So the rumor going around town this week is one about as ridiculous as we’ve heard this entire season. The 87 win Marlins are allegedly close to firing do-boy manager Fredi Gonzalez and hiring Bobby Valentine, the former Mets manager. Before we delve off into why the move is silly, let’s start here — For those who have inquired, no, we don’t have anything “groundbreaking”on this situation from our sources. We’re told the Marlins plan to spend at some point (65-70 million payroll) and before doing that, they are poised to go get a ‘big name manager’. There is another name that was thrown out to us, whom the Marlins would pounce on if he became available. In terms of the validity to the Valentine rumors, we have nothing, so we’re just analyzing what’s been widely reported.
The fact is, if the Marlins truly feel like prefacing their potential spending spree with a managerial hire, and an expensive one at that, it’s a plan laden with flaws. There is almost no good reason to waste over a million dollars on a manager, particularly in a sport where they mean little to nothing to terms of actual wins. The most efficient path would be keeping the manager who costs the least (Fredi) and the one who fights the least with an ornery management group (Fredi).
Two key points that haven’t been pointed out yet by the media-
a) Joe Girardi got fired primarily because he didn’t get along with Jeffery Loria and David Samson. That’s it. Not because of production or tactics; he got fired because he couldn’t play nice. Which is fine by the way…management is entitled to a manager who follows the rules and does what they say. Which by the way, is exactly who Fredi is. Do they really think notorious hard head Bobby Valentine is going to do the same kind of things?
b) If we take situation A and say that Girardi failed for not getting along, despite winning 84 games, and we take situation B and say that Fredi (potentially could be) fired for…..who knows the reason, actually? He won 87 games, he didn’t hurt any of the pitchers with over-exposure, and he did what management asked. But whatever, let’s say he got fired for performance and Loria felt like he went with Bonifacio too long or something…Exactly what could Bobby Valentine do to keep a job for any extended period of time? The underlying theme is that Fredi has done everything asked of him, and if he still gets fired, where exactly do the Marlins take their sales pitch in a meeting with potential new managers?
We’ll see where it goes from here (cliche alert), but keep in mind that the very idea of hiring a manager like Valentine shows that they may be willing to spend in the near future.
