Jeter backpedals on firings of key members in Marlins organization

Just when we thought new Miami Marlins CEO/part-owner Derek Jeter grabbed headlines for controversial firings, he reverses course.

Jeter was the epitome of controversy last week when he fired Hall of Famers Andre Dawson and Tony Perez, Mr. Marlin Jeff Conine and the Marlins’ World Series-winning manager Jack McKeon.

However, Fanrag’s Jon Herman is reporting Jeter has personally reached out to the four esteemed Marlins front office members and informed them he didn’t really intend to fire them and that he’d be interested in retaining all four with the team in an unidentified role.

What makes this scenario even stranger, is that it’s being reported Jeter provided no explanation why they’d been told they were being let go, or more specifically, why the second message was the opposite of the first.

Despite it being an unfavorable decision, firing the key members made sense. The four members were part of previous ownership, and Jeter may have wanted to start completely new without any stench of the past. Club president David Samson was originally supposed to be the grim reaper with the bad news to these four members, but it appears they will remain with the team after all.

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Jeter also has not called Samson since the stories of the firings first appeared, so it’s pretty clear there was no misunderstanding, per Heyman. Jeter reached out to the four men Friday, explaining to them that he didn’t believe he could call them until the sale had officially closed.

The four men, Jeter and Samson have all declined to comment on the situation.

Let’s not jump to conclusion yet, and if Jeter did in fact change his mind, he should be given a second chance to earn the trust of fans.

But what a bizarre beginning to Jeter’s reign. Welcome to the offseason, Marlins fans.