Say this for the Marlins as they embark on the Don Mattingly Era: They're optimistic.
Mattingly was formally introduced Monday as the 14th manager in franchise history, but the 10th in Jeffrey Loria's ownership and seventh since 2011, or roughly one every 116 games.
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But Mattingly, 54, signed a four-year contract and said, “I plan on being here at least 10.”
“We wanted this to be the last manager’s press conference we ever did,” Marlins president David Samson said (via the Miami Herald). “We’ve done too many.”
If there is one thing that gives rise to the optimism it's that Mattingly, unlike immediate predecessors Mike Redmond and Dan Jennings, has experience managing at the major-league level.
In five seasons as the Dodgers manager, he compiled a 446-363 (.551) record, although his less-than-stellar record in the postseason (8-11) led to his exit in L.A. Although the Marlins interviewed other candidates, he quickly became their primary target and the sides agreed on a deal last week.
His biggest adjustment in Miami: He goes from a Dodgers team that had the highest payroll at the end of the 2015 regular season ($289.6 million) to a Marlins team that had the lowest ($64.9 million).
"To me, I'm going to have high expectations. I'll tell players on a daily basis, I expect them to win every day." pic.twitter.com/hqwku3meFG
— Miami Marlins (@Marlins) November 2, 2015
So while Monday's news conference was full of optimism, Mattingly is enough of a realist — he played for George Steinbrenner, after all, as a Yankee — that he goes into working for the mercurial Loria with his eyes open, especially in terms of the rapid turnover in managers.
“That was probably my biggest fear," Mattingly said. "Are they going to blow it up and start over, blow it up and start over?”
