Dee Gordon, Martin Prado, Dan Haren, Mat Latos, Michael Morse, Ichiro Suzuki and others.
However, that plan did not go accordingly. Jennings is 28-46 since taking over and the team is on pace to lose 99 games, even in one of the MLB's weaker divisions (the New York Mets lead the NL East with a 59-52 record). Additionally, some of those players acquired in the offseason are gone now and the club has been plagued by injuries.
"There's enough blame to go around here," Jennings added. "There's been so many things that these guys have had to endure this year, injuries being a part of it, underperforming before a part of it. They've endured a managerial change. Is there something that you can directly point to? No."
Well, if the rumors are true Jennings will no longer have to worry about witnessing the woes from the dugout or drinking more than usual because it looks like he'll be back in the front office after 2015.
