Marlins 'nearing a decision' on manager vacancy

This story was excerpted from Christina De Nicola’s Marlins Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

Front offices convened at the General Managers Meetings in San Antonio this week to lay the groundwork for future moves this offseason.

Finding ways to improve upon a 100-loss season is just one order of business for Marlins president of baseball operations Peter Bendix. According to MLB Network’s Jon Paul Morosi, Bendix told him the organization is “nearing a decision” on its new manager.

“No specific timeline,” Bendix would go on to tell MLB.com colleague Martín Gallegos. “We're being thorough with our process, and sometimes these things take time, but we're also looking forward to having that done as soon as we can.”

Once a manager is hired, the Marlins will need to fill out the remainder of the coaching staff in time for the Hot Stove season’s marquee event: The Winter Meetings from Dec. 9-12 in Dallas.

While several names have surfaced as candidates over the past month, the one showing up most in recent reports is Dodgers first-base coach Clayton McCullough. A newly anointed World Series champion, one of his biggest fans is superstar Mookie Betts. Not only does McCullough live in Jupiter, Fla., where the Marlins hold Spring Training, but he also worked with Marlins assistant general manager Gabe Kapler during their overlapping time in the Dodgers’ player development department.

“I've been really happy with the process,” Bendix said. “I think we've talked to a really wide range of candidates with different backgrounds, which was really useful for kind of narrowing things down. There's so many different ways that you can be a good manager. There's so many qualified people. And so our process is about understanding who each person is and how they fit into our system.”

Here is what else Bendix had to say on a range of topics:

On front office changes
“We're looking to add really high-end talent everywhere in the organization, including the front office. So that's something that I don't think we have an exact structure in mind. We just understand that we need additional high-end people, that they come in all different shapes and sizes.”

On areas to target for improvement
“I'd say that we're open-minded on a lot of different things. Can always use more offense, right? You look at where our team finished in runs scored last year, I think we can do better, and that can come in a lot of different places.”

On the free-agent market
“We're always going to examine all different ways to make the Marlins better.”

On the trade market
“We're going to examine always. But yes, we will be very much involved in the free-agent market. We will be very much involved in the trade market. There's a lot of different ways that we can make our club better.”

On losing four pitchers (Roddery Muñoz, Anthony Maldonado, John McMillon and Michael Petersen) as waiver claims
“I think that is a good sign about our depth that players that we determined didn't necessarily fit on our roster were claimed by other teams. It's a good sign for those players, and it's a good sign for the players that remain on our roster.”