The Marlins have apparently already found their replacement for Fredi Gonzalez.
From the Miami Herald:
Bobby Valentine is expected to be offered the job as the Florida Marlins’ next manager.
Valentine, an analyst for ESPN, confirmed through an e-mail he was flying to South Florida to meet with close friend and Marlins owner Jeffrey Loria and several team executives.
That’s when Loria is expected to offer the 60-year-old former Rangers and Mets skipper a four-year contract to become the organization’s 11th manager, ESPN reported Thursday night.
Team president David Samson confirmed he called Valentine moments after the team fired its winningest manager, Fredi Gonzalez, Wednesday morning. Samson said Thursday that Valentine’s interview Friday would be the first in a series with “several” candidates.
It was a little strange that the Marlins decided to fire Gonzalez after winning two straight games. (Usually owners wait until the team is on a downslide to fire the manager.) But if they already had Valentine lined up as a candidate and felt good that he would agree to come aboard, then their timing with Gonzalez makes more sense.
Valentine last managed in the big leagues from 1996 to 2002 with the Mets. He was with the Chiba Lotte Marines from 2004 until he was fired in 2009 and has spent the last year with ESPN.
I’m dying to see how he and Hanley Ramirez will get along.