The Marlins are set to hire Rays general manager Peter Bendix as the club’s next head of baseball operations, according to The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal and Andy McCullough (links to X).  Rosenthal reported earlier tonight that Bendix was Miami’s “leading candidate” for the job, and Bendix has informed some Rays co-workers that he will be leaving for the Marlins job.

Bendix would become the latest in a long line of Tampa Bay executives hired away by other teams.  Andrew Friedman (Dodgers), Chaim Bloom (Red Sox), Matt Arnold (Brewers), and James Click (Astros) all got rival front office jobs due in part to the Rays’ consistent ability to draft and develop talent, all while fielding competitive teams on small player payrolls.  Other organizational attempts to replicate the Rays’ success has been somewhat mixed, though obviously Friedman and Click both won World Series titles with their teams.

The Rays’ track record is undoubtedly of interest to Marlins owner Bruce Sherman, who reportedly hasn’t been happy with how his team has been developing its younger talent.  These concerns led to Sherman’s plan of installing a new head of baseball operations above general manager Kim Ng, which resulted in Ng declining her end of a mutual option on her contract for the 2024 season.  It isn’t known if Bendix or any other candidates were already being targeted by Sherman prior to Ng’s departure, yet naturally Ng balked at the idea of suddenly being demoted after the Marlins reached the playoffs last season.  Rosenthal reports that Bloom was also on the Marlins’ radar, but the former Red Sox chief baseball officer declined to be a candidate for the Miami job.

The Miami Marlins and general manager Kim Ng have parted ways, the team announced Monday morning. Ng just completed the final guaranteed year in her contract. The Marlins exercised a mutual option on their end to bring her back next year, but Ng declined her end, so she is now a free agent. The two sides could agree to a new contract, though the Marlins indicated they are moving on.

“We thank Kim for her contributions during her time with our organization and wish her and her family well,” Marlins principal owner Bruce Sherman said in a statement. “We will immediately begin a thorough and extensive search for new leadership as we plan to continue to invest in the Marlins organization both on and off the field. We are committed to our fans and the South Florida community and look to build off the momentum of the great progress of this year.”

Director of player development Brian Chattin will serve as Miami’s interim general manager, according to the Miami Herald.

Ng, 54, was hired in November 2020, making her the first female general manager in baseball history and the second Asian general manager. This season she led the Marlins to their first postseason berth since 2020, and their first postseason berth in a 162-game season since 2003. The Marlins went 220-266 (.452) during Ng’s three seasons and 84-78 in 2022.

When Schumaker interviews, there is not an immediate consensus that he’s the top pick. Ng makes more calls to friends in the game, people who know Schumaker. They all tell her the same thing: Schumaker is a winner. An obsessive one. He’s got a good engine, as people in baseball like to say.

She makes the hire.

Later that winter, Ng brings in Ocampo and begins to talk about how Schumaker and Ocampo can expedite the Marlins’ trajectory. People often say they want to seek out different perspectives when making decisions, but Ng goes out of her way to find as many as possible.

“We went from rigid-control B.S.,” said one longtime baseball operations employee, “to a place of ‘we need ideas!’ It’s a breath of fresh air.”

Ng told Schumaker the same thing she told Ocampo: Not only are they going to win in Miami but they’re going to have sustained success. And that, she believes, starts with a winning culture.

“The respect I have for how she leads is at the very top,” Schumaker said. “Players love her; she knows how to have difficult conversations, and it just feels like she is part of our on-field staff. And what I mean by that is she lets us do our jobs. She gives ideas and recommends, obviously, but doesn’t second-guess. You know what that does for a manager and staff? It’s incredible.”

The Miami Marlins are heading back to the postseason. The Marlins clinched a wild-card spot with their win over the Pittsburgh Pirates on Saturday night (MIA 6, PIT 3). This is Miami’s first postseason appearance since 2020 and the franchise’s first in a 162-game season since 2003, when they won the World Series.

Here is the updated NL postseason bracket:

BYE: No. 1 Atlanta Braves and No. 2 Los Angeles Dodgers
WC1: No. 6 Arizona Diamondbacks at No. 3 Milwaukee Brewers
WC2: No. 5 Miami Marlins at No. 4 Philadelphia Phillies
The D-Backs have not yet clinched a postseason berth, though they will do so with their next win or the next losses by both the Chicago Cubs and Cincinnati Reds. The Marlins have the same record as Arizona (84-76) with their Saturday night win and hold the tiebreaker over Arizona. The Diamondbacks are currently hosting the Astros in a game with playoff implications in both leagues.

9:41 p.m.: After a couple of minutes of strong rains, the umpires suspend the game with men on first and second and two outs in the top of the ninth, with the Marlins leading 2-1.

It was at this point that a wild scenario was in play, as rule 7.02 (b)(4)(A) dictates that if a game is called due to rain and unable to be completed, the score is reverted to the last completed inning, which would give the Mets a 1-0 win.

Fortunately, MLB very much did not want that to happen. The league proceeded to wait 2 hours and 40 minutes, hoping for a break in the rain.

12:21 a.m.: The Mets grounds crew starts moving the infield tarp, inspiring hope that the game might finally finish before the break of dawn. That tarp was moved to left field, where it remained until ...

12:37 a.m.: The tarp is put back on. It was around this time that Marlins manager Skip Schumaker started getting very angry — or at least started showing his anger.

At another point, the Marlins X account (née Twitter) officially changed its bio to “We have a roof.”

12:59 a.m.: The game is officially suspended.

American entrepreneur Jeffrey Loria purchased the Miami Marlins back in 2002 and owned the team for 15 years before selling it to a group that featured Derek Jeter in 2017. In a recent interview with the Miami Herald, Loria claimed Jeter “destroyed the ballpark.”

One of the biggest issues that Loria had with Jeter was the fact that he got rid of a sculpture that erupted whenever the Marlins hit a home run or won a game.

“Destroying public art was a horrible thing to do,” Loria said.

Loria’s friend, artist Red Grooms, designed the home run sculpture as part of a $2.5 million contract with Miami-Dade County.

When the Miami Marlins signed 2018’s number one international prospect Victor Victor Mesa for $5.25 million, they were expecting him to become one of the big building blocks of their future. Unfortunately, the Cuban outfielder has never come close to living up to the hype and his time with the Marlins organization may have just reached its end without him even tasting the major leagues.

On Monday, Francys Romero of beisbolfr reported that Mesa abandoned the Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp, which is the Marlins AAA affiliate. According to Romero, Victor Victor had “disagreements with the coaches and he’s not expected to return.” I was able to confirm that report and can add Mesa has been away from the team since June 20, when they began a road series against the Gwinnett Stripers. His last appearance with Jacksonville came on June 16.

Per Yordano Carmona of Pelota Cubana, Mesa did travel with the team to Gwinnett, but hours after arriving, he left in another vehicle and went back to Jacksonville. He was then placed on the restricted list.

In a move that many anticipated was coming, the Marlins optioned rookie right-hander Eury Pérez to Double-A Pensacola on Friday afternoon. In corresponding moves, Miami recalled No. 23 prospect Sean Reynolds from Triple-A Jacksonville, selected left-hander Robert Garcia’s contract from Jacksonville and designated for assignment Jeff Lindgren.

The news isn’t much of a surprise considering the Marlins have been monitoring Pérez’s workload since the get-go. The 20-year-old surpassed his single-season career high for innings (78) with six frames of one-run ball in Thursday night’s 3-0 loss to the Cardinals. Between six starts at Double-A Pensacola and another 11 in the Majors, Pérez is at 84 1/3 innings in 2023.

“It’s always hard when somebody gets sent out,” general manager Kim Ng said. “It definitely wasn’t ideal. You definitely feel for players when you have to send them out. But listen, he was a pro. I think after it, he understood, and he’s very focused on making his way back here.”