Skip Schumaker wants the Marlins to make a lasting impression - Bally Sports

Skip Schumaker used what has become a popular word these days to describe how he wants the Miami Marlins to move forward with him as their manager:

"Sustainable."

In a collective statement shared with owner Bruce Sherman and general manager Kim Ng on Tuesday afternoon, Schumaker said the team's goal should be to make the playoffs and, no less importantly, compete for them every season. That sounds like it should be any team’s goal, but it’s harder for some than others.

The Marlins made the postseason most recently in 2020, a season shortened to 60 games because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Before that, the Marlins hadn't made the playoffs since winning the World Series in 2003.

Schumaker, a 42-year-old who not long ago was a major league player before getting into coaching, was a member of two World Series winners with the St. Louis Cardinals. He was the Cards bench coach for Oliver Marmol in 2022 and wants to make winning in South Beach a more frequent occurrence, like they do in St. Louis. He’s also the first MLB skipper in history to actually be named Skip (although his given name is Jared Michael).

"I'm very excited and grateful that Bruce, Kim, and the Marlins organization have given me an opportunity to manage a very talented team," Schumaker said. "Delivering a winning, sustainable culture with the expectation of getting into the postseason is the next step for this organization and South Florida — and I can't wait to get started."

Sustainability has never been something the Marlins have done well, or even obviously tried. They have two World Series championships in the past 24 years, which is an enviable accomplishment for all but a few MLB teams since the Marlins came into existence in 1993. But neither of Miami’s title teams (1997 and '03), or the processes that created them, were meant to last for more than a season.

The Marlins never have finished in first place. Only twice have the Marlins ever won at least 90 games. Only seven times in 30 seasons have they finished above .500, and only once did they do so for at least three consecutive seasons.

Over three decades, they've had four different owners and five different GMs. They even awkwardly traded organizations with the Montreal Expos when the Washington Nationals were created. On a smaller level but not unrelatedly, they also change the look of their uniforms frequently. Not to mention: They used to be called the Florida Marlins until 2012.

The Marlins have sustained a remarkable lack of continuity.

A lack of sustainability reflects in other ways, for example how many managers the Marlins have had since Rene Lachemann started them off — Schumaker makes for No. 16. Then again the person he replaced, Don Mattingly, stuck around for seven years, which helped the overall manager-per-year average, but not much else. The Marlins had one winning season under Mattingly, in 2020, when they went 31-29.

Schumaker using "sustainability" to talk about the future indicates that he and the organization see eye to eye on how they'll build a winning team. One thing it probably means: The Marlins, who finished next-to-last in attendance and 26th in payroll, probably won't be doubling the collective team salary in one offseason. The big free-agent buys of a year ago didn't work out, so expect follow-up caution. They're not going to spend a lot until the team's young base is closer to winning on its own.

A curb on future payroll might have had something to do with the Marlins and Mattingly parting ways. However, it's also obvious the offense wasn't developing fully with the staff Miami had in place during a 69-93 season and fourth-place finish in the National League East.

What Schumaker, his coaches and the team's player development staff can do is improve the personnel already in the organization. The pitching side is closer to fruition, with right-hander Sandy Alcántara on the verge of winning the NL Cy Young and the staff as a whole posting a 3.87 ERA in 2022 -- not too far from the top 10.

Offensively, only two teams scored fewer runs. That's why the Fish couldn't crack 70 victories. Getting a few of their own sluggers healthy, notably Jazz Chisholm, Avisail Garcia and Jorge Soler (if he opts in), would be a start, but injuries aren't the only reason the Marlins couldn't score runs in 2022. They didn't have enough strong hitters, which falls on the front office, but the Marlins also made the least of whom they did have. Schumaker needs to have a sustainable plan for doing something about it.

Ownership has been in place since late 2017. Ng is entering her third season as GM. So there's some continuity. And now they have a fresh, young manager in place with Schumaker. Those are the names on the press release. This is going to be their creation. Miami is a beautiful place to live and work. It should be an attractive team. Now it's up to the Marlins hierarchy to make it work and, at long last, make it last.

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Skip Schumaker wants the Marlins to make a lasting impression - Bally Sports
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