Jeffery Loria Makes Marlins the Worst run Organization in MLB

The Philadelphia Phillies are most likely going to lose 100 games this season. A lot of that blame falls on the current GM Ruben Amaro, who has held the position since 2009, when he replaced Hall of Famer Pat Gillick. However, on Monday morning, the Miami Marlins proved to be the worst run organization in baseball. Jeffery Loria continues to show that he reacts without much logic and is continuously violates rules within baseball.

The Miami Marlins could be an entertaining team on the field, but the real show could be their front office. The Marlins fired Mike Redmond immediately after their shutout loss to the Atlanta Braves yesterday. The Marlins were almost no-hit by Shelby Miller, which would be embarrassing, but not as embarrassing as their current debacle. The Marlins fired Redmond because of their 16-22 start—which really isn’t all that bad considering where they actually started. Also, the Marlins haven’t received the production they expected from Mat Latos, Steve Cishek and Mike Morse. Those are three key cogs in the equation for the Marlins. Add to that the health of Jose Fernandez, who will return from Tommy John surgery and the Marlins aren’t in bad shape.

Sure, their lackluster bullpen production can be pointed to Redmond, but it isn’t just his fault. Redmond managed the bullpen and would insert players where he saw fit, which did not work, but the player selected still needs to perform. The Marlins bullpen has a 6-7 record with eight blown saves. We are only in May and the Marlins have that many blown saves—which is more on the players than Redmond. Even then, the Marlins bullpen has a 3.04 FIP and 3.65 xFIP, which is the fourth best in baseball. The biggest issue for the Marlins bullpen has been stranding runners. As of yesterday, when Redmond was fired, the Marlins were 27th in baseball in left on base percentage at 67.7-percent.

So the bullpen has been bad because of some bad luck it seems. On what grounds did Loria fire Redmond? I’m not even sure it is that justifiable. The argument that Miami needs a spark, or some sort of change is okay, but shouldn’t be the end point. The Marlins W-L Pythagorean is actually 18-19, which is better than their current record. That suggests they are a better team than their record suggests. The Marlins have a -2 run differential, which isn’t good, but it isn’t horrendous.

The Marlins have struggled and have high expectations, which are fair considering the talent they have with Dee Gordon, Giancarlo Stanton, Christian Yelich and company, but to fire the manager after just 38 games seems irrational.

This morning, the Marlins hired their General Manager Dan Jennings to be their new Manager. Yes, the Marlins did it again. Out of nowhere, Jeffery Loria hired the GM to coach his team. Now, Jennings, has some experience—coaching high school. Yes, the Marlins hired a high school coach, turned scout, who became the General Manager. That is cool for Jennings, but it makes literally no sense for the Marlins.

Beyond the bizarre hire is the fact that Miami ignored several coaches that remain available in the open market. While there are some managers who have no experience, they weren’t the GM of the team when hired. Loria failed to conduct and active search for the managerial position, and he completely ignored the Selig rule. The Selig Rule, which is a lot like the Rooney rule in the NFL, forces a team to interview at least one minority candidate before ending their managerial search. When did Loria have time to conduct this thorough search? Simply put, he didn’t. Within 24 hours of firing Redmond, the Marlins hired their GM to be their new manager. Give me a break. This was another example of Loria violating the league rules, and if I were a candidate for the job, I would speak up.

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This isn’t the first time that Loria has had a run in with the league either. Remember when the Marlins signed Mark Buehrle, Jose Reyes and Hanley Ramirez? That was a product of the Marlins ignoring the process of revenue sharing. The Marlins basically refused to spend money on free-agents to improve their team with money received from MLB’s revenue sharing. Between 2002-2010, the Marlins received about $300 million in revenue sharing money. Since the Marlins did not spend the money to improve their club and actually traded away Miguel Cabrera and Dontrelle Willis, the threat of a grievance came about. This resulted in the Marlins agreeing to a deal with the Players Association. The deal stated that the Marlins must spend all their revenue sharing money on player development and salaries within three years. With the addition of a new ballpark—which was funded by the taxpayers of Miami—the Marlins signed Buehrle, Reyes, Ramirez and closer Heath Bell. This was huge news for the city of Miami and actually created some excitement. The issue here is that none of those players spent more than one season in Miami. Loria basically decided that he would live up to the deal, and if the Marlins did not win, he would clear house. He did that, and it was all a joke.

Think about this for a second: if the Phillies hired Ruben Amaro Jr. to become the manager of the Phillies, this fan base would lose their mind. I would go as far as saying there would be people protesting outside of Citizens Bank Park. I don’t believe that is a stretch either. Think about how ridiculous a team must be to hire their GM to be their manager. It is just pure insanity. Add to that the fact that Jennings hasn’t coached higher than high school baseball and this entire situation is laughable. The Marlins failed to conduct an external search that complied with MLB rules. That is strike one. Jeffery Loria also hired a manager who has never gone through this process and has not coached higher than high school. Strike two. The icing on the cake is that Loria has shown disregard for MLB rules before with revenue sharing. Strike three. I’m not sure if Loria knows, but that would be an out. He may try to find a way around that rule, too. If you think the Phillies are poorly run and Amaro and company have pushed this organization into the ground, you’re right. But I’m not sure there is a bigger joke in MLB than Jeffery Loria.

Next: The Philadelphia Phillies Shouldn’t Hesitate to Fire Ruben Amaro Jr.

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