On Sept. 25, Miami Marlins manager Don Mattingly met with the team’s principal owner Bruce Sherman and general manager Kim Ng. We don’t know who spoke first. But the result was clear: Mattingly is out as Miami manager, as of the end of the baseball season, which is next weekend.
Mattingly spoke at length during his press conference later that day. In essence, he said he felt a new voice was needed to run the team. He pointed out that changes had been made during the past year, including Derek Jeter resigning as CEO after 4 1/2 years.
Ng earlier said management had determined that a new contract would not be offered to Mattingly for next season. She said, “All parties agreed it’s time for a change. … The year was very disappointing.”
So there will be a new manager running the team next season.
I watch most of the Marlins games on television. And lately, I have felt that Mattingly needed to be replaced, not because he was incompetent, but because the players haven’t reacted positively to his leadership. I would not be surprised if he gets another managerial job. And soon.
Mattingly has been the Marlins’ manager for seven seasons and through Sunday his record was 437 wins and 584 losses. It’s the most of any team manager. Jack McKeon had 281 wins, Fred
Gonzalez had 276 and Rene Lachemann 221. Mattingly’s team won 31, lost 29 and advanced to the playoffs during the 2020 pandemic season.
Before getting the Marlins job, he spent five seasons managing the Los Angeles Dodgers. He was a first baseman and outfielder from 1982 through 1995 with the New York Yankees, where he batted .307 with 222 home runs.
I HAVE WONDERED what was happening in Boston that led to the suspension of Celtics coach Ime Udoka. ESPN writer Adrian Wojnarowski had released some information.
Udoka was suspended for one year, according to the Celtics, for violation of team policy. One of Udoka’s assistants, Joe Mazzula, has been put in his place. It’s not clear if Udoka will get his job back at the end of the year. This was not a regular suspension.
According to Wojnarowski, Udoka was having an affair with a Celtics staff member. But, according to the New York Post, it was more complicated than that. Udoka was engaged to Nia Long, whom he had been dating since 2010 and engaged to since 2015. The pair have a 10-year-old son. Udoka reportedly was dating the staff member and made “unwanted comments” to her.
She has not been named, but former player and current announcer Matt Barnes said, “It’s messy. It’s 100 times uglier than any of us thought.”
TMZ reporter Amanda Pflugrad has said the Celtics began investigating the coach’s affair in July.
