Dan Jennings (manager)

Daniel Ray Jennings (born September 16, 1960) is the former General Manager and manager of the Miami Marlins of Major League Baseball (MLB). He served as a scout in MLB beginning in 1986 and was the manager of the Marlins from May until the end of the 2015 season.

For the pitcher, see Dan Jennings (pitcher).

Dan Jennings
Jennings with the Miami Marlins in 2015
Washington Nationals
Pitcher / Manager / Assistant to GM
Born: (1960-09-16) September 16, 1960
Daphne, Alabama, U.S.
Bats: Right
Throws: Right
MLB statistics
(through 2015 season)
Games managed124
Win–loss record55–69
Winning %.444
Teams

Early life

Jennings attended Satsuma, Davidson and Fairhope High Schools in Alabama while his father, Don, moved between baseball coaching jobs. Don eventually settled in as the longtime coach at Coastal Alabama Community College. Jennings graduated from Fairhope in 1978.[1]

Jennings attended the University of Southern Mississippi, where he played college baseball for the Southern Mississippi Golden Eagles. He transferred to William Carey University and played baseball there as well, graduating in 1984.[2]

Professional career

Undrafted out of college, Jennings tried out for the New York Yankees in 1984, who signed him. He appeared in spring training for the Greensboro Hornets, the Yankees' Class A affiliate.[2]

Coaching and executive career

Jennings coached the baseball team at Davidson High School in Mobile, Alabama from 1985 until 1988. Jennings simultaneously served as an associate scout for the Cincinnati Reds beginning in 1986.[1] He was named an area scout for the Seattle Mariners in 1988. The Mariners promoted him to crosschecker in 1995, and he accepted a job with the Tampa Bay Devil Rays as their scouting director later that year.[2]

Jennings joined the Marlins as Vice President of Player Personnel in 2002.[2][3] He was named the Marlins' assistant general manager in September 2007.[4] At the end of the 2013 season, the Marlins promoted Michael Hill to president and Jennings to general manager. At one point, there was a pitcher for the Marlins also named Dan Jennings, but the two are not related.[5]

Jennings was appointed Marlins' interim manager on May 17, 2015, following the firing of Mike Redmond, with assistant GM Mike Berger taking over as general manager.[6] The move was widely considered unorthodox in that Jennings had no coaching experience above the high school level decades earlier and had no professional playing experience. It was described in Business Insider as "shocking," in Sports Illustrated as "weird," on Grantland as "utterly baffling" and in USA Today as "bizarre" and optically "problematic" for the troubled Marlins front office.[7][8][9][10] On October 29, 2015, the Marlins fired Jennings and hired Don Mattingly as manager. Only three weeks earlier, the team had said that Jennings would return to his general manager role, for which he was under contract until 2018.[11]

On January 8, 2016, Jennings was hired by the Washington Nationals to serve as an assistant to Mike Rizzo, the GM of the Nationals. It was reported that Jennings would assist with scouting.[12] The Marlins filed and lost a grievance against the Nationals that March. They unsuccessfully argued that the $100,000 salary the Nationals were paying Jennings was too low for his responsibilities and not enough to offset the $1.5 million the Marlins still owed him.[13]

Managerial record
Team From To Regular season record Post–season record
W L Win % W L Win %
Miami Marlins 2015 2015 5569.444 —
Total 5569.444 00–

References
  1. Inabinett, Mark (May 18, 2015). "Marlins to name Fairhope grad Dan Jennings as manager". AL.com. Retrieved July 10, 2021.
  2. Kubatko, Roch (October 14, 2011). "School of Roch: Orioles to interview LaCava, contacted Marlins about Jennings". Masnsports.com. Retrieved September 27, 2012.
  3. Kelly, Kevin; Lowitt, Bruce; Topkin, Marc (July 27, 2002). "Scouting director leaves for Marlins". St. Petersburg Times. p. 3C. Retrieved October 8, 2014.
  4. "Marlins promote Beinfest to president, Hill to GM". Usatoday.Com. September 29, 2007. Retrieved September 27, 2012.
  5. "Statement from Marlins owner Jeffrey Loria". MLB.com. September 29, 2013. Archived from the original on November 13, 2013. Retrieved October 8, 2014.
  6. Frisaro, Jeff (May 18, 2015). "Jennings named manager by Marlins". MLB.com. Major League Baseball. Retrieved July 10, 2021.
  7. Gaines, Cork (May 18, 2015). "The Miami Marlins shocked the baseball world by hiring a manager who hasn't coached in 30 years". Business Insider. Retrieved July 10, 2021.
  8. Jaffe, Jay (May 18, 2015). "Hit and Run: Trying to make sense of Marlins' odd move at manager". Sports Illustrated. Retrieved July 10, 2021.
  9. Baumann, Michael (May 19, 2015). "Something's Fishy: The Quintessentially Marlinian, Utterly Baffling Decision to Name GM Dan Jennings Miami's Manager". Grantland. Retrieved July 10, 2021.
  10. Berg, Ted (May 18, 2015). "Marlins make bizarre choice to name GM Dan Jennings their manager". For The Win. USA Today. Retrieved July 10, 2021.
  11. Wine, Steven (October 25, 2019). "AP sources: Don Mattingly hired as Marlins manager". Associated Press. Retrieved July 10, 2021.
  12. "Dan Jennings to serve as special assistant to Mike Rizzo". ESPN.com. January 8, 2016. Retrieved January 10, 2016.
  13. Calcaterra, Craig (March 16, 2016). "The Marlins lose their grievance over Dan Jennings' salary". NBC Sports. Retrieved July 10, 2021.
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