Marlins Part Ways With Scout While In Hospital After Cancer Surgery
MIAMI (CBSMiami) - Derek Jeter's ownership group took control of the Miami Marlins on September 27th, and his two months in charge have already been filled with surprise layoffs and bad PR (the kind that comes with shopping your star player).
This latest story is easily the most cringe-worthy to date.
According to Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports, the Marlins let go of a long time scout while he was in the hospital recovering from cancer surgery. This scout is also in need of a kidney transplant. Now, he's out of a job.
Marty Scott, who joined the Marlins as a vice president in 2011 and in recent years had worked as a scout, said he was told his contract would not be renewed Oct. 16 while at the Cleveland Clinic in Weston, Florida, where doctors three days earlier had removed a cancerous tumor and polyps from his colon. Doctors initially found the cancer in late August as Scott underwent a battery of tests in preparation for a kidney transplant needed because of diabetes.
Scott has worked in baseball for four decades and had hoped to be retained under new Marlins ownership.
"Derek Jeter doesn't owe me anything," Scott told Yahoo Sports. "Probably in their hearts they did what they thought was right. I know based on certain aspects of the game, I probably was making too much money. But we all love the game. We're all in it together. I just think 40 years was worth more than a spank on the butt and see you later.
"I'm very hurt. Forty years in baseball, I let a lot of people go. I never, ever fired somebody 10 days, 15 days before their contract was up. If I knew I was going to fire somebody, I did it at the beginning of September."
A Marlins team spokesman told Passan that the decision not to renew Scott's contract was a baseball-operations decision overseen by president Michael Hill.