Marlins manager Edwin Rodriguez (above), mindful of his team’s 1-18 slide into last place in the NL East, tendered his resignation early Sunday, a move it seems no one in club ownership tried to talk him out of. In the view of the Palm Beach Post’s Greg Stoda, “the Marlins have nobody but themselves to blame for this mess.”
Jeffrey Loria’s impatience as owner showed when he too abruptly fired Fredi Gonzalez as manager last season, in the first place. And then Loria couldn’t land the man he really wanted to take the job – Bobby Valentine – which only served to make a bad situation worse.
Rodriguez’s job security was shaky from the outset, and the June swoon almost certainly is something from which the team won’t recover sufficiently enough to challenge for a National League playoff berth. He wasn’t outperforming his contract, to use President David Samson’s monotonous mandate, and the smart money already was on Rodriguez not leading the Marlins into their new stadium in Little Havana next season, which Beinfest didn’t deny.
Rodriguez simply made it easier for the Marlins to do whatever they’re going to do, and deserves some appreciation for it. The X’s-and-O’s of the season – from star shortstop Hanley Ramirez’s disastrous statistics to ace starter Josh Johnson’s fragility – helped sabotage Rodriguez’s chances, and the desperation of it all led to the resignation.
Some will suggest Rodriguez gave up.
What’s more likely is that he gave in, and now the Marlins can look for somebody they would have preferred to have been wearing their manager’s uniform all along.