Daniel Álvarez-Montes of El Extrabase reports the Miami Marlins have agreed on a contract extension with manager Don Mattingly. As of the moment, the terms of the deal have not been disclosed, but an official announcement will be made tomorrow.
This news comes as a surprise as many believed the Marlins were going to part ways with Mattingly when his contract expired at the end of the season. That seemed all the more the case with the Marlins set to lose over 100 games this year.
In fact, since Mattingly’s first year as the Marlins manager in 2016, the team’s record has gotten worse in each successive year. There was a chance that would not happen this year, but the Marlins so far have gone 20-44 in the second half.
While the team performance makes this a surprise, Derek Jeter has spoken highly of the job his former teammate has done. Just this past August, Jeter lauded Mattingly’s leadership, and he seemed to want to take care of him saying, “To be fair to Donnie, it’s something we need to talk about sooner rather than later. There are a lot of things that go into it. Donnie has done a good job.” (New York Post).
While this could be looked at as Jeter avoiding another public relations problem by having to part ways with another legendary Yankee, this could perhaps be another indication of the Marlins looking to start building more towards being competitive in the near future. To that point, according to Álvarez-Montes, the Marlins will also be announcing a contract extension for SS Miguel Rojas, who is arbitration eligible and not set to be a free agent until after the 2021 season.
Rojas, 30, has played 123 games this year hitting .285/.335/.383 with 27 doubles, one triple, five homers, and 45 RBI. His 2.4 WAR is second best among position players on the team.
