Who is the best manager in NL East?
By John Buhler
1. Don Mattingly, Miami Marlins
The Miami Marlins feel like they are close to contention. They have many great position players in RF Giancarlo Stanton, 2B Dee Gordon, LF Christian Yelich, and SS Adeiny Hechavarria. Miami has one of the best aces in baseball in Jose Fernandez. They’ve got some great veteran leaders on the club like Ichiro Suzuki and Martin Prado. All the Fish needed was a respectable manager and they may have him in Don Mattingly.
Mattingly spent the last several seasons with the contending Los Angeles Dodgers, taking over for mentor Joe Torre. No amount of egos or flash that Miami may have could stand as an issue from the type of personalities he had to deal with in Los Angeles.
Should Miami address the rotation and their bullpen, this team feels like a potential Wild Card team in 2016 down in South Beach. A Wild Card Marlins team means they will win the World Series, as the Fish have never lost a postseason series, albeit they’ve only made the playoffs twice.
A change of scenery certainly helps Mattingly and players will respect him. If the 2015 Miami Marlins could find a way to tolerate interim skipper Dan Jennings, then they will certainly respect Donnie Baseball. Mattingly only made the postseason once as a Big Leaguer in his final season in 1995 with the New York Yankees, so he can relate to the Marlins’ 12-year playoff drought. His LA Dodgers were always in the playoff conversation when he was manager.
This is one of those signings that oddly makes sense. Can Donnie Baseball get the Fish back on track? This could become a Chicago Cubs/Joe Maddon type of hire or it could go the other way like the 2012 Miami Marlins Season led by Ozzie Guillen. Health and a few minor tweaks to the pitching staff would give the Marlins ample opportunity to contend in 2016.