Kettle and Pot

Media fight!

Fredi Gonzalez:

There's not a manager dead or alive that Jeffrey thinks is good enough. Not Connie Mack, not anyone

Jeffrey Loria:

I'm a little surprised because it’s classless — and you can quote me — especially because he was with us for five years and he was a colossal failure. Not nice. Not nice.

The "classy" thing to do probably would have been avoiding calling Gonzalez "a colossal failure," but what do I know?

Image via

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No Surprise Here

Fredi Gonzalez has been hired as the Braves' new manager and will be introduced at a news conference Thursday, two people familiar with the negotiations confirmed.

Via the AJC. I wish Fredi the best of luck, and congratulate him on landing a job with a team whose owner doesn't  fancy himself to be the next George Steinbrenner.

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Who Cares?

Today at Big League Stew, 'Duk asks why the Marlins are declining to honor longtime Braves manager Bobby Cox in his final appearance in South Florida before his retirement at the end of the season. The conventional wisdom seems to be that this snub is Jeffrey Loria's revenge for Cox's critical comments on the firing of Fredi Gonzalez. That could very well be true, but I am still left wondering why the Marlins are obligated to honor the retirement of someone else's manager. In other words, if Cox had not made any disparaging comments towards Loria earlier this summer, would the decision not to honor Cox be questioned so skeptically?

As this week's brawl with the Nationals showed us yet again, baseball is full of obscure and tricky unwritten rules that make little sense outside the context of baseball (I don't think we'll be seeing a Bobby Bowden tribute at Florida Field anytime soon). Bobby Cox should be proud of his illustrious tenure with the Braves, to be sure, but I don't think every team in the National League is required to shower him with praise on his way out (even if most chose to do it anyway). I hate to rain on a Loria-hating parade (I really do), but the only crime I see hear is Loria's apparent justification for "snubbing" Cox. He should snub because it's not the Marlins' responsibility to give a formal farewell to Cox, not because Loria is a petty jerk.

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About Fredi

I was preparing to write an indignant post about the Marlins' firing of manager Fredi Gonzalez, but as the day went on, I felt more and more meh about the whole thing. To wit:

• We are talking about baseball, a sport in which a manager contributes maybe one or two wins a year out of 162 games. Firing a manager is kind of like firing the mail clerk at your office. Someone new will deliver the mail/lineup card to everyone/the umpire, but the contents of the mail/lineup card won't change.
• While firing Fredi does not really solve any of the Marlins' problems (namely the atrocious bullpen), I don't expect it will have much of a negative effect either. The team seemed to back him in the Hanley Ramirez dust-up last month, but that seems like ancient history at this point. Besides, I can't think that the team would go into shutdown mode just to spite the owner.
• And if you're feeling too sorry for Fredi, just remember: He is a protege of Bobby Cox, who just happens to be retiring this year. Fredi is already the front-runner for the Atlanta job. So instead of sweating it out with Jeffrey Loria (who I remind you is simply George Steinbrenner with less money), he'll probably get hired to manage a team that believes in things like paying for high-quality free agents. He could do worse.

So instead of giving my condolences, I'm going to go ahead and congratulate in advance the newest manager of the (division rival) Atlanta Braves, Fredi Gonzalez.

On a related note, he's coming:

UPDATE: Rob Neyer cuts through the bs:

... but if he's the reason for the Marlins underperforming their run differential by four wins this year, doesn't it follow that he was the reason for the Marlins outperforming their run differential by five wins last year?

Also

You have to give the Marlins their due; they make a lot of smart moves and play respectably every year despite their payroll. But I can't help wondering if management might need a little work on its people skills.

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Huh?

The Marlins have fired Fredi Gonzalez. I'll write something about it after the USA-Algeria match. Spoiler alert: I don't think this is the solution to the Marlins' problems.

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Early Follow Friday

Earlier today I posted an update via Twitter:


No need to elaborate on that really. Our thoughts could conveniently be told in under 140 characters.

What was interesting, was a retweet from none other than:


Fredi Gonzalez. Well, a budding humorist posing as Fredi Gonzalez. Click here to pull up his timeline. The Fake Fredi account is just over a day old and it seems half of the updates revolve around Renyel Pinto. Now that we certainly approve of. Well done mystery microblogger. We'll be following you closely.

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Loria Speaks

Jeffrey Loria came to DC for the Marlins' series against the Nationals this weekend, and was asked if he was getting frustrated with Fredi Gonzalez again (via Fish Tank):

But there’s been speculation of Fredi being in the hot seat.
Oh, please. Stop with that. Where do you get that from? Fredi and I are just fine. Fredi and the Marlins are just fine. Enough already. Stop. Please stop.

I'll believe it when I see it. Having been through the Nick Saban experience, I put little faith in most statements...


(Image via Joe Rimkus/Miami Herald)

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Already?

Well my morning is off to a wonderful start...

With Marlins season opening April 5, one thing is clear: This team better not be languishing below .500 in May or June, or Fredi Gonzalez's job will be in serious jeopardy. "They're setting him up to replace him if they don't get off to a fast start," one team source said of ownership.

That's Jeffrey Loria, George Steinbrenner with less money.

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Official Reminder

Lest you forgot that team owner Jeffrey Loria is kind of a megalomaniacal dude, Jon Heyman has something to share with you, in his list of MLB managers on the hot seat heading into the 2010 season:

2. Fredi Gonzalez, Marlins. Crazy as it seems, the Marlins seriously considered firing Gonzalez right after last season, when the $36 million team won 87 games. That just doesn't add up. But owner Jeffrey Loria, who believed that his team was playoff worthy, was in contact with Bobby Valentine. By the end, the belief was that Gonzalez had to win the final weekend to save himself, and he did that. Seems crazy. Even Valentine is believed to have advised Loria to keep his guy.

 Jeff Loria: George Steinbrenner with less money.

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Fredi Lives!

Ken Rosenthal is reporting that Marlins manager Fredi Gonzalez will keep his job. His sources say that Fredi was never in any danger of getting fired, but I believe that about as much as I believe OJ is innocent, which is to say you cannot trust Jeffrey Loria, who is, as Israel Gutierrez calls him, "George Steinbrenner with an empty wallet."

I have a feeling that it will be a long offseason for Marlins fans...

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Why Is Fredi Gonzalez on the Hot Seat?

Note: The final Week in Review of the 2009 season will be posted later today.

Reports are circulating that Marlins owner Jeffrey Loria is pissed, and he may take out his frustrations on Marlins manager Fredi Gonzalez. Apparently, Loria is miffed that a team with a payroll of $35 million did not make the playoffs, and he thinks the coaching staff is to blame. I was about to deconstruct this entire line of though entirely, until I read this morning's Miami Herald and found that Israel Gutierrez made largely the same argument that I would have, so I'll quote him instead.

If it's true that Marlins manager Fredi Gonzalez is on the verge of being replaced, and team president David Samson did nothing to dispel the rumors that have suddenly circulated, then Jeffrey Loria has officially become a meddler.

And not just your ordinary, run-of-the-mill delusional owner who wants so badly to win that he will more than occasionally make a mockery of his organization.

No, Loria would be worse. He would be the delusional owner who wants to win so badly that he makes a mockery of his organization -- but doesn't spend any money in the process.

He's a persistent beggar and a demanding chooser. He's George Steinbrenner with an empty wallet.

It would be a joke, really, that the owner who dishes out the lowest payroll in the majors replaces the manager who guided his team to 87 wins and a second-place finish in the division. Especially when even the most optimistic of baseball experts considered the Marlins a sleeper team with a decent starting rotation and little else.

The Marlins brass, however, considered this team playoff caliber. And now those unrealistic expectations are about to cost Gonzalez his job?

It's beyond ridiculous. It's profound in its stupidity.

You can read the rest of his take here. For the record, this is the same front office that considered Emilio Bonifacio to be worthy of starting at third base and hitting leadoff. And they think Fredi was the problem this year. The front office has complained about Gonzalez's handling of late-game situations, but Gutierrez points out that the Marlins were 30-20 in one-run games this year, so what exactly are they concerned about (except for the decision to platoon Matt Lindstrom and Leo Nunez in the closer spot, which was essentially forced upon Gonzalez when the front office failed to acquire bullpen help for the stretch run)?

What Gutierrez does not mention, but is worth discussing, is that good managers rarely add more than a few wins over the course of a season. Baseball is in many ways an individual sport, it's hitter vs. pitcher, with some occasional teamwork occurring on defense. The Marlins really only have themselves to blame for not making the playoffs this year. There is nothing Fredi could have done to prevent Ricky Nolasco from forgetting how to pitch effectively at the beginning of this year, for instance.

Hopefully David Sampson, Larry Beinfest, and Michael Hill will come to their senses and talk Loria out of firing Fredi. If not, then the Marlins will have become the bizarro Yankees.

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Public Service Announcement

Image via Sun Sentinal

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Shear Madness and other puns

Friend of the blog SporTech informed us this morning that SS1a Hanley Ramirez was a little upset this week. Hanley was forced to cut off his cornrows by the team, who have instituted a no-long-hair policy. Josh Johnson, Cameron Maybin, and Leo Nunez were also forced to trim their coifs, according to the Sun-Sentinel. Hanley got upset, half-jokingly demanded a trade, and wrote "I'm sick of this shit" on his chest with a sharpie. Luckily, David Samson, Larry Beinfest, and Mike Hill were able to talk Hanley off the ledge, and everything appears ok.

Fredi Gonzalez was quoted in the story, saying "We want to look professional," but I have a feeling he's not responsible for the new policy (Most managers don't wait until their third year with the team to do something like this). Ted thinks Jeffrey Loria is responsible (He wants the team to look like sophisticated art dealers, argues Ted). Regardless, I'm taking Hanley's side here, and think the team should worry about anything else besides their players' hair. Marlins fans may remember that a past manager instituted a crew-cuts-only policy a few years back...

Not suave.

I think the front office and coaching staff may want to think twice before imitating Joe Girardi. Sure, he's won Manager of the Year, but he's also taken a year off of Josh Johnson's career...

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