Ivan Rodriguez Would have been Perfect Manager for Miami Marlins
By Josh Sippie
The last time the Miami Marlins (although called the Florida Marlins at the time) started a season 16-22 and fired their manager, they went on to win the World Series in a most improbable affair. However, few are considering that this year may procure the same outcome as 2003. Although many didn’t favor the Jack McKeon appointment that won it, this year’s appointment is even less appealing.
McKeon had been retired from baseball for two years. Dan Jennings, the new Miami Marlins manager, hasn’t managed in thirty years, and that was at a high school level (via NYPost).
What makes this move completely baffling (among other things) is that this same team that has gone 16-22 is the team that Jennings built. Why would he have any better luck?
What the Marlins needed was a player’s manager. Someone who was a great player, not far removed from the game, a manager of the game and someone the players can relate to. What the Marlins need(ed) is Ivan Rodriguez.
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Rodriguez was with the Marlins when they pulled out the most unlikely of World Series wins. He was the catcher, the manager on the field. He was the veteran leader that helped his team of young upstarts pull off the upset. Aside from Jack McKeon, no one knows more about what it took to turn around a 16-22 Marlins team than Ivan Rodriguez, and the Miami Marlins missed a golden opportunity to nab a potentially dynamic manager.
To put it simply, Ivan Rodriguez is the best catcher to have played the game. He set a record of 2,427 games caught, an absolutely insane number that may, in time, prove to be one of baseball’s untouchable records. He caught 45% of potential base stealers, the best number in his time, and few players are more respected in the game of baseball than Pudge.
Not only that, but catchers have a track record of becoming managers. They see the game completely different from every other player on the field and they are the only player responsible for essentially baby-sitting another player. They call the shots, they’re the voice of the manager on the field. As Marty Noble points out in his MLB.com article, it’s little wonder why catcher’s make such good managers.
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Noble points out that twelve current managers were catchers at some point. Mike Matheny and Brad Ausmus are two of those names, and their successes with their teams is pretty well understood.
Ivan Rodriguez would have been an absolute game changer for the Marlins. Being a catcher is one thing, but being the best catcher of all time is another. He would have brought life to this club and prepared them for prolonged success with the young base of talent that they have.
Instead, the Marlins opted to let their GM take over as Manager. What a missed opportunity.