Miami Marlins "upset" relationship with Jose Fernandez

It could just be anonymous sources talking, but it does seem like where there is smoke, there is fire with regards to the Miami Marlins and Jose Fernandez's deteriorating relationship with the team. Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald discussed this recently on an article highlighting a discussion with one of Fernandez's friends.

### A friend of Jose Fernandez said among the things that upset Fernandez about the Marlins were the team’s trades last summer and the removal of pitching coach Chuck Hernandez (replaced by Juan Nieves). The friend said former Marlins player Jeff Baker soured Fernandez and others on the front office.

Fernandez apparently took issue with the departures of some of the team's stalwarts from the Mike Redmond era, most notably pitching coach Chuck Hernandez. We also know Fernandez was not happy hearing about the trade rumors surrounding him briefly during the offseason and that outgoing utility man Jeff Baker trash-talked the front office and caused general clubhouse unrest with regards to the organization, leading to his eventual release

This is not surprising news for a team that has essentially botched his non-injury handling for their entire tenure together. The Marlins promoted Fernandez early and unnecessarily, leading to his service time ticking faster than expected and desired. There were rumblings from Fernandez's friends that the Marlins should have noted injury concerns in his stat prior to the San Diego Padres start in which his elbow problems became prominent. There were concerns that a large drop-off in velocity in that San Diego start should have triggered pulling Fernandez to prevent further damage. Then there were the various discussions on Fernandez rejecting long-term offers from the team, along with the presence of agent and notorious Marlins adversary Scott Boras. This all came to a head this winter, when part of the Winter Meetings was spent speculating on various Fernandez trades.

In that kind of environment, anyone would be angered and have their relationship soured, but some of these specifics were less biting than Fernandez should make them out to be. Chuck Hernandez was unlikely to stick around with the staff for the remainder of this season given the team's recent hiring of a new manager in Don Mattingly. The vast majority of the time, new managers often bring about wholescale changes to the coaching staff, and this staff was no different. Frank Menechino was demoted from the top hitting coach to an assistant position under Barry Bonds. Longtime Mattingly hand Tim Wallach was brought in as bench coach over former coach Rob Leary. Only Reid Cornelius, Jeff Urgelles, and Perry Hill retained major big-league coaching positions.

As for the trades this past season, many were obviously necessary. The Marlins were not going to retain Mat Latos or Dan Haren after the start of the season went so poorly, so the Fish rightly sent them off (whether they acquired anything of value in return is a different story). The Fish brought the Steve Cishek situation upon themselves by not trading him in a more timely fashion, but he should have been dealt either way. These deals were typical of a team out of contention for the season, especially one that wanted to build up some farm depth.

Fernandez cannot overreact to every slight by a Marlins organization prone to them. However, the Fish have not managed the situation well either, and even if their intentions have been good, the fact that so much smoke has come from their broken relationship shows that some of this likely has truth to it. With the Marlins resigned to Fernandez earning potentially $30 million annually on a free agent deal, the team will have to end this relationship at some point, and it figures to not end well.