Peter Bendix said he needed ‘the perfect fit’ to leave Rays. He thinks he has that in Marlins
Peter Bendix has a confession to make.
When he was originally contacted to be a candidate for the Miami Marlins’ president of baseball operations job a couple weeks ago, he didn’t think much of the opportunity.
“My first reaction is ‘I’m good where I am,’” Bendix said. “Truly.”
Bendix had spent the past 15 years — his entire MLB front office career — with the Tampa Bay Rays, the past two as their general manager and No. 2 under Erik Neander. He has seen and been a part of the Rays’ rise to prominence, reaching the playoffs each of the past five years and winning the American League East three times despite annually fielding a team with one of the lowest payrolls.
“The concept of not working there anymore,” Bendix said, “it needed to be the exact right situation with the right people in place and, frankly, the right owner.”
And then, Bendix said, his thought process changed when he talked with Marlins principal owner and chairman Bruce Sherman.
“That first initial conversation just getting to know each other explaining who I am and what I stand for and hearing him do the same and realizing how much alignment there is,” Bendix said, “from there, throughout the process, my comfort with how aligned we were was enough to get to me to say ‘I’m going to leave an excellent situation.’”
“It had to be a perfect fit,” Bendix continued, “and this is the perfect fit.”
And that’s how Bendix became the Marlins’ president of baseball operations and successor to former general manager Kim Ng. The Marlins announced the hire on Nov. 6 and formally introduced him at a press conference at loanDepot park on Monday.
Here are some of the highlights from the press conference and subsequent interviews with Sherman and Bendix.
How the hiring process unfolded
Sherman said Bendix was “one of many, many names” the Marlins pursued to find their replacement for Ng, who left the organization on Oct. 16 after declining her side of a mutual option for the 2024 season over differences of opinion with Sherman’s plan to reshape the baseball operations department — a plan that included hiring someone above her — after the Marlins made the playoffs for the first time in a full season in 20 years.
“There were a couple of well known people who were available,” Sherman said. “They were on our radar right away. We did an extensive process and went through all 30 teams to understand who might be available, who might not be available. It’s a process of going through and speaking to all the other owners and getting permission to talk to someone. There are very significant tampering rules. There’s a 14-day window that starts the day to get permission to talk to a front office executive ... and you better complete it in that 14 days because if you don’t, he’s off the radar. He was one of many, many names in front offices, but he clearly during the interview process excelled through not only my view but others who interviewed him as well.”
Sherman said president of business operations Caroline O’Connor and the Marlins’ three assistant general managers — Brian Chattin, Dan Greenlee and Oz Ocampo — took part in the interview process as well.
Bendix leaning on assistant general managers early
Speaking of the three assistant general managers, Bendix is relying on them heavily during the early stages of the offseason as some roster deadlines approach.
The deadline to add prospects to the 40-man roster to protect them from the Rule 5 Draft is Tuesday and the non-tender deadline is Friday.
“The three assistant GMs sitting here were incredibly helpful that first week,” Bendix said. “I hope and expect they will be incredibly helpful for a long time moving forward. There’s a lot of really good people here with a lot of institutional knowledge — and a lot more knowledge than I have about the Miami Marlins and players on the roster. I’m trying to learn as much as I can as quick as I can.”
Bendix already visited Schumaker
In addition to learning the organization from top to bottom, Bendix has also already visited Marlins manager Skip Schumaker, a finalist for the NL Manager of the Year.
Bendix flew to visit Schumaker in California on Friday after he finished at the MLB General Managers Meetings in Phoenix.
“Skip is fantastic,” Bendix said. “That’s what I’ve learned. That was one of the first things I’ve heard from other people was how great Skip is, how great the culture in the clubhouse was, what last year was like — obviously a lot of success but also the way that the team had success. I’ve talked to Skip over the phone a few times, met him for dinner. Really easy, comfortable. I think we’re both very aligned in what we’re looking to build.”
Building the roster
Bendix didn’t describe a particular profile of player that he is looking for to build Miami’s roster outside of wanting “really good players.”
Miami’s biggest needs are improving an offense that scored the fifth-fewest runs in MLB last year. In terms of specific positions, shortstop and catcher are the club’s weakest links at this point.
And while Bendix has been used to seeing competitive rosters assembled on shoestring budgets in Tampa, Sherman said there will be a little more leniency when it comes to spending — although exactly how much more Miami will spend remains to be seen.
“We’re not going to be the 29th payroll,” Sherman said. “I think [the Rays] averaged the 29th-highest payroll for about a decade or more and they have the third-most wins [in MLB]. That’s off the charts on any statistical analysis and it’s kind of amazing. Whatever secret sauce he has — and I’m sure there are many of them — he’s not about to say them publicly, but hopefully he will bring that to this organization over multiple years..”
.JPG)