Rosenthal: Sources say Don Mattingly took a significant pay cut with contract extension

Don Mattingly’s $2.8 million salary this season was believed to be the sixth-highest among major-league managers. Not only was the number too high for the cost-conscious Marlins, but it also was out of line with an industry trend in which teams continue to reduce managers’ pay.

To keep his job and get an extension, Mattingly needed to accept a significant pay cut. And in his new two-year deal, announced by the Marlins on Friday, that is exactly what he did, according to major-league sources.

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The exact financial terms of Mattingly’s extension are not known, but one source estimated that his salaries will be in the $2 million range and possibly below.

Michael Hill, the Marlins’ president of baseball operations, did not respond to a request for comment. Mattingly said he has never discussed the financial details of his contracts as a player, coach and manager.

“The way I would say it is just as I said at the press conference (on Friday) – talking to (Marlins CEO) Derek Jeter, knowing that he wanted me here, he felt I was the right guy for the job,” Mattingly said. “The reason I came here from the very beginning is that I wanted to be somewhere where I felt like we could build an organization and turn it from what it was doing into something that’s solid.

“My thoughts, even coming over before (the Marlins’ ownership change in September 2017), was that in this market, you’ve got to build with young players, you’ve got to be able to develop. With what we’ve been doing the last couple of years, you know where you want to go and you feel good about where you’re going and that it’s going to get there. But the road’s bumpy. And what happens with that bumpy road is that sometimes people change their mind on you or whatever. But once I had conversations with Derek, and I felt that in his mind I was the right guy for this, that’s all I needed to hear.”

Judging strictly from the Marlins’ performance, Mattingly does not deserve a raise – during his four-year tenure, the team has declined from 79 wins to 77 to 63 to 53 this season, with eight games to play. Those totals, however, are less the result of his managing and more a reflection of ownership’s accelerated rebuilding program under Jeter and principal owner Bruce Sherman.

While a pay cut in a new contract for a major-league manager is highly unusual, so are the circumstances for the Marlins and Mattingly. Hill, too, is in an odd position – he is under contract at a reported salary of $2 million only through 2020, while his manager now is signed through ’21.

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The Marlins remain in a distressed financial state – they lost more than $50 million in 2018 and will lose $22 million in ’19, according to estimates by Forbes. The team has yet to secure a new local television contract that would improve upon what Jeter calls “one of the worst (local) TV deals in baseball,” an agreement with Fox Sports Florida that expires after 2020. The team also remains without a stadium naming rights deal.

Mattingly, 58, will become the game’s eighth-oldest manager once Bruce Bochy leaves the Giants. He likely would have found it difficult to land another of the 30 major-league jobs at a time when several high-profile managers already are out of work and front offices are devaluing the role while becoming increasingly reliant on data to dictate strategy.

Higher-paid managers have become baseball’s dinosaurs, slowly disappearing from the sport’s landscape.

Bochy, Mike Scioscia and Joe Maddon were the sport’s three most expensive managers in 2018, each earning $6 million according to USA Today. Bochy is leaving the Giants after this season. Scioscia stepped down from the Angels after last season. And Maddon, if he does not return to the Cubs, might not find a team willing to pay him at his current rate.

Both Scioscia and Bochy might be candidates for the Padres’ job, which opened on Saturday when the team fired manager Andy Green. Still, it’s doubtful the Padres would pay either manager anywhere near what he previously earned. Former managers Joe Girardi and Buck Showalter also would be hard-pressed to match the reported $4 million they made in the final years of their contracts with the Yankees and Orioles, respectively, if they again are hired.

Baseball is a $10 billion industry. Managers’ salaries do not count against a team’s luxury-tax threshold. Yet, the best-paid managers earn less than some middle-inning relievers, even though managers are required not only to lead their 25-man rosters but also serve as the public faces of a franchise, holding news conferences before and after every game.

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Many teams want younger managers, saying they can better communicate with players and collaborate with front offices. But younger often translates to cheaper, and collaborative often translates to easier to control.

A number of first-time managers – including the Dodgers’ Dave Roberts, the Yankees’ Aaron Boone and the Twins’ Rocco Baldelli – have proven successful. The Padres’ Green, on the other hand, was fired with two years left on his contract. Two other first-time managers, the Mets’ Mickey Callaway and the Phillies’ Gabe Kapler, are in danger of losing their jobs with a year left on their respective deals.

The Marlins clearly value Mattingly’s vast experience – his brilliant major-league playing career that spanned from 1982 to ’95, his seven seasons as a major-league coach and nine as manager of the Dodgers and Marlins. In announcing Mattingly’s extension, Jeter said the manager “has shown a lot of patience with our young, developing team.” The Marlins, however, were not willing to reward that patience – and Mattingly’s other attributes – with a pay raise. Nor was Jeter willing to commit on Friday to an increase next season in the Marlins’ payroll, which ranks among the five lowest in the game.

“We are going to sit down and talk about our plans moving forward. If there’s a situation we can make our team better, whether that’s through free agency [or trades], we are going to do it,” Jeter said. “Our job is to make our team better. Having said that, we have (young) guys on the brink. They’re coming. They’re coming quick. You want to give them enough time to continue to develop but you don’t want to block their way.”

Mattingly said Jeter told him the team would spend once it is closer to contention.

“We talked about how we’re going to build this thing forward. Derek felt really comfortable that when it’s time to do something, we’re going to be able to do it,” Mattingly said. “That gives me confidence that if we needed to do something and we were right at that edge of winning, ready to go, then I felt comfortable and he feels comfortable we’re going to do it.”

(Top photo of Don Mattingly: Mark Brown/Getty Images)

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