The Florida Marlins' fantastic freefall of a season continued on Sunday morning as manager Edwin Rodriguez resigned his position and left the team.
It isn't too often that you hear of a baseball manager resigning, but Rodriguez's departure from the team seemed like an inevitability no matter what the route. Speculation over a possible Rodriguez firing has swirled over the past few days as this June tailspin has grown worse and worse. The Marlins have lost 17 of their last 18 games to go from a second place team that trailed the Phillies by only two games on June 1 to a last place team that is 12.5 games out on June 19.
Rodriguez's resignation comes almost a year to the day that he was hired from Triple-A New Orleans as an interim manager after Fredi Gonzalez's firing. The move made Rodriguez the first Puerto Rican-born manager in the major leagues and he was given the permanent job at the end of the season.
But 92 games ? and a 46-46 record later ? Rodriguez is out due to a combination of big injuries and big slumps. He'll be replaced by bench coach Brandon Hyde for Sunday's game against Tampa Bay, but the Marlins will conduct a search for an interim manager the rest of the way. (Buster Olney reports that 80-year-old Jack McKeon is in the mix.)
[Related: Marlins need to pick a manager they can live with]
Of course, the Marlins refusal to look for a permanent manager guarantees that the never-ending Ozzie Guillen speculation will continue. Though Guillen's contract was extended through 2012, the opening of the new ballpark in Miami plus the possibility of the White Sox missing the playoffs during an "all-in" season makes for a situation too delicious to ignore.
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