Miami has fired manager Ozzie Guillen less than 12 months after trading two prospects to the White Sox for the right to sign him to a four-year, $10 million contract.
Guillen’s first season with the Marlins was a massive disappointment, as the team followed up an offseason of huge spending and a move into a new ballpark by finishing in last place at 69-93 while the manager made his usual assortment of headlines for all the wrong reasons.
Buster Olney of ESPN.com reported three weeks ago that the Marlins were planning to fire Guillen, but when no move was immediately made there was some speculation that they’d changed their mind.
It seems unlikely that he’ll be able to land another managing gig for 2013, but as Calcaterra wrote last week we can probably pull some strings to get him a job at NBC Sports. Or he could just take some time off after being paid about $150,000 per win. And now the Marlins are looking for their fifth manager since 2010, suggesting maybe--just maybe!--the guy writing out the lineup card isn’t the biggest problem.
UPDATE: Not surprisingly Ken Rosenthal of FOXSports.com reports that Guillen’s longtime right-hand man, bench coach Joey Cora, was also fired.
UPDATE #2: Guillen’s son, Oney Guillen, checks in via Twitter with some very accurate analysis.