The Miami Marlins have had internal discussions and are considering re-signing Ichiro Suzuki following the 2015 season, managerDan Jennings told Joel Sherman of the New York Post.
Jennings praised Ichiro, calling him the "most prepared" player he has been around. He also said that Ichiro has been a mentor to younger Marlins players. The 41-year-old Ichiro latched on with the Marlins this offseason on a one-year, $2 million contract to be their fourth outfielder. Due to an injury to Christian Yelich earlier this season, Ichiro found himself some playing time, making 21 starts in left field. Offensively, Ichiro by no means is what he used to be, but he still is a serviceable outfielder, hitting .289/.342/.338/.680 (90 OPS+) over 155 plate appearances, hitting one homer and driving in 11 runs. Ichiro currently stands at 2,885 hits and definitely wants to continue to play in order to get to 3,000. --Devan Fink
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After the firing of Mike Redmond yesterday, there was practically round-the-clock speculation over who was going to be the Miami Marlins' next manager.
Reports from last night and early this morning stated that the Marlins would be moving general manager Dan Jennings to new duties as manager of the ball club. Many different reactions came about from that, with Jennings never having any professional playing or coaching experience, despite being considered "a great baseball mind." The Marlins brought those reports into reality this morning, as they officially announced the demotion/movement of Jennings from the general manager position to team manager. Miami also announced that Mike Goff, an Advance Scout, will be their next bench coach. "We can't think of anyone better suited for the job than Dan Jennings - one of the people responsible for putting these players together, who can now play a more active role in getting the most out of them," Marlins owner Jeffrey Loria said in a team press release. "DJ is a passionate baseball man with decades of experience in multiple Major League roles." The 52-year-old Jennings has been in baseball for 31 years and has been with the Marlins for 13 seasons (including the current season). He was first hired by the Cincinnati Reds in 1986 to be a scout and has worked his way up through the ranks in the front office. Jennings has not coached baseball since coaching the Davidson High School (Mobile, AL) team over three decades ago. While this is an interesting move by the Marlins, it is yet to be seen if it will help improve their disappointing 16-22 record. --Devan Fink
Following the Marlins being shutout by the Braves 6-0 today, Miami management announced some new changes, including the firing of manager Mike Redmond, as well as the firing of bench coach Rob Leary.
This comes after reports earlier in the season that said that owner Jeffrey Loria was considering replacing Redmond following the Marlins terrible 1-6 start. They have rebounded since then, going 15-16. Despite this, Loria likely wasn't impressed with Miami's performance. Redmond has been the Marlins manager for the past three seasons, guiding the team to improvement in 2014, finishing them fourth in the NL East with a 77-85 record. That serves as an improvement from 2013, when they went 62-100. The Marlins will officially announce their next manager on Monday in a press conference at 11:00 A.M. eastern. Brett Butler, Bo Porter, Wally Backman, and Jeff Conine have been connected to the job. Conine was reportedly going to be the Marlins next manager, but the club insists otherwise. --Devan Fink
The Miami Marlins released catcher Jarrod Saltalamacchia today, they announced.
The club was unable to find a trade partner for the catcher. Saltalamacchia was recently designated for assignment as the Marlins decided to move on to catching prospect in J.T. Realmuto as their main backstop. Teams with some interest in Saltalamacchia included the Diamondbacks, Rays, and Royals, but none were likely willing to take on the salary they would have needed in order to acquire him. Saltalamaccia is owed $7 million this season and $8 million in 2016. Now, if Saltalamacchia clears release waivers, teams will be able to sign him for the big league minimum salary of $510,000, with Saltalamacchia still being paid the $15 million over the next two years from Miami. Saltalamacchia's release comes following a terrible start to the season in which he slashed .069/.182/.207 in 33 plate appearances. After posting a 118 OPS+ with Boston in 2013, Saltalamacchia has not been the player the Marlins wanted. He has a 84 OPS+ in 468 plate appearances with Miami over the past two years. --Devan Fink Here's the latest on a couple of extensions that happened last week:
--Devan Fink |
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