The Marlins filled their remaining coaching vacancies by hiring Dave Collins as the new third base coach, Josue Espada as first base coach and former Marlins’ pitcher Reid Cornelius as bullpen coach. In somewhat related news, former Fish 3rd base coach Bo Porter has taken that position with the Arizona where he is expected to waive in many Diamondbacks to be thrown out at the plate.

Update: BTW, looks like Bo Porter was actually a finalist for the Washington Nationals managerial job.

Recently fired pitching coach Mark Wiley will stay with the Marlins as a Special Assistant to the General Manager.

The not-so-long search for a pitching coach has ended with the hiring of Randy St. Claire. Let’s hope he can fix Chris Volstad and Andrew Miller.

Third base coach Bo Porter and bullpen coach Steve Foster have declined the Marlins’ contract offers for 2010.

Now that we know that Fredi is back, the Marlins have offered contracts to all his staff except for pitching coach Mark Wiley and first base coach Andy Fox. Both have been offered other roles in the organization.

Good news as ESPN is reporting that Fredi Gonzalez will be back next season. For some reason, ownership decided to publicly review his status. The Marlins finished with the third best record in franchise history and the the best non-playoff record in the NL despite the lowest payroll in baseball.

Ricky Nolasco.

I guess throwing a no-hitter in Spring Training made the decision easier for Fredi Gonzalez.

As expected, Josh Johnson will take the second spot and Chris Volstad will pitch the third game. Either Anibal Sanchez or Andrew Miller will take the fourth spot with the other going to the bullpen until April 18th, when the Marlins will need a fifth starter.

Here is what Fredi had to say:

Just before the first team workout, the Marlins have announced that they’ve extended Fredi Gonzalez’s deal through the 2011 seasons. The next 3 seasons, hopefully leading to the first season in the new ballpark, will require stability and growth as payroll will probably remain low. Despite some criticism, Fredi has done a good job with a young team and, most importantly, does not yell at the owner in the middle of games.

Jeff Conine was hired by the Florida Marlins to serve as a Special Assistant to the Team President. Like Andre Dawson and Tony Perez, who also hold this role, Niner will work on-field, in community relations and in the broadcast booth. No word on whether he will get to wear a uniform before games and which number will be on that uniform (18 or 19).

In today’s haystack of weird stories comes this needle from the AP via The Dickinson Press.

Apparently, David Samson is an old friend of North Dakota Senator Kent Conrad so he used the opportunity of a day off in DC to visit his pal. Surprisingly, despite this “friendship”, Samson has yet to contribute a dime to Conrad’s campaign.

Anyway, Samson successfully increased attendance at a future Marlins’ game by 1:

Conrad, in turn, will travel to Florida to spend a day with David Samson, an old friend of his.

Samson said they had talked about shadowing each other while watching a baseball game together one day.

Then came the fun swap:

Each man told the other he admired his job.

“So I said, ‘Let’s switch jobs,’” Samson recalled.

They agreed on one caveat: Samson would not be able to cast a Senate vote and Conrad could not sign any players

How fun! (seriously, this day off thing is getting to me)