Don Mattingly is in the final year of his four-year contract with the Miami Marlins. The Miami Marlins are mortal locks to finish in last place for the second straight year. Is he coming back?
Derek Jeter dials up cliches 34(A)-37(B) from the Great Cliche Manuel and tells the Associated press that he’s not yet decided:
“There hasn’t been a decision yet,” Jeter said before Miami hosted the Los Angeles Dodgers on Wednesday night. “To be honest with you, we’ve been so focused on the trade deadline and see what we could do with it.”
“At the end of every year, we sit down and evaluate all members of the organization, whether it’s the manager, coaches, player development, scouting, front office,” he said.
What, you were expecting him to say something of substance?
Jeter did say that Mattingly has “done a good job,” in light of the complete tear-down rebuild the team has embarked upon over the past two years. For his part, Mattingly said he’d like to come back. Still, Mattingly was hired by the previous ownership group, and inherited managers tend not to last long under new regimes. That may not have mattered much as the team has tanked for the past two seasons, but once the corner is turned on the rebuild, one would assume Jeter would want his own guy in place.