Washington Nationals Editorial: Where Does Dusty Baker Rank Among Managers In The NL East?

Don Mattingly – Miami Marlins

Mattingly comes to Miami after being the manager for the Los Angeles Dodgers for the past five seasons. With the Dodgers, he won the NL West each of the last three seasons (90+ wins in each year). However, the Dodgers only won two postseason series in those three years, which wasn’t enough for Mattingly to keep the job.

This offseason, the Marlins’ front office gave Mattingly a four-year deal, which would mean the 54-year-old would have some job security, but you can never be so sure of that when you are talking about Jeffrey Loria.

However, Mattingly does get to manage a young team after dealing with many veterans in Los Angeles. He is already bringing in some new things with the Marlins, including a no facial hair policy, which is ironic when you consider he was famous for his mustache when he was the All-Star first baseman for the New York Yankees from 1982-1995.

Now that he’s with the Marlins, Mattingly is going to be able to teach and develop young players, something that he couldn’t do in Los Angeles:

"“We’re going to have to be a team that’s going to have to continue to teach, and keep developing. It’s refreshing knowing you’re part of that.’’ (h/t Bob Nightengale, USA Today)"

If the Marlins are going to be that surprise team in the National League, Mattingly will definitely play a big part in that turnaround as the manager. It’s just a matter of how patient Loria will be with Mattingly after he fired Mike Redmond last May.

Next: Number Two