The plentiful rumors surrounding the Miami Marlins are now involving the Los Angeles Dodgers. Yesterday it was reported Dodgers' manager Don Mattingly has been mentioned as a candidate to succeed Dan Jennings in Miami after this season.
Miami is expected to shuffle personnel throughout their entire organization between now and the offseason. They've already reassigned a couple of vice presidents, and owner Jeffrey Loria is expected to make further significant changes in the dugout and front office. Rumors suggest Jennings will not be the manager next year and could return as GM, but who will fill in for him as the team's skipper?
"The Marlins, who have had a disastrous injury-plagued season, also are readying for what is expected to be an 'exhaustive' search for an experienced manager to take over next year, but one name that keeps popping up in internal talks is Dodgers manager Don Mattingly, whose job could become tenuous depending on how his $300 million team finishes out the year," Jon Heyman of CBS Sports writes.
Mattingly has been subject to much speculation this season. Even though the Dodgers lead the NL West and are slated to make the playoffs for the third consecutive year, the manager's job may not be safe. He was inherited by the new regime led by Andrew Friedman and Farhan Zaidi and it's unknown if they're willing to move forward with him long-term.
Additionally, prior to signing his contract extension in January of 2014, Mattingly was angered by a lack of support by "unnamed members of ownership," according to Ken Gurnick of MLB.com. He reportedly asked the team to pick up his 2014 option the previous year, but his request was denied. They also did not announce the vesting of his 2014 option when the team reached the NLCS.
Will ownership/upper management support him if they get bounced in the NLDS for the second straight year?
"Bottom line, he indeed probably has to lead this team to its first World Series in 27 years or he's gone," writes Bill Plaschke of the Los Angeles Times.
"Nobody is saying that, but everyone is thinking it. The Dodgers' management has been publicly supportive of Mattingly, but after two consecutive early postseason exits, the manager is being judged on his ability to leap that October hurdle, and no vote of confidence now will save him if he doesn't.
"Last October, the fall guy for the failure was Ned Colletti, a fine general manager who built a team that reached the playoffs five times in his nine seasons."
Plaschke also thinks the rumors of Miami's interest in Mattingly are an indication of what might come.
"The story was a confirmation of something bigger than the story, something about Mattingly's precarious job situation that will make the Dodgers playoff run even more tumultuous."
While nothing is confirmed, the Marlins' alleged interest in Mattingly may indicate there are rumors swirling around the MLB that he could be available in the offseason. Los Angeles orchestrated a drastic overhaul of their roster prior to 2015, which means it'll be hard to rule out much once the front office has another opportunity to do further re-tooling in October.
Mattingly has never had a losing record with the Dodgers since taking over in 2011. But in the baseball world, no manager's job is safe. And Mattingly could be a casualty even if Los Angeles wins its third straight NL West title.
