Despite leading a young team with an opening day payroll of $34.4 million to 87 wins and a shot at the National League Wild Card, Florida Marlins manager Fredi Gonzalez is not guaranteed a job next season.  From Yahoo! Sports:

“As we looked at the performance at things that happened, games that went one way, games that went another way, there is no question we felt we should have been a playoff team,” [team president David] Samson said during Sunday’s Marlins-Phillies game.

Samson said owner Jeffrey Loria, who was not at the game, is insistent the team will not lose money.

“I don’t think he would look at it and say, ‘Man, if I just put in $20 more million, that would have made the difference in making the playoffs,”’ Samson said. “There are some people that argue we could have taken $4 million off this team and done better.”

Alright, before we start feigning incredulity, let me make it clear that the best baseball manager ever in the history of baseball would make a difference of about 5 wins in a given season.  By contrast, my mother, undoubtedly pouring cosmos into her face for 9 innings, couldn’t cause a team more than 5 or so losses.  So the whole concept of a manager as a big difference maker is pretty absurd to begin with.  This is baseball, not football.

That said, Fredi Gonzalez, despite his win total, is a pretty shitty manager.  The Marlins are loaded with talent and really could have been a playoff team.  I’m a huge Marlins fan (yes, that’s my team) and thanks to the MLB Ticket, I’ve watched literally dozens of Marlins games this season.  Fredi has no idea how to handle his bullpen, nor does he have any idea how to handle his lineup.  Anecdotal, sure, but I remember one instance when Fredi had Jeremy Hermida – not really a “bunter” – try to lay down a bunt with 2 strikes.  Guess how that turned out.  But most egregious of all – and for this, he probably should be fired – is that he batted this guy leadoff for most of the season.  That’s essentially starting each game with an automatic out.  Luckily Coghlan got called up and shit all over National League pitching.  So, yeah, I want Fredi gone, not that it matters too much in the long run.