Marlins hire Rays GM Peter Bendix as new president of baseball operations
The Miami Marlins announced a new hire Monday: Peter Bendix, who will serve as president of baseball operations.
Good morning from our President of Baseball Operations, Peter Bendix.
Welcome to Miami! 🤝 pic.twitter.com/5tjTHjNH0q— Miami Marlins (@Marlins) November 6, 2023
"It is an exciting day for the Marlins organization as we welcome Peter and his wife Lauren to Miami and introduce Peter as our president of baseball operations," chairman and principal owner Bruce Sherman said in a statement. "Peter is an established industry leader with an extensive skill set and deep experience that will continue the momentum we have made on the major league level, while also strategically building the foundation for sustained success through player acquisition, development, and scouting at all levels. In addition to the extensive track record of winning with the Rays, Peter showcased leadership and culture-defining abilities that will have a tremendous impact on our organization."
Bendix, 38, has spent his entire baseball career with the Tampa Bay Rays. He joined the organization in 2009 as an intern and rose through the ranks to GM. In 2021, he was promoted to senior vice president of baseball operations in addition to his GM duties. During his time in Tampa, the Rays made eight playoff appearances, won three American League East division titles and made a World Series appearance in 2020.
Technically, Bendix isn't replacing anyone, as the job of baseball ops president hadn't been filled in a few years. But he is filling the void left by Kim Ng, the Marlins' previous GM. Ng, the first woman to serve as GM for any major North American men's sports franchise, left the Marlins last month due to differing visions of how to manage the team going forward. The Marlins' desire to hire a president of baseball operations above her reportedly played a role in her decision. (If she had stayed, she would've reported to Bendix instead of the team owner.) Ng led the Marlins to their first full-season playoff appearance since they won the World Series in 2003 and reportedly wanted to build on that success by signing free agents to upgrade the team and fill obvious holes.
If that's not the direction the Marlins wanted to go, hiring Bendix is a good indicator of their future path. The Rays are known for putting together high-achieving rosters on bare-bones budgets. Bendix has been with Tampa since 2009 (less than a year after they lost the 2008 World Series to the Philadelphia Phillies), meaning he has been there for almost every single step of their rise from baseball laughingstock to the league's analytics trendsetter.
Hiring Rays executives has been the go-to move for teams that want to win but don't want to spend much money to do so. The results have been mixed — Chaim Bloom, who spent 14 years in the Rays organization, was just fired by the Boston Red Sox after several miserable seasons — but the Marlins appear to be hoping that bringing in Bendix will turn their perpetually anemic payroll into a baseball powerhouse.
