Derek Jeter hasn’t wasted much time in tearing apart the Miami Marlins front office. Jeter also reportedly didn’t really care about former Marlins owner Jeffrey Loria’s opinion on many of team officials.
According to FanRag’s Jon Heyman, Jeter fired four members of the Marlins front office that Loria urged him to retain, and is planning on retaining one that Loria urged him to fire.
Loria, according to sources, suggested that Jeter keep high-ranking baseball people Mike Berger, Jeff McAvoy, Marc Delpiano and Jim Benedict, and that he let go longtime scouting director Stan Meek. Jeter has already fired the four Loria suggested he keep, and word is that Jeter is likely keeping Meek, who would have been let go by Loria.
Last month, Jeter reportedly had Marlins president David Samson fire a bunch of people in the team’s front office, including four former team legends.
Now, Jeter is firing people that Loria thinks were good enough to retain, and keeping someone that Loria wanted to let go.
This is all fine.
And incredibly, Loria’s feelings weren’t because of money!
In any case, word is that the four executives who were fired made salaries “like low-paid GMs,” meaning somewhere in the $500K to $800K range, and since the four have contracts that run through 2020, the Marlins are on the hook for something between $6.5M and $9M. A past report suggested Loria would have to pay those salaries, but sources insist it is actually Jeter and his group that has to foot the rather expensive bill for the four fired execs, as one might expect, and Loria’s being upset has nothing to do with finances, just his hope Jeter would keep his guys.
I have no idea how this offseason is going to play out for the Marlins, but they intrigue me possibly more than any other team in baseball.
Anything that pisses off Loria is a good thing.