With reports swirling that the Marlins are going to hire Bobby Valentine, the New York Daily News notes that the deal might not be in place that quickly:
It’s not a sure thing Valentine will be at the helm in Puerto Rico. After Fredi Gonzalez was fired as Marlins manager, he was replaced by the club’s Triple-A manager Edwin Rodriguez, who is Puerto Rican. According to a report, the Marlins may allow Rodriguez to manage the three games in Puerto Rico .
So the Puerto Rican gate might be more important to the Marlins than who is actually managing the team. Yes, definitely keep the guy who bunts with a power hitter with a man on second on none out in the first inning. Maybe a big inning in the first could have prevented an 11-5 loss.
A most uncomely condescension, DP.
The less cynical way of looking at it is that the Marlins do organization man Rodriguez the favor of letting him manage as a major leaguer in his home territory, a pretty nice gesture. There’s also a good historical tie-in: the first Puerto Rican-born manager to win a major league game gets to manage in the stadium named for the first Puerto Rican-born major leaguer, Hiram Bithorn.
@Steve H: Of course, Gonzalez was fired because the team was under-performing, or at least that’s what management claimed. If they think the team is going to win more with Valentine, why wait? If Rodriguez is that good, why waste money on Valentine?
Rodriguez isn’t that good, of course. I think it’s not so much that Valentine will be hired later as that Gonzalez was fired earlier.
I’m sorry but this is such a bad hire.