The Marlins have been run in a cyclical managerial fashion for the past decade: hire, fire, repeat. It appears that incumbent manager Ozzie Guillen may be the next victim of the second step of that cycle, much before it was expected to occur.
The Marlins’ 69-93 mark is the worst record that the team has logged since 1999. To assign blame to Guillen is absurd, considering the fact that they closed the season with a couple of players named “Velazquez” and “Gorkys” in their starting lineup. If a manager is not a colossal failure, burning everything in sight (see: Valentine, Bobby), then he truly does not make a substantive difference on the outcome of a season. Whether the skipper was Guillen, Edwin Rodriguez or Jack McKeon, the on-field result would have been more or less the same.
Consider the fact that the Marlins do not have a first round draft pick from the last decade currently on a major league roster (with the exception of up-and-down Chris Volstad of the Chicago Cubs). This kind of draft-pick futility is so rare in the MLB, it is no surprise that the Marlins are in the position that they are. Sprinkle in the fact that Marlins brass pulled off, all exaggeration aside, potentially the worst trade in baseball history. They shipped off a future hall-offame candidate and a Triple Crown winner in Miguel Cabrera, and in return they acquired some fizzled-out prospects and a catcher named “Rabelo.”
The assertion that the heads of Marlins baseball operation, Mike Hill and Larry Beinfest, may retain their positions is ludicrous. The standards that owner Jeffrey Loria holds his general managers up to is completely incongruous to the standards that he holds on-field managers up to. How can Hill and Beinfest be excused for such poor performance over a decade’s time, while Guillen is potentially given the axe over a let-down in a year’s time? What makes the situation more illogical is the fact that Guillen does not even have direct influence on what occurs from play-to-play and gameto- game.
Jeffrey Loria has received a well-deserved reputation of “killing” managers off. Two managers-of-the-year were fired, seemingly without cause. Since Loria bought the team in 2002, he has employed eight different managers. In this same time span, the same decision makers
Beinfest and Hill, have been in place. This situation is simply dumbfounding, as have been many of the moves by the Marlins managerial team. Beinfest and Hill have been given enough leeway. This team needs new voices, new opinions. Not only should the managerial team be removed, but they should be replaced by outside forces, much like the Houston Astros have done by hiring former St. Louis Cardinals scouting director Jeff Luhnow to tear their team down and build it back up.
And please, Jeffrey Loria, don’t take this out on poor Ozzie Guillen. He has not had any gross misconduct of this team. His players simply did not perform. His players, indeed, like him a great bit as he identifies more as a “players’ manager.” In order to salvage your reputation as an owner and a boss, give Guillen more than one year to institute his plan and to bring winning baseball to South Florida. It is tiring to watch the same cycle go on: hire, fire, repeat. Let’s see a situation play out. Don’t blame this on Guillen.
Preston Michelson is a senior at Palmer Trinity School where he is the public address announcer for all varsity sporting events. Contact him on Twitterat@PrestonMich or by email at michelsonpr@gmail.com
