Miami Marlins news: Dan Jennings assembling front office staff, David Samson to be fired too?

The latest news to come out of the Miami Marlins' current front office shuffle involves the usual players. Jeff Passan of Yahoo! Sports reports that owner Jeffrey Loria is close enough to firing the old regime and installing assistant general manager Dan Jennings that he has authorized Jennings to start assembling a staff.

Who are the casualties involved in this takeover by Jennings? We all know president of baseball operations Larry Beinfest and general manager Michael Hill are on the outs, but you would surprised to hear the third name involved.

Three sources close to the Marlins believe the long-awaited shakeup is happening soon, and when it does, three people could lose their jobs: Larry Beinfest, Mike Hill and, most surprising of all, David Samson.

The three have been aligned in a power struggle with Marlins owner Jeffrey Loria. His troubles with Samson, the son of his ex-wife, have grown this season, sources said, and were exacerbated by Loria's belief that Samson was a source for the story about Tino Martinez's abuse of players that led to the hitting coach's resignation.

It seems that Loria is continuing to take the legitimate firing of hitting coach Tino Martinez, who was reportedly abusive to players on the field, too hard. Samson's name is yet another connection to a series of people in the organization who have landed in the doghouse because of accusations towards Martinez during the player abuse incident. This includes second base prospect Derek Dietrich and utility infielder Chris Valaika, both of whom were blocked from being promoted due to their role in reporting or accusing Martinez of his issues.

Samson also seemed to play an important role in the franchise last season when the front office rift became public. At the time, it sounded as though Samson was caught in the middle and was a bridge between Loria's side and Beinfest's group. Now, it sounds as though he has increasingly been swayed towards Beinfest's party, and that may cost him a job despite him being Loria's son-in-law.

It is a bad sign for the Marlins that Loria is ridding himself of all dissenting voices in order for his word to be unchallenged within the organization, but the hope is that Jennings has enough of Loria's respect now that he can make his own moves without being overruled. For now, Jennings will bring in his own staff and potentially have influence over Loria, and that could prevent the boss from making his typical bad moves on a regular basis. Then again, enough of his own personal decisions and Loria may tire of him soon as well. As Passan notes in the article, that is the nature of working for Jeffrey Loria and the Miami Marlins.

Stay tuned for more of the Larry Beinfest / Jeffrey Loria saga here at Fish Stripes!

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