The Failed Don Mattingly Era Is Over In Miami

Don Mattingly announced today that after meeting with Miami Marlins owner Bruce Sherman and GM Kim Ng, he would not be seeking a contract extension with the Marlins and he would leave as manager at season's end.

When you consider how well he handled the Jose Fernandez tragedy along with a pretty immaculate reputation over 40 years in baseball, Don Mattingly sounds like a tremendous person. He's just not a good manager.

The Marlins have had poor ownership for so long, it's become a built in excuse. Yes, the Marlins have far less resources than the Red Sox or Yankees and it's an unfair playing field. I won't argue the basics of that argument. Mattingly still had a winning percentage of only .428 over seven years with them. That averages out to a 69-93 season. That's terrible. Both things can be true. The Marlins can have lousy ownership AND Don Mattingly can be a bad manager.

He's had talented players in Miami as well. For his first two seasons, they had an outfield of Giancarlo Stanton, Marcell Ozuna and Christian Yelich with J.T. Realmuto behind the plate. Jose Fernandez's death certainly set the franchise back but even in the season they had all of those players, they still had a losing season. Sandy Alcantara, Trevor Rogers, Pablo Lopez and Jesus Luzardo create a talented starting rotation core presently. But even with those arms, they have had one of the worst offenses in baseball and already lost 90 games this season.

The exception to all of this was the COVID-shorted 2020 season. Mattingly had that team play consistently well all season and with the expanded playoffs, they snuck in with a 31-29 record. They rode the arms of Alcantara and Sixto Sanchez (who hasn't pitched since these playoffs due to injury) and somehow got past the Cubs in the Wild Card round before being swept by the Braves in the playoffs. Mattingly did win Manager of the Year and should get credit for having that team ready to play after the long layoff and constant uncertainty that surrounded 2020. It's also the only time a Don Mattingly-led team has overachieved.

Mattingly, don't forget, also managed the Dodgers for five years before joining the Dodgers.

Dodgers with Don Mattingly: 446-363 (.551)

Dodgers since Don Mattingly 647-376 (.632)

Now this is not entirely fair. The Dodgers of 2022 have a very different roster than the one when Mattingly started with the Dodgers in 2011. Also, when Mattingly joined the Dodgers, Frank McCourt was still the owner. But they did become a 100+ win juggernaut just two seasons after Mattingly left. Dave Roberts may infuriate Dodgers fans once in awhile but he has brought them to four 100-win seasons, three NL pennants and a World Series title. Those are all things Mattingly has never done.

Don Mattingly was an awesome player and you could make a case that he should be a Hall of Famer. Like I said earlier, he seems like a good human being. I'd love to see him turn up as a bench coach somewhere and get that World Series ring he does deserve. I just don't think he should be a manager again and the Miami Marlins will be better off without him.