Red Sox Rival Loses GM in Front Office Shakeup
By Tyler Maher
While Boston Red Sox fans are still celebrating the arrival of new Chief Baseball Officer Craig Breslow, one of their division rivals is now in the market for a new GM.
On Sunday, ESPN's Jeff Passan reported that the Tampa Bay Rays lost general manager Peter Bendix to the Miami Marlins.
The Miami Marlins are hiring Peter Bendix to run their baseball-operations department, sources tell ESPN. Bendix, 38, ascended from intern to general manager with the Tampa Bay Rays, and from the beginning he was at the top of the Marlins’ list of potential candidates.
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) November 5, 2023
Marlins New GM
Bendix isn't going far, as he's staying in Florida but merely switching cities. Fortunately for the Red Sox, at least now he's out of the AL East and the American League.
The 38-year-old Bendix will replace former Marlins GM Kim Ng, who left the team after essentially being demoted. Bendix will lead Miami's baseball operations department while Ng, who declined to interview for Boston's GM opening, remains without a job.
Bendix had been with the Rays since 2009, working alongside former Red Sox CBO Chaim Bloom. He was Tampa Bay's GM from 2022-2023. While the Rays made the playoffs both years, they failed to win a game in either postseason and were swept in the Wild Card Round both times.
The Marlins met that same fate in 2023, but they're hoping that Bendix's success in a similar market with a similarly low payroll will translate to Miami.
In the meantime, this is terrible timing for Tampa Bay. The MLB offseason is about to heat up in earnest with baseball's annual GM meetings kicking off in Arizona on Tuesday. That's awkward for the Rays, who currently don't have a general manager.
Boston just had an extremely hard time finding anyone willing to interview for its GM role, let alone actually accept it. Tampa Bay would face even more severe challenges as a low-budget team in a terrible market with a mediocre fan base, which is why Bendix will likely be replaced internally.
It would be funny if the Rays bring back Bloom to run things. Bloom was fired in September after less than four years of running baseball ops for the Red Sox, but he worked in Tampa Bay's front office from 2005-2019.
Could a reunion be in the offing? After all his terrible mismanagement in Boston, we certainly hope so.
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