New details on what caused the Marlins to call a team meeting, and the aftermath
Marlins manager Don Mattingly’s decision to call a team meeting on Tuesday was precipitated by his desire to build better chemistry within the team after hearing that players were complaining privately about other players, according to multiple sources.
Mattingly had grown weary of those complaints and wanted to try to resolve the issues in a closed-door meeting, the sources said.
One source described the meeting as “totally chaotic” and said it accomplished little. But another source called the meeting “productive.”
One issue causing conflict among players: Some of the team’s veteran players do not believe that some of the younger players are behaving professionally and following some of the team’s rules.
When reached by phone Wednesday, shortstop Miguel Rojas told the Miami Herald that he has no personal issue with anyone of the team, but team rules need to be followed, and when the team isn’t playing well, those rules issues need to be addressed.
Rojas said it was not one specific player not following the unwritten rules, which included things such as running out every ball when going to first base and showing up on time, and that everyone can get better at it.
“That’s just a reminder for a lot of players to stick to that instead of just thinking about the game,” Rojas added later Wednesday in the clubhouse. “That was a good opportunity for us to talk as a team and talk to one another and actually keep everybody accountable.”
The clubhouse is seemingly divided on that notion, and one source deemed the bickering as “nonsense.”
Before the Marlins played the Nationals on Tuesday, pitcher Sandy Alcantara told the Miami Herald not everyone on the team is going to get along at times. He mentioned a similar situation from his experience in the Cardinals’ minor league system.
“Everybody’s playing to win,” first baseman Garrett Cooper said. “If there’s problems in the clubhouse or there’s problems in the family, you don’t put it out there for everyone to see. You’re professional. You do your job here. You go outside and you play baseball and you try to win as a team. [The meeting], you move on from it.”
During the past few seasons, the Marlins appeared to have an extremely harmonious clubhouse, outside of a near dust-up between Starling Marte and Monte Harrison last season.
Speaking before Tuesday’s 12-2 win against Washington, Mattingly said the point of calling the meeting was to discuss “any issues they had that they needed to talk about. I wanted to get it out where it was spoken out loud. Not whispered behind anybody’s back. Just get it out in the open. Talk about it.”
Mattingly didn’t disclose many details about the meeting other than that general manager Kim Ng and the coaching staff were present and that multiple topics were discussed. But he also said he had “a feeling this one was going to last a while” and one he anticipated happening.
“The off day [Monday] was, for me, not a very good off day from the standpoint of when we have something that we need to talk about, with any kind of meeting like that, for me, you internalize,” Mattingly said. “And I know people see me a lot. I don’t react on the bench.
“I don’t want to be emotional on the bench at all. I’m not a yell and scream guy in the clubhouse or on the bench, but when something’s bothering me, it usually is in my stomach and I know what needs to come out. That’s as much as anything.”
What did Mattingly hope would be the end result of the meeting?
“At the end of the day,” Mattingly said Wednesday, “I think the good teams when they come on the field, they’re a group. Whatever they do after the game — they don’t have to go to dinner or any of that stuff — but on the field, they have to play as a group.”
This story was originally published June 8, 2022 at 1:59 PM.
