Marlins Manager in Car When News Broke of 'Handshake' Deal

MIAMI — When the news broke of a "handshake deal" to sell the Marlins for $1.6 billion last week, team manager Don Mattingly, aka Donnie Baseball, was driving to the Magic City to get ready for the start of the upcoming season.

"I was surprised a little bit. Obviously we’ve heard rumors over the past few years about different things," he acknowledged in a television interview broadcast on the Local 10 progrma "Sports Sunday."

The former Yankee said he wasn't contacted by owner Jeffrey Loria or team president David P. Samson, but rather the team's public relations specialist.

"But that’s the part of being professional," Mattingly insisted. "We don’t have any control over what goes one above us. We don’t have any control over any type of decisions that someone would make."

Forbes magazine and other media organizations reported last Thursday that Loria had reached a "handshake" agreement to sell the Marlins for $1.6 billion to a real estate developer based in New York City. ESPN later cited multiple sources with knowledge of the negotiations in reporting that Ivanka Trump's father-in-law, Charles Kushner, is part of a potential purchase group.

A spokesman for the Marlins told Patch that the team will not comment on the reports.

"Our PR guy kind of calls me and says that this came out today," Mattingly recalled. "I was driving down so that was another one of those calls that killed about 70 miles."

The Marlins finished their 24th season in third place in the National League East with a 79-82 record in 2016. It was the second straight season that the Marlins finished in third place.

Ichiro Suzuki recorded hit number 3,000 in 2016 to become only the 30th player in Major League history to reach that mark to tie Roberto Clemente for 29th on baseball's all-time hits list.

But the 2016 season was also marked by tragedy with the death of Marlins' ace José Fernández, who was killed in a September boating accident in South Beach.

"I don’t think I’d ever forget Jose," Mattingly told the interviewer. "I love his energy and the way he played, the passion that he played."

The Marlins will wear number 16 on their uniforms throughout the upcoming season in honor of Fernández.

Photo of Don Mattingly courtesy Miami Marlins