Dan Uggla hit a solo shot off the Padre’s Kevin Correia to become the all-time home run leader in Florida Marlins history. The home run, 144th in Uggla’s career (all as a Marlin), passes Mike Lowell who set the previous mark in 2005.
The Marlins have traded Jorge Cantu to the Texas Rangers for AA right-handed pitchers Evan Reed and Omar Poveda. The trade was approved by MLB just minutes before the Marlins wrapped up a 5-0 win against the San Francisco Giants. The Marlins also sent cash to Texas to offset some or all of the $2MM remaining on Cantu‘s salary for this season.
While Poveda is on the 60-day DL following Tommy John Surgery, Reed has pitched 39 innings in AA and has 34 strikeouts with 13 walks. Not clear if he is ready to move up to the Majors where the Marlins desperately need bullpen relief.
For now, the Marlins will call up Hector Luna from AAA to backup Wes Helms and Donny Murphy. When Chris Coghlan returns from the DL, he will take over the starting 3B spot.
Dan Uggla hit a 2-run home run in the top of the 7th against the San Francisco Giants giving him 143 career home runs and tying Mike Lowell for the Marlins all-time lead. It was his sixth home run in six games.
I had the unique opportunity of spending the Monday and Tuesday of the All Star game in the National League locker room and batting cages (I stopped by the AL briefly). Photo above is a hat that Hanley Ramirez had the other All Stars autograph. Photo below is Josh Johnson sitting at one of the many merchandise tables, autographing hundreds of baseballs. Josh went through every single item (baseballs, hats, jerseys, bats, etc. and signed everything. Very few All Stars took the time to do that.
Try to digest this one today… The Marlins have fired Fredi Gonzalez.
STATEMENT BY MARLINS OWNER JEFFREY LORIA
It is never easy to make a change in managers. Fredi has been with our Club for four years. We have become close, and I am extremely fond of Fredi. I, along with all our fans, am grateful for Fredi’s contributions. At the same time, we can’t let personal feelings get in the way of taking steps that we believe are necessary to improve our ballclub.Decisions on individual personnel cannot supercede our overall goal, which is to win. We believe we can do better and be better. We owe it to our fans to put this team in the best possible position to win. Everyone knows how I feel about winning. That’s the reason we’re making this change.
We still have a very long season in front of us, and plenty of time to turn things around. Everyone – our fans, our team, our organization, and myself – wants us to win. That continues to be, and will always be, the goal.
The Florida Marlins today announced they have dismissed manager Fredi Gonzalez, bench coach Carlos Tosca and hitting coach Jim Presley and named Edwin Rodriguez interim manager, Brandon Hyde interim bench coach and John Mallee interim hitting coach. The announcement was made by President of Baseball Operations Larry Beinfest.
Rodriguez, in his eighth season in the Marlins organization, has spent the past year-and-a-half as manager for Triple-A New Orleans. He previously spent two years as manager of Single-A Greensboro (2007-08) and two seasons as manager of the GCL Marlins (2005-06). He served the 2003 and 2004 seasons as hitting coach for the Double-A Carolina Mudcats. Prior to joining the Marlins, Rodriguez was in the Tampa Bay organization, where he managed the rookie-league Princeton Devil Rays for three seasons (2000-02) and the low-A Hudson Valley Renegades (1999). Rodriguez played parts of three seasons with the Yankees and Padres from 1982-1985.
Hyde was in his first season as Marlins minor league infield coordinator after six years managing in the Marlins minor league system, including skippering the 2009 Jacksonville Suns to the Southern League championship. He also spent two years as hitting coach for Single-A Greensboro.
Mallee is in his ninth season with the Marlins, all spent as minor league hitting coordinator. Prior to joining the Marlins he served as hitting coach in 2001 with Triple-A Ottawa in the Montreal organization.
The Marlins are currently 34-36, 7.5 games out of first place in the National League East. Gonzalez compiled a 276-279 record in three-plus seasons with the Marlins. Gonzalez and Tosca joined the Marlins in 2007, while Presley became the club’s hitting coach in 2006.
But Randy St. Claire is still here? What a joke.
He has arrived.
Following another disappointing loss the Mets, the Marlins made wholesale changes led by the much anticipated call of Mike Stanton, who leads professional baseball in home runs and RBIs. To make room for Stanton, the Fish optioned Brett Carroll down to AAA. Also, looking for some spark off the bench, the Marlins DFA’d Mike Lamb, again, and called up the much maligned Emilio Bonifacio. Tim Wood, who allowed 3 runs to the Mets today, was sent down and Rick VandenHurk was called up.
Stanton, who the Marlins hope can wake-up their offense, finishes his AA season in Jacksonville with a .311 batting average, 1.167 OPS, 21 home runs and 52 RBIs in 52 games.
The Marlins and Josh Johnson have agreed to a 4-year $39MM deal which buys out his first two years of free agency. The deal matches JJ’s original demand of a Greinke-like deal (4 years at $38MM) which suggests the Marlins relented after the recent pressure from MLB and MLBPA.
From ESPN:
“I’m excited,” Johnson said. “It sets up me and my family for life. One of the best parts is knowing where I’m going to be the next four years. I won’t have to hear about any trade rumors or anything like that. I’m happy to be in South Florida.”
The contract buys out the final two years of salary arbitration eligibility and the first two years of free agency for Johnson, who has a 34-16 record and a 3.40 ERA in parts of five seasons with the Marlins.
With Hanley Ramirez anchoring the offense, Josh Johnson now becomes the long-term ace of the pitching staff as the Fish make another run to the playoffs and as they look towards opening the new ballpark in 2012.
Update: A few more details. JJ will earn a mere $3.75 million in 2010, $7.75 million in 2011 and $13.75 million in 2012 and 2013. Incentives include $50K for making the All-Star team, $500K for wining the Cy Young and $1MM for World Series MVP.
ESPN’s Jerry Crasnick is reporting that negotiations between the Marlins and Josh Johnson have reached an impasse.
Agent Matt Sosnick told ESPN.com that negotiations between the Marlins and Johnson have reached an “impasse,” and Johnson expects to play under a one-year deal in 2010. Johnson will be eligible for free agency after the 2011 season, and a failure to reach agreement on a multiyear contract would probably force the Marlins to explore a trade before then.
“Based on our conversations, there’s no chance of doing a long-term deal with the Marlins,” Sosnick said. “We made it clear that it was going to be this year or it wasn’t going to happen. It was now or never. And the Marlins agreed.”
Apparently JJ wanted a 4-year deal but the Marlins were only willing to go up to 3 years meaning they would only buy out one of his free agency years. Let’s hope this is just early posturing by both sides.
According to local reports, Marlins reliever Renyel Pinto is in a bit of trouble with the law and apparently there is a warrant out for his arrest.
On May 30, the Venezuelan pitcher was tooling his white 2007 Infiniti SUV, pimped-out with gigantic subwoofers in the trunk, through Hallandale when cops pulled him over and discovered he didn’t have a valid driver’s license. He was ordered to appear in Broward County court on June 16, but when you spend as much time flipping off the camera while lying in hammocks as Pinto does, you really can’t be be expected to alter your schedule. When he didn’t show up, his driving privileges were suspended and a warrant was issued for his arrest, with a $2,000 bond. He hasn’t been nabbed yet.
And Renyel never paid his management team:
According to a lawsuit filed in Miami-Dade County on September 4, the reliever breached his contract with Coral Springs-based Pro-Management Resources Inc. when he “failed to pay” a one-and-a-half-percent cut of his $400,000 salary.
Pinto‘s name has appeared in recent trade conversations and even before this news, the Marlins shouldn’t expect to get much in return.
Links:
