A few weeks after parting ways with Kim Ng, the Marlins have hired a new leader of baseball operations. Rays general manager Peter Bendix will depart Tampa Bay for Miami and take over as the Marlins’ new president of baseball operations, reports Jeff Passan.
Bendix, 38, started with the Rays as an intern in 2009 and has worked his way up the ladder since. He was promoted to general manager in 2021, serving under president of baseball operations Erik Neander.
Hiring from the Rays’ front office has become a popular thing to do for obvious reasons. The Rays have shown the ability to squeeze every ounce of performance out of a low-payroll roster for a decent amount of time now. There were four playoff seasons in six years from 2008-13, and then there’s the recent run of five straight playoff seasons, which included the 2020 pennant and two AL East titles.
The prevailing wisdom would be that this front office has a knack for pegging the correct players and — in many cases — giving them greater payroll ability should make for an excellent formula. That rang true with Andrew Friedman taking over the Dodgers. On the flip side, Chaim Bloom was just dismissed from his Red Sox job. It’s difficult to judge James Click’s time in Houston, and it’s probably too early in Matt Arnold’s tenure in Milwaukee to draw sweeping conclusions. Still, there’s enough success with the group that tapping into that same front office is a defensible maneuver in filling a high-ranking front office position.
The Marlins made the playoffs last season for the first time in a full schedule since 2003, but were swept in two games by the Phillies. The Marlins were 84-78 in the regular season. Ng, who was the first woman general manager in MLB history, declined her part of a mutual option for the 2024 season on Oct. 16 after learning the club planned to hire a president of baseball operations above her.
