Marlins fire Gonzalez; Rodriguez named interim manager

[madinmaryland]

BALTIMORE (AP) -- Fredi Gonzalez was fired as manager of the Florida Marlins on Wednesday, with the team owner saying "we can do better and be better."

The Marlins are 34-36 following a win over Baltimore on Tuesday night. Florida began the day in fourth place in the NL East, 7 1/2 games behind first-place Atlanta.

Edwin Rodriguez, who has spent the past 1 1/2 seasons as manager of Triple-A New Orleans, takes over as manager on an interim basis.

Also fired were bench coach Carlos Tosca and hitting coach Jim Presley. They were replaced on an interim basis by Brandon Hyde and John Mallee.

"We owe it to our fans to put this team in the best possible position to win," owner Jeffrey Loria said in a statement. "Everyone knows how I feel about winning. That's the reason we're making this change."

In three-plus seasons as the Marlins' manager, Gonzalez was 276-279. Before the 2009 season, he received a contract extension through 2011.

Read more: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2010/baseball/mlb/06/23/marlins.gonzalez.ap/index.html

What are your thought, trumad?

[hughee99]

1. 2 games under .500 at the end of June,

with that payroll, in that division, and he gets fired because Loria "likes winning"... I don't buy it for a second.

I know I'm not Trumad, and be very interested in his thoughts, but if there's one thing I'm sure of, this is not because he thinks Edwin Rodriguez is a better manager.

[madinmaryland]

2. They want Bobby Valentine while he is still available.

[hughee99]

3. Bobby Valentine, really?

He's got a career .510 winning percentage, has never won his division, has only 2 career playoff appearances, and will probably cost a lot more. I was thinking this was about "personality conflicts" with the "stars".

[JonLP24]

4. Copycat!

Spotted you in the Alaska forum today. :hi: