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Alden Gonzalez, ESPN Staff Writer
The Miami Marlins, in the early stages of another rebuild, have made a deluge of firings under first-year president of baseball operations Peter Bendix, including two assistant general managers, four field coordinators and their international scouting director, among others, sources told ESPN on Monday.
Most of those let go were people brought in by either Derek Jeter or Kim Ng, who previously led baseball operations. Bendix was widely expected to eventually make more of his own hirings, but people throughout the industry were stunned by the breadth of changes made with seven weeks still remaining in the regular season. The Marlins chose to make changes now at least partly to give their former employees more time to land elsewhere.
Among the most notable departures is Oz Ocampo, the assistant GM who was lauded for the reams of international talent he helped bring into the Houston Astros’ organization to help launch their current dynasty. Ocampo was in his second year with an assistant GM title in Miami, running the pro-scouting department in 2023 before focusing his efforts back into the international side in 2024. The other assistant GM let go was Dan Greenlee, who was in his seventh year with the organization and oversaw analytics.
Roman Ocumarez, who spent a long time working alongside Ocampo in Houston, was let go as the Marlins’ international scouting director, sources told ESPN. The Marlins also fired field coordinator Patrick Osborn, pitching coordinator Scott Aldred, hitting coordinator Tom Slater and performance coordinator Frank Moore, essentially resetting their player-development department. More than 10 scouts have also been let go through multiple waves. More changes are expected throughout the organization in the coming weeks, sources said.
Gabe Kapler, among the few front office additions made by Bendix when he got the job, will remain as an assistant GM, sources told ESPN.
The Marlins are expected to replace all of the scouting positions as well as most — if not all — of the front office spots that have been left vacant. Bendix came over after 15 years with the Tampa Bay Rays and hopes to implement many of the elements from that organization, one of which includes utilizing a robust scouting and baseball-operations department.
The Marlins made a surprising playoff run last year but quickly bottomed out in 2024 and currently sit at 44-75. Two-time batting champion Luis Arraez was traded to the San Diego Padres in early May and several other veteran players were dealt before the end of July, a list that includes center fielder Jazz Chisholm Jr., closer Tanner Scott, outfielder Bryan De La Cruz, first baseman Josh Bell and starting pitcher Trevor Rogers.
When the season ends, Skip Schumaker, the reigning National League Manager of the Year, is widely expected to become a free agent, a move that will likely trigger turnover for most of the major league coaching staff. Schumaker and the Marlins mutually agreed to void the 2025 option on his contract over the offseason.
Bendix has sold the trades of veteran players as necessary to help the Marlins build the type of stability the franchise has lacked since coming into existence in 1993. The moves have been widely unpopular in Miami, but rival executives mostly applauded the Marlins for being aggressive ahead of the trade deadline and securing several promising young players in return.
ESPN’s Kiley McDaniel contributed to this report.
Source: www.espn.com