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Sports

Marlins name GM Jennings as new manager

By Sports Network
Published | Updated

Miami, FL (SportsNetwork.com) - The Miami Marlins have named general manager Dan Jennings as their new field manager.

The Marlins fired Mike Redmond and bench coach Rob Leary on Sunday, minutes after the team was nearly no-hit by Atlanta's Shelby Miller in a 6-0 loss. The Braves completed a three-game sweep Sunday, dropping Miami to 16-22 for the season.

Jennings has been with the Marlins in their front office since 2002 and had been the general manager since 2014. He has no managerial experience, other than at the high school level back in the 1980s.

"It's an honor and certainly a privilege to lead this team that I had a hand in putting together," said Jennings, who acknowledged that the decision the Marlins made was "out of the box."

"I have always described myself as a baseball man," added Jennings, who has been a scout or front office official in baseball since 1986. "This is definitely a different avenue to arrive in this chair."

Jennings added Marlins advance scout Mike Goff as his bench coach.

"I'm not naive enough to know that I can go down there and do this on my own," Jennings stated. "We are willing to accept this challenge and move the team in the right direction."

The Marlins made a similar move in 2003 and hope the results repeat. Jeff Torborg was fired after a 16-22 start and Jack McKeon led the club to a surprising World Series title.

Redmond, a former catcher for that 2003 Marlins team, was hired in November 2012 and went 155-207 in two-plus seasons. He finished fifth in voting for NL manager of the year last season and signed an extension that was to last through the 2017 season.

Instead, a sixth loss in the last seven games on Sunday has the Marlins just a half-game ahead of last-place Philadelphia in the NL East.

"If we didn't think we had the right man to do the job, we wouldn't have made this move," said Marlins president of baseball operations Michael Hill on Monday. "We wanted someone who knew our players. We wanted someone who knew how to push the right buttons to get us going."

Hill had no shortage of names to choose from internally, aside from Jennings. He had Hall of Famers Andre Dawson and Tony Perez, as well as long-time Marlins player Jeff Conine, in the front office as special assistants to the president.

Assistant GM Mike Berger will move into Jennings' spot as general manager.