The Florida Marlins fired Fredi Gonzalez this morning. Edwin Rodriguez takes over as the interim manager.

The Marlins won two games in a row, and while they are 7 1/2 games out of first place, it’s not like the teams ahead of them don’t have problems. I’m a bit shocked by this. Without seeing the reasons for the firing yet, I have to assume part of it goes back to Fredi’s clash with Hanley Ramirez. If it comes down to a choice between the manager and the star player, the manager is almost always going to lose, especially when he hasn’t won a title.

Gonzalez did win to a certain extent. The Marlins winning percentage improved in 2008 and 2009 after falling off in his first year.

Here’s a bit more from the Miami Herald:

“We can believe we can do better and be better,” owner Jeffrey Loria said in a written statement. “Everybody knows how I feel about winning. That’s the reason we’re making this change.”

Loria said before the season that he had high expectations for the Marlins, who improved to 34-36 with Tuesday night’s victory over the Orioles and are in fourth place in the National League East.

Also let go were hitting coach Jim Presley and bench coach Carlos Tosca.

I have to say it’s been a rough few years for manager who had a sabermetric bent. Manny Acta didn’t work out in Washington and he’s not doing much better in Cleveland. Trey Hillman proved to be a poor manager of men, and now Gonzalez is gone in Florida. It’s too bad.