Fredi Gonzalez

The Florida Marlins have fired manager Fredi Gonzalez, naming Edwin Rodriguez his replacement, but only on an interim basis.

Rodriguez has spent the past one-and-a-half seasons as manager of Triple-A New Orleans.

The team also said Wednesday it would be dismissing bench coach Carlos Tosca and hitting coach Jim Presley.

Mike Stanton is on his way to the Florida Marlins.

No, not that Mike Stanton. 

It's the 20-year-old Los Angeles native, an outfielder currently in the Florida Marlins farm system. 

[Every day, stories spread throughout the sports world of another athlete or coach or team involving themselves in situations that inevitably need some PR spin.  Regardless of the severity of these issues, our very own Dr. Aaron Perlut will be there to analyze the situation and offer up some free professional advice.  Because if there is anything comparable to Dr. Aaron's knowledge of mustaches, it's his knowledge of public relations ]

By now, most baseball fans have seen the highlights of Hanley Ramirez lollygagging after a ball he literally booted down the left field line in Monday night's game between the Florida Marlins and the Arizona Diamondbacks.

After Ramirez's snail-like retrieval of the baseball, during which he probably could have enjoyed a three-course meal, he was promptly benched by his manager, Fredi Gonzalez.

While last night's spectacle was as egregious as they come, it was only one glaring footnote in a growing trend around Major League Baseball.

When the Marlins let pitching coach Mark Wiley go along with first base/infield coach Andy Fox I wasn’t all that concerned (and if you’re concerned about either of them, they were offered positions elsewhere in the Marlins organization, so they'll be fine). While I liked Wiley, I felt the results of his work were mixed at best. As for Fox, well, his position isn’t even a huge concern in my view.

Okay, the 2009 season is over for the Marlins, and there’s a bitterness to that statement that is real, but not relevant. The squad this past year seriously disappointed only those who didn’t recognize they were playing above themselves the entire year.

Maybe if the Marlins had not spent two weeks in first place fans would have a little more patience with manager Fredi Gonzalez.

Expectations were set high after the Marlins started the season five games up on their division opponents after two weeks. That lead disappeared quickly as the Marlins played like the Nationals for an entire month. Fans looked for someone to blame, and Fredi Gonzalez received much of it, but for good reason.

Even as the Marlins have climbed their way back into the thick of things I still have a problem with the way Gonzalez is managing.

Is Hanley Ramirez talking his way out of South Florida? 

Marlins fans would certainly hope he is not, though his antics this season are certainly a growing concern.

In yet another bout of immaturity, the Marlins star player chose to speak out to the media regarding an 88 mph fastball he took off of the elbow in the sixth inning of yesterday's game. The pitch, coming from Toronto Blue Jays reliever Dirk Hayhurst, came two innings after a pitch found its way into Jeremy Hermida.