2:12pm: The Marlins have formally announced the hiring of Thames as their new hitting coach and Pedrique as third base/infield coach. Duncan will assume the role of quality assurance coach.
Additionally, the Marlins have promoted minor league hitting coordinator Edwar Gonzalez to the Major League staff. He’ll serve as the assistant hitting coach to Thames. Gonzalez, like Thames and Pedrique, has a lengthy history in the Yankees organization, where he spent nine seasons — including three as a minor league hitting coach.
1:44pm: Eric Duncan, who’s spent the past two seasons as the Marlins’ hitting coach, will remain on the 2022 staff, Mish tweets. It’s not clear yet what role he’ll be in, though it’s become increasingly popular for teams to employ co-hitting coaches.
1:37pm: The Marlins are set to announce the hiring of Marcus Thames as their new hitting coach, Craig Mish of SportsGrid and the Miami Herald reports (via Twitter). Meanwhile, Daniel Alvarez of El Extra Base adds that Triple-A Jacksonville manager Al Pedrique will join the Marlins’ big league staff as their new third base and infield coach.
Thames, 44, is a former big league outfielder who spent the 2018-21 seasons as the Yankees’ hitting coach. He’d spent the 2014-17 seasons serving as a hitting coach in the Yankees’ minor league ranks as well, but the team informed at season’s end that he would not return fifth year.
Even beyond CEO Derek Jeter, the Marlins have plenty of ties to the Yankees organization, so it’s not necessarily a shock to see Thames land on his feet in South Florida. Marlins vice president of player development and scouting Gary Denbo, a key executive in their baseball ops hierarchy, was hired out of the Yankees organization by Jeter’s incoming ownership group after several years in a similar role in the Bronx. Miami also hired assistant GM Dan Greenlee away from the Yankees not long after adding Denbo.
The 61-year-old Pedrique is a baseball lifer who spent parts of the 1987-89 seasons in the Majors as an infielder and has now spent two decades as a coach and manager in the minor leagues and big leagues alike. Pedrique had a brief stint as the D-backs’ manager in 2004 and has also spent time on the Major League staffs with the Astros and A’s. Pedrique has ties to the Yankees organization himself, as he managed at four different minor league levels in their system during a period that overlapped with Denbo’s Yankees tenure.
Good luck in South Beach Thames
Just remember…the Florida Marlins won two championships. The Miami Marlins have won zero. You would think they’d realize this by now and make the necessary adjustments.
The Florida Marlins championships still count as the Miami Marlins championships…
You’re missing the point entirely.
There have been 9 different teams that have won won the championship since the Florida Marlins became the Miami Marlins.. what about the other 20 teams that didn’t win during this span? They should’ve figured it out too right? Lol troll… Easy to pick on the Marlins.
The point is that they got the job done twice under their former name and have done nothing under their current name. Maybe they should consider changing it back. They may end up beating Oakland or Seattle in the World Series by the end of the decade if they do.
Do you mean changing the names back to the Florida Marlins? As I remember it, the Marlins never had a .500 season before they won the Series in 97. They traded several of players from that team in salary dump fashion for many prospects. Several of those prospects went on to be instrumental in their second Series win six years later.
The Florida Marlins were not regular contenders but won two championships. The Miami Marlins haven’t been contenders ever. They were a .500 team in a 60-game season. They only got in due to expanded playoffs.
The Florida Marlins have never lost a playoff series.
Good hire. I don’t understand the hate he got from Yankee fans. The Yankees have moved to a heavy analytic philosophy and I would not be surprised if that clashed with Thames philosophy. Thames (& Nevin) we’re scapegoats for the front office
The Marlins have spoken and they want .230 hitters with 150+ strikeouts
From a personal standpoint, Thames is an awesome guy. Players enjoy working with him. I don’t believe this is a Larry Rothschild 2.0 scenario where you have to worry about Thames singlehandedly being responsible for ruining players after getting hired.
He did a poor job with the Yankees over the last 2 years and making a change at hitting coach was overdue for them but Cashman’s awful roster construction was arguably just as much to blame for the lineup struggles.
I could see them being bottom feeders again
They will be. In fact, they will be battling the Mets for fourth place all season.
The Mets won’t even be in a rice. They’ll be in first the whole year. Braves 2nd phillies 3rd
Marlins and Nats bottom feeders
Based on what? The Mets have two division titles since 1988. They’re losing more talent than they’re bringing in and their “prospects” have been overrated to this point. Besides, the owner is driving people away. I find it ironic that the owner has HEN in his name considering that his team laid yet another egg in 2021.
The team with the Bottom Feeders nickname the last two years has more playoff appearances than the Mets in those two years.
BTW, we don’t mind being bottom feeders because it felt good snacking on the Mets. If Bass didn’t do what he did to secure himself as the Mets MVP, the Marlins would’ve been 13-6 against the Mets last season…so yes, we were bottom feeding.
2020 was fake. The Marlins were barely .500 in a 60-game season. 2021 proved that they only got in due to expanded playoffs. They are still a few years away. With that said, the Mets still suck. Every other team in the NL East has at one World Series title since the Mets last won a title and the Braves and Marlins both have two championships since the Mets last won.
#MarlinsFanBase “it felt good snacking on the Mets.”
The injured Mets, yes other teams had injuries but no team lost more WAR to injuries than the Mets, won the season series against the Marlins this year so I don’t know how that is feeding on them?
The Mets finished third and the Marlins finished fourth so you would expect the season series to end the way it did.
And your psychotic obsession with Bass is alarming!!!
Normally injuries would be a valid excuse but the Mets suck every year so you’re going to have to come up with something better. Every team deals with injuries and yet most teams at least occasionally make the playoffs.
Why doesn’t every player just get their own coach now lol
Both good hires.
Thames last played in MLB in 2011. Just feels like a couple of years. I’m getting old
I love these kinds of moves the Marlins and Phillies are making. Not big splashes, but examples of how two organizations are working hard to get their houses in order during the off-season. If you’re going to be an organization, it’s a good idea to be organized. Meanwhile, a division opponent is still trying to figure out their front-office situation and doesn’t even have a manager.
It’ll be interesting to see what other moves the Marlins’ Ng makes. Wouldn’t surprise me if they have .500 record next season.
Having all of those young pitchers makes them intriguing. Seeing what starting pitchers are going for this off-season, it’s crucial to grow some of your own. Should they bring Marte back, they’ll be strong up the middle. Those are the things I look for first. Step-by-step. For the sake of Marlins fans, I hope Ng is given a decent budget to work with.
The Marlins can be pretty good this year with some moderate moves.
They need an OF or 2 (depending if they are confident that Bryan De La Cruz can perform through a complete season the way he did in a short stint). Perhaps Marte along with Avisail Garcia or similar caliber player.
They need bullpen pieces starting with a real closer.
They need to rid themselves of Anthony Bass.
Again with this obsession with Anthony Bass; twice in this tread alone!!
Borders on cyber stalking!!
You have a great young team with SP; enjoy!
That’s a country strong addition.