MIAMI _ One day after dismissing his president of business operations, Marlins CEO Derek Jeter addressed the management shake-up, as well as variety of issues, including the team's league-worst attendance.
On Thursday, the Marlins parted ways with Chip Bowers, who was hired 14 months ago to lead the business department. Speaking to reporters prior to Friday night's game versus the Braves, Jeter wouldn't delve into specifics other than saying a change needed to be made.
"It was a decision we didn't make lightly or spontaneously," Jeter said. "There's a lot that goes on behind the scenes. We have an ownership group that has a lot of high expectations and at times we move at a challenging pace.
"This has to do with our overall business strategy, accountability and we felt as though a change was needed in the leadership group."
Bowers joined the organization 14 months ago after serving as the Golden State Warriors' chief marketing officer. While he was the public face for the business team, the Marlins said their offseason re-branding and ballpark enhancements were in motion before Bowers joined the organization.
Despite Bowers serving as the president of business operations, Jeter said the team isn't wavering from its overall financial plan.
"The one thing we're focused on is everyone here in this organization has to be on the same page," Jeter said. "Sometimes, you're going to have to make tough decisions.
"We've made tough decisions. They're difficult to make, but they're necessary. This was a situation that was necessary."
Jeter said the decision wasn't related to the team's league-worst attendance to begin the season. Through 18 home games, Miami is drawing 9,651 fans per game. The Marlins also finished 2018 last in attendance.
"We'd love to see more people here, but look, like we've said before, we're working hard on gaining the trust of our fan base and there are some positives," Jeter said. "We've had some engagement from a lot of new fans this year, but we'd like to see that improve and that's what we're working hard to do."
As for the team's on-field struggles _ the Marlins were a league-worst 9-21 entering Friday night _ Jeter has not been pleased with the early results.
"I'm not happy," Jeter said. "(President of baseball operations) Michael Hill's not happy. (Don Mattingly's) not happy. I'm sure the players are not happy. I think everyone knows we're better than this.
You have to go out there and make adjustments. You have to perform. I said this when we were in spring training: We all need to individually and collectively _ there shouldn't be a person in this building that's happy about our play."
