1:20pm: Also among the cuts were head athletic trainer Lee Meyer and strength & conditioning coach Brendan Verner, per Mish and Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald. None of the coaches being dismissed were under contract for the 2025 season, per the report. Still, an overhaul of this magnitude is borderline unprecedented in recent big league history.
11:40am: The Marlins are gutting their coaching staff, as Craig Mish of SportsGrid and the Miami Herald reports that the entire staff has been informed it will not return for the 2025 season. Mish notes that there are a couple “exceptions” who have been told there’s some interest in a reunion, but even that’s dependent on the hiring of the incoming manager and any preferences that person may have. Specifically, Daniel Alvarez Montes of El Extra Base reports that bench coach Luis Urueta and first base/outfield coach Jon Jay have been told there’s interest in a reunion, pending the managerial search. Both will be free to pursue other opportunities in the meantime, however.
All of this aligns with a report last night from Isaac Azout of Fish On First, who tweeted that the Marlins’ firings were being described to him as a “blood bath” that extended to the coaching staff, clubhouse attendants, performance staff and more.
Manager Skip Schumaker already departed the organization over the weekend. His impending exit was one of the worst-kept secrets around the league. The former big league utilityman and Cardinals bench coach was hired by former Marlins GM Kim Ng and won NL Manager of the Year honors last season in his rookie effort. His original two-year contract included an option for the 2025 season. However, after the Marlins hired Rays GM Peter Bendix as their new president of baseball operations, prompting Ng to walk away from the organization. Schumaker reportedly voiced frustration with the club’s direction — understandably so, given last year’s playoff berth — and management agreed to void the 2025 club option on his deal in order to allow him to explore new opportunities.
In addition to Urueta and Jay, today’s news presumably indicates that hitting coach John Mabry, assistant hitting coaches Bill Mueller and Jason Hart, pitching coach Mel Stottlemyre Jr., third base coach Griffin Benedict, infield coach Jody Reed, bullpen coach Wellington Cepeda, bullpen coordinator Rob Flippo and field coordinator Rod Barajas will all be at the very least free to pursue other opportunities, if not dismissed outright.
Among the group, Stottlemyre figures to be a particularly hot commodity on the coaching market. He’s spent a dozen years on big league coaching staffs, serving as both a pitching coach and bullpen coach in addition to prior stints as a minor league pitching coordinator. He’s worked with the D-backs and Mariners organizations in the past but has spent the past seven years as the pitching coach in Miami, building a strong reputation along the way.
While the Marlins have regularly been a doormat in the NL East — with the exception of the 2020 and 2023 seasons — a strong core of touted young pitching has been a hallmark of the team in recent years. Stottlemyre alone isn’t to credit for that, of course, but his influence on the staff and the organization’s pitching development as a whole is clear. Cepeda, it should be noted, has been in lockstep with Stottlemyre throughout his time in the organization. He was hired as the Marlins’ bullpen coach back in 2019. The two have worked alongside one another for seven years.
That’s not to say others on the staff won’t be coveted free agents in their own right. Urueta spent 15 years in the D-backs system, rose to their bench coach under Torey Lovullo, and has interviewed for MLB managerial posts in the past. Mabry and Mueller, in addition to lengthy big league careers, have extensive coaching backgrounds across multiple organizations. Barajas, who also had a lengthy big league career, has served as the bench coach and interim manager of the Padres and has interviewed for various managerial posts in recent years (in addition to several years as a minor league manager in San Diego’s system). Jeff Jones of the Belleville News-Democrat speculates that Jay could wind up a target of the Cardinals, for whom he played six MLB seasons — though Jay could also join Schumaker wherever he lands his next managerial assignment.
Broadly speaking, the Miami coaching staff can hardly be faulted for the disastrous record this season. Bendix spent most of the 2023-24 offseason focused on reshaping the baseball operations department and did little to augment the actual Marlins roster. Injuries waylaid much of the pitching staff, and when Miami opened the season with a significant losing streak, the front office wasted little time in waving the white flag. Luis Arraez was traded to San Diego in early May, signaling exactly what type of direction the new baseball ops staff would be taking. No manager or coaching staff could’ve spun the ’24 Marlins into a contender, and other clubs will surely be cognizant of that as they show interest in a wave of newly available coaching talent.
McNasty1
Coaches didnt stand a chance with that AAAA team masquerading as an MLB ballclub
geotheo
They fired their clubhouse attendants? Why? They weren’t folding the towels properly? Ran out of toilet paper? ( Actually that would be a fire able offense). Seriously I get that they want the new manager to pick his own staff. But firing the clubhouse attendants make the Marlins look like the Mickey Mouse organization they are. Maybe they should relocate to Orlando
EricTheBat
maybe they were getting paid decently and the new front office was like “absolutely not. let’s get some new people in here for $16/hr”.
Big Smoke
Yes, let’s move a team from a city with little demand for baseball to… a city with little demand for baseball.
That’s some high IQ stuff right there. Manfred will be taking notes.
geotheo
You didn’t get the joke. Mickey Mouse. Orlando. Disney World.
BaseballBrewTown
@geotheo – I liked the joke.
Flanster
@geotheo—An absolute clown show
mike q.
Does anyone know where to find the WAR for clubhouse attendants?
stymeedone
@geotheo
Maybe something was happening in the clubhouse that has not been made public and both the clubhouse workers and coaching staff failed to report it. That would make this a reasonable response.
myaccount2
At this point, cleaning house and hitting the reset button might be the best long-term decision, even if the organizational ineptitude is not really the fault of those people. Bendix clearly doesn’t like the direction that was taken or how they were operating and who can blame him? The Marlins haven’t been a serious franchise… ever.
Ranger Danger19
My sources tell me even Billy The Marlin was let go after he showed up five minutes late at his birthday party gig for Peter’s daughter.
Old York
Sounds like the Marlins are moving, with all this clubhouse cleaning. Maybe they’re going to play in Hiram Bithorn Stadium?
positively_broad_st
They’re going to raid Tampa’s organization…
whyhayzee
Mel Jr. and Todd used to ride their bikes through my neighborhood on their way home from elementary school. Good times.
wrich
The reds could really use a good hitting coach
UncleJesse
Looks like there’s no longer a Full House of coaches in the Marlins organization.
Have mercy!
rondon
Was there ever this season??
Turdstomper12
Every night, after everyone is gone I sneak into Loandepot Park and I go pee pee in centerfield.
CravenMoorehead
Better make sure that the dude who runs the Samuel account isn’t spying on you when you do that.
kodion
I wonder who will end up in Toronto when Mattingly takes over the Toronto bench early next season?
YankeesBleacherCreature
They’re bringing in the AI robots.
BarNone
Hey we have this new GM Kim Ng and she turned the team around! Let’s alienate her so she quits, and then let’s hire someone who will completely destroy everything in less than a year!
myaccount2
Ng did a pretty solid job in Miami and they never should have let her go. I’m not sure what possessed ownership to decide to take a different direction, but I’m betting Bendix is tearing it down at the directive of ownership and is going to raid the Rays to bring some of “his guys” over.
It’s been a very weird process, but I don’t think Bendix is the person to blame. He’s made some pretty savvy trades, starting with the return in the Arraez trade and highlighted by somehow landing Norby for Rogers.
westcasey
the whole method since this guy took over has been destructive. the 5000 fans that attend Marlin games should be upset. Nashville would be interested. Miami is not an MLB city
YankeesBleacherCreature
I get wanting to clean house but zero continuity is a great way to alienate even more fans. It’s going to be an even longer rebuild.
LFGMets (Metsin7) #BannedForBeingABaseballExpert
Bendix belongs more in East Village, not in a Baseball Ops role. The Marlins need to hire someone that doesnt just stare at the computer all day to make baseball decisions
dodgers32
The Marlins are a rudderless ship with only ownership to blame. Even former baseball royalty that purchased an ownership interest couldn’t influence the managing partner to make the necessary investments to produce a consistent winner on the field. Not to mention a city that doesn’t have enough interest in the sport to support the team. The Rays have overcome a similar lack of fan support with ownership who hires outstanding baseball execs, excellent scouting, and top notch player development. And even though Bendix came from that organization, no one can overcome a lack of investment in baseball ops infrastructure. That weakness trickles down through the club and keeps it in a constant state of churn.
Bochys Retirement Fund
This is a smart idea from ownership. Because now they can rebuild the coaching staff with all new faces to fire in a few years time. Solutions are being curated here.
rennick
Whenever I see fans clamoring for a team owner to sell the team I think of the Marlins situation. A new owner does not guarantee a good owner.
Warden of the North(acoss13)
True, but I have to believe that any other billionaire would, for example, be better than Jerry Reinsdorf. I can only speak as a White Sox fan, but anything would be an improvement over him.
YankeesBleacherCreature
Mark Cuban would be fun to disrupt the old boys club. But seems like he no longer has interest to buy a sports franchise as he sold his shares of the Mavericks.
Warden of the North(acoss13)
If only. We kept pestering him to buy the Cubs when the godawful Chicago Tribune owned the Cubs.
Ezpkns34
At this point, I assume the Marlins are trying to hire coaches to hourly pay
Warden of the North(acoss13)
Florida has always been, to put it nicely, mercurial. This only adds to the state’s reputation.
rememberthecoop
Coaching staffs largely are friends of the manager or GM. Not in all cases, but fairly often.
Rsox
Marlins fans should only be concerned that its possible Gabe Kapler could be the Manager next season.
I say screw it, name Jeff Conine Manager, Mike Lowell bench coach, Al Leiter pitching coach, Gary Sheffield hitting coach, Edgar Renteria 1B/Infield coach, Devon White 3B/OF/Base Running coach, Charles Johnson catching coach and Robb Nen bullpen coach. Actually even at their current ages that coaching staff still might be better than the current roster