Tag: Florida Marlins (Page 2 of 8)

      Valentine rips the Marlins for hiring process

      July 2, 2010 /

      Bobby Valentine figured he’d be managing the Marlins by now. Instead, he’s slamming the organization on ESPN’s Baseball Tonight for the way they conduct their hiring process.

      After the Fish fired Fredi Gonzalez last week, Valentine withdrew his name from consideration as manager of the Orioles. The media figured that he was on his way to Florida to work with his good friend, team owner Jeffrey Loria, but Valentine was never hired. So instead, he decided to rip the organization on live TV.

      From USA Today:

      “If this is a major-league process, I hope I’m never in the process again,” Valentine said on ESPN’s Baseball Tonight. “It’s very disturbing, confusing and it was insulting at times, but it’s over.”

      According to the Palm Beach Post, Marlins President David Samson called the messy process “unavoidable” and disputed the notion that Valentine – a friend of Loria’s for more than two decades – was ever a lock for the job.

      “It just seemed that way to the media,” David Samson said on a radio station Wednesday, according to the Post.

      Valentine eventually told Sirius-XM Radio that he didn’t mean to be harsh with his comments.

      “I just meant for them to be honest. It’s a tough process. We never negotiated anything and, you know, I just feel when you’re 60 years old – you know, I know Jeffrey (Loria), I’ve known him for 25 years – I just felt that being left in the dark isn’t quite the way to allow things to move forward. But I think it’s a good situation. As I told them right from the start, someone from the outside moving in in mid-season I don’t believe is a good idea. I don’t think you can train coaches and train players to think and do what you’re expecting on the run. That’s what spring training is for. And Edwin Rodriguez has had these guys in the minor leagues. He knows the spring training process, what that organizational philosophy is.”

      It kind of seems like Valentine was embarrassed for withdrawing his name from considering in Baltimore because he thought he had the job in Florida locked up. Then when the Marlins didn’t hire him, he decided to vent his frustrations on a national stage, which was a little classless.

      Either way, his name is going to be mentioned again for job openings down the road. If he really wants to manage again, he will.


      Photo from fOTOGLIF

      External Sports, MLB

      Change of plans: Valentine not expected to land Marlins manager job

      June 28, 2010 /

      SI.com’s Jon Heyman reports that Bobby Valentine is no longer being considered for the Marlins’ vacant manager job, despite rumors last week that stated he was their top choice.

      Valentine had been viewed as the top candidate for the job since Fredi Gonzalez was fired last week, and sources told SI.com and other outlets on Friday that the longtime friend of Marlins owner Jeffrey Loria would indeed be hired. ESPN, Valentine’s employer for the past several months, reported that the Marlins were expected to make a four-year offer to him.

      But that same day, a person familiar with the search told The Associated Press that an interview between Valentine and the Marlins scheduled for Friday had been put on hold.

      Why negotiations between Valentine and the team ended was not immediately known. He has a long relationship with Loria, having managed the Rangers when Loria owned that franchise’s Triple-A affiliate. Valentine has a record in the majors of 1,117-1,072, and ended a six-year run as manager of the Chiba Lotte Marines in Japan’s Pacific League in 2009.

      This is surprising news and it would be interesting to hear what happened between Valentine and the Marlins that made discussions break down. Maybe Valentine was demanding more than Loria wanted to give, either financially or in terms of control over the team.

      Edwin Rodriguez will continue to manager the Fish as they make their way to Puerto Rico for a three-game series against the Mets this week.

      External Sports, MLB

      Report: Marlins to offer manager job to Bobby Valentine

      June 25, 2010 /

      The Marlins have apparently already found their replacement for Fredi Gonzalez.

      From the Miami Herald:

      Bobby Valentine is expected to be offered the job as the Florida Marlins’ next manager.

      Valentine, an analyst for ESPN, confirmed through an e-mail he was flying to South Florida to meet with close friend and Marlins owner Jeffrey Loria and several team executives.

      That’s when Loria is expected to offer the 60-year-old former Rangers and Mets skipper a four-year contract to become the organization’s 11th manager, ESPN reported Thursday night.

      Team president David Samson confirmed he called Valentine moments after the team fired its winningest manager, Fredi Gonzalez, Wednesday morning. Samson said Thursday that Valentine’s interview Friday would be the first in a series with “several” candidates.

      It was a little strange that the Marlins decided to fire Gonzalez after winning two straight games. (Usually owners wait until the team is on a downslide to fire the manager.) But if they already had Valentine lined up as a candidate and felt good that he would agree to come aboard, then their timing with Gonzalez makes more sense.

      Valentine last managed in the big leagues from 1996 to 2002 with the Mets. He was with the Chiba Lotte Marines from 2004 until he was fired in 2009 and has spent the last year with ESPN.

      I’m dying to see how he and Hanley Ramirez will get along.

      External Sports, MLB

      Report: Marlins fire manager Fredi Gonzalez

      June 23, 2010 /

      In a rather surprising development, the Marlins have fired manager Fredi Gonzalez according to the Palm Beach Post.

      Here is part of owner Jeffrey Loria’s statement regarding the firing:

      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.

      Decisions on individual personnel cannot supercede our overall goal, which is to win. We believe we can do better and be better. We owe it to our fans to put this team in the best possible position to win. Everyone knows how I feel about winning. That’s the reason we’re making this change.

      We still have a very long season in front of us, and plenty of time to turn things around. Everyone – our fans, our team, our organization, and myself – wants us to win. That continues to be, and will always be, the goal.

      Along with Gonzalez, bench coach Carlos Tosca and hitting coach Jim Presley were both let go as well. Triple-A New Orleans skipper Edwin Rodriguez was named interim manager, while Brandon Hyde was named interim bench coach and John Mallee was named interim hitting coach.

      I couldn’t even begin to speculate why Gonzalez was fired (the Marlins are only two games under .500, although are 7.5 games back in the NL East), but I can assure you that we don’t know the full story yet. He was named The Sporting News Manager of the Year in 2008 and with a win over the Cardinals earlier this year, he won more games than any other skipper in Marlins history. Something doesn’t add up here.

      One club that could be interested in Gonzalez’s services is the Braves, with whom he spent a couple of years with before being named manager of the Marlins in 2006. Bobby Cox is retiring at the end of the season and Gonzalez might be the perfect fit.

      Either way, Gonzalez will have suitors. He earned a lot of respect for the way he handled an incident with Hanley Ramirez earlier in the season and I’m sure he’ll be back on someone’s bench next season.


      Photo from fOTOGLIF

      External Sports, MLB

      Ramirez apologizes to his teammates, but has he learned anything?

      May 20, 2010 /

      You know when you’re a kid and you get into trouble and your parents threaten to take something away from you (TV, video games, play time, etc.) as punishment until you apologize? Then, even though you don’t mean it, you apologize because you just want your Nintendo 64 back?

      That’s what I feel just happened with Hanley Ramirez. He wanted back into the lineup after skipper Fredi Gonzalez benched him on Monday for not hustling after a ball that he booted into right field, so he apologized to his teammates and now he wants to move on.

      Here are the comments he made following his 3-for-5 performance at the plate last night in a win over the Marlins (via the Miami Herald):

      “I just came back in the lineup and got a lot of motivation from my teammates,” Ramirez said. “We get along. Things are going to happen. 162 games. But I think you put those things on the side and keep moving forward.”

      When asked what he told teammates before Wednesday’s game, Ramirez replied: “I just apologized to everybody. So it’s in the past. I talked to my family, wife and kids, and they’re happy.”

      When asked if he was glad the saga was now behind him, he responded: “We’re just going to try to win the series (with a win Thursday). I’m happy to be in the lineup.”

      Now, the apology was meant to be a private manner between him and his teammates, so I get that he might not divulge a lot of details to the media. But does anyone else get the sense that he’s just trying to brush this situation under the rug? At some point we in the media have to let this story die and move on (it’s not like he killed somebody and tried to bury them under Sun Life Stadium), but I don’t know, I expected more from him in light of the apology.

      Maybe that’s because I don’t believe that he believes that he did anything wrong. He said as much on Tuesday when he was questioned about the benching. So is he really sorry for potentially screwing his team out of a win or is he just sorry enough to get back into the lineup?

      We’ll see. This isn’t the first time Ramirez has had run-ins with a coach or teammate and if it’s the last, I’ll be shocked. But at least the Marlins can put the situation behind them for now. For now.


      Photo from fOTOGLIF

      External Sports, MLB

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