Jeffrey Loria's message after odd hire: 'A Marlin isn't a flounder'

Bob Nightengale | USA TODAY Sports

The telephone started ringing in the early morning, from former players, managers, baseball executives, all with the same response.

"This is a joke, right?

"Tell me this is a joke.

"Come on, they can't be serious.''

You know it's absurd when even the mother of Dan Jennings, the new manager of the Miami Marlins, asked him, "Have you lost your mind?''

In the 139-year history of Major League Baseball, few, if any managerial hirings have been more shocking than the news Monday that the Marlins "demoted'' Jennings to become their new manager.

This is more bizarre than Jerry Coleman leaving the San Diego Padres broadcast booth and becoming the manager in 1980.

Crazier than Paul Owens becoming the Philadelphia Phillies' GM in June 1972, and five weeks later, becoming the manager for the rest of the season, which he did twice again later in his career.

Yet, Owens was a player-manager in the minors, even if it was at Class C Bakersfield. Jerry Coleman played on six World Series teams with the New York Yankees, and was a pilot in Korea.

Dan Jennings?

Well, he played baseball for Southern Mississippi, but never professionally, and his entire coaching experience consists of three years at Davidson High School in Mobile, Ala., before becoming a scout in 1986.

We're not making this up.

Now, he's the full-time manager of the Marlins, a team that underachieved (16-22) under Mike Redmond, who just so happened to have a 13-year big-league career, two years of minor-league managerial experience, and 2 years, 6 weeks of big-league experience on his resume.

Good luck, big fella.

"There's going to be cynics, there's going to be critics,'' Jennings said at his press conference. "But there are a lot of managers who have arrived in that chair from different paths.

"We now have a new path for someone arriving in that seat.''

Marlins owner Jeffrey Loria, who told USA TODAY Sports that he was part of the organizational decision-making process to bring in Jennings, but says he did not make the call on his own, can't understand the uproar.

Loria, who could no longer stand watching his club under-perform, believes this hiring makes perfect sense. Really.

"People like to say this is controversial, different, outside the box,'' Loria said in a telephone interview with USA TODAY Sports. "I can't think of anyone better suited for this job than him. There was a tremendous lack of energy and fire in that clubhouse and dugout. We needed to bring some life in there.

"We needed more accountability, more energy, more fire, more communication, and Dan fills all of those roles.''

And that simply wasn't going to happen, Loria is convinced, under Redmond.

"You don't have to be a rocket scientist to see the team wasn't performing,'' Loria said. "Everybody in baseball can see it. A lot of players lost accountability, and structure was lacking.

"We're supposed to be the Fish. The Marlins. We shouldn't be the Flounders.

"A Marlin isn't a flounder. We've got to get it going.''

No matter how the Marlins want to portray it, the decision to hire Jennings still is stunning. It drew an immediate outpouring of anger and resentment among the baseball hierarchy.

And yet, there were also a great deal of knowing nods and reservations of judgment.

You see, Jennings is well-liked in this game. A gentleman who's widely been considered one of the game's finest talent evaluators. Folks in the game were thrilled when he was appointed as the Marlins' general manager after the 2013 season.

Yet, these same people are now feeling sorry for the man, worrying that he's been set up to fail. They hope that if this doesn't work, he can still return to his old job in the organization, even though vice president Mike Berger will fill his duties. They pray this isn't a death wish.

"Dan still is going to be very much involved in trades and things,'' Loria said. "We'll internally figure out what will happen at the end of the year, but our hope is that it stays like it. The only difference is that our GM is now the manager. We just dropped the general.''

The danger with this hire, of course, is that it's a huge right-cross across the chops to every single major league manager, and minor league field personnel.

You're supposed to pay your dues before you get this opportunity.

Oh sure, Mike Matheny of St. Louis, Robin Ventura of the Chicago White Sox, Walt Weiss of Colorado, Brad Ausmus of Detroit and Craig Counsell of Milwaukee had no managerial experience, but they all had glossy resumes as players, and were well-known as clubhouse leaders.

It's safe to say the Marlins made few friends in the managerial fraternity with this stunt.

"I have a lot of relationships with managers around the league,'' Jennings said. "I respect that position because in my time I know how hard these men have worked to get here. I also know the different avenues they took to arrive in that seat. This is certainly a different avenue to arrive here.

"I'm not naïve enough to think I can do this on my own.''

Still, there will be plenty of times Jennings may feel like a man on an island. No wonder he insisted on taking as his bench coach Mike Goff, his longtime friend, who last coached in the big leagues with the Seattle Mariners in 2007.

There are going to be so many lonely nights out there when a man just doesn't want to drink alone after tough losses.

The Marlins, who actually discussed firing Redmond a month ago, decided over the weekend that he no longer was capable of resurrecting their season. You don't get swept by the rebuilding Atlanta Braves at home for the second time in two months to realize you've got problems. When Marlins presidents David Samson and Mike Hill spoke over the weekend with Jennings, and talked about the qualifications needed for their next replacement, they realized he was already on the phone.

"As we looked at what we thought this team needed to get itself going,'' Hill said, "we wanted a leader, we wanted someone with knowledge in the game. We wanted someone who knew our players.

"There's no one who knows them better than DJ.

"If we feel like we didn't have the right person with the right skill sets, we wouldn't have made the change.''

Sure, Jennings certainly is a leader and motivator in the front office, and beloved by his scouts and assistants. He has been treated almost like a son by Loria, with a contract through 2018. And he was largely responsible for helping convince Giancarlo Stanton to give up free agency, and sign a $325 million contract.

Still, these are major-league ballplayers.

They demand respect.

You can't just be a nice guy who comes to the clubhouse, offers encouragement, even with the power of trading you away with a single phone call.

You got to have street cred.

This is why Bobby Cox and Tony La Russa were recently inducted into the Hall of Fame. It's why Dusty Baker won three National League manager of the Year awards. It's why Jim Leyland won the first World Series title with the Marlins, and had the Pittsburgh Pirates and Detroit Tigers on the brink of others.

Now, Jennings must win the trust of a team whose heads are spinning. They just watched their manager and bench coach replaced by a guy who hasn't coached a game since he was a high-school coach 30 years ago, and a bench coach who until Sunday had been their advance scout.

And, yes, they're well aware that not a single person, either in the organization or outside, who had the opportunity to interview for the job.

"I have tremendous respect and a very good relationship with quite a few of our players,'' Jennings said. "I believe in the mindset that you give respect to get respect.

"The one thing I'm certain of, "Managers do not win games in this league. They can lose them.' But you do have to have the respect of the players. This game is about the players. I was fortunate enough to learn that at an early age.''

Common sense and logic tells us this will be a disaster in waiting. It's almost unfathomable that a man can walk downstairs, slip on a baseball uniform for the first time in three decades, and suddenly lead a team to the playoffs. Still, if the Marlins didn't believe this would work, Hill said, they never would have made the choice.

"My dad was a coach for 50 years,'' Jennings said. "Our motto: You can't win, if you're afraid to lose.'

"I've never shied away from challenges.''

And, oh, baby, does he have one now.

Certainly, we've seen plenty of crazy over the years. Who ever thought Jack McKeon could be lured from his North Carolina home in 2003 when the Marlins were also 16-22, and five months later, become the oldest manager in history, 72, to lead a team to the World Series?

Hey, these are the Marlins. They've never, ever, done anything the conventional way. So why start now?

"My interest is winning, and giving the players the best opportunity to win, period,'' Loria said. "You just have to understand that people are just people. I've been saying this for 26 years, skills translate. Talent translates.

"We made great commitments to this team, so you know the talent is very high. Dan is very imaginative, very creative, with a high baseball IQ.

"This is going to be fun to watch.''

Surely, it will.

One way or the other.

GALLERY: MARLINS MANAGERS SINCE 1993