The Florida Marlins are 34-36, with more runs scored than runs allowed but sitting in fourth place in the NL East. And, in a rather sudden turn of events, that's seemingly been enough to get Fredi Gonzalez and two other coaches relieved of their duties:
Fourth-Place Marlins Fire Manager Fredi Gonzalez
Email just popped in my box — Marlins said they have fired manager Fredi Gonzalez and two coaches — bench coach Carlos Tosca and hitting coach Jim Presley.
Owner Jeffrey Loria had the following to say in a statement:
It is never easy to make a change in managers. Fredi has been with our Club for four years. We have become close, and I am extremely fond of Fredi. I, along with all our fans, am grateful for Fredi’s contributions. At the same time, we can’t let personal feelings get in the way of taking steps that we believe are necessary to improve our ballclub.
Gonzalez really entered the public eye with the Hanley Ramirez jogging saga earlier this season, an incident for which he earned nearly unanimous praise for his situation handling. Over three and a half years, he amassed a 276-279 record, including 87-75 in 2009. The 2010 Marlins have clearly been a bit of a letdown, but the common sentiment is that there may be more here than meets the eye, as it didn't seem like the team or Gonzalez had done a sufficiently poor job to get the manager fired. You can only expect so much of a manager of a team that inexpensive.
Edwin Rodriguez, manager of the AAA New Orleans Zephyrs, has been named the interim.
Read more on the subject at Fish Stripes.
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