Fish Bites: Miami Marlins Again In The Spotlight

Let's not fool each other. Letting go of manager Ozzie Guillen is big news for the Miami Marlins. In fact, it was surprising the club decided to do this after only one year. And even more so that controversial closer Heath Bell was moved a few days prior to this. However, now that Guillen is gone, is there any way that the Marlins could go away for awhile? I mean, I'm all for my team dominating the headlines, but recently it feels the Marlins are capturing it for the wrong reasons. One example would be all of the back and forth at the end of the season. Bell comes on the radio and says players do not respect Ozzie, Ozzie responds to Bell, Ozzie writes a profanity filled tweet about a local reporter, Ozzie disrespects his owner in another famous pre-game speech, and finally, the Marlins never give their manager a vote of confidence when the season is finally over. Its amazing.

Like you, I would like to see the Marlins announce a huge free agent singing, or make a huge trade where the team clearly gets the better end of the transaction. But for now, it would also be nice for the Marlins to stay away considering all the buzz they created last off season. I'm not saying the team lower aspirations of getting back to the World Series. I just want the club to be in the spot light for what they do on the field (primarily win), instead of the negative noise off of it.

- Click here to take a look at the Ozzie time line with the Miami Marlins. One thing's for sure. It isn't very long.

- A potential replacement for Ozzie Guillen is former Marlins catcher Mike Redmond. In fact, he might be the leading candidate if you rule out Mike Lowell. Remember the Marlins still owe Guillen $7.5 million the next three years. And obviously bringing in a manager with a lot of hype has not worked. So Redmond might be the guy for the job.

- According to Larry Beinfest, the team might have lost sight of the Marlins Way. In fact, he can't even tell us what the Marlins Way is today. Hopefully the team can find a replacement quickly as this will send shock waves through baseball even though locally we all understand this is how the Marlins owner does things.

- Jose Fernandez has won yet another stellar award in his young career. Tuesday he won the MiLBY for best starting pitcher in the minors. Let me remind you his numbers: 14-1 record and a 1.75 ERA. He also led the minors with a 0.93 WHIP. Amazing stuff.

- According to Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports, Joey Cora has also been dismissed from the team. He was the Marlins bench coach this past season. And he was also with Guillen in Chicago.

- Donnie Murphy and Nick Green have declined to be sent down to the minors. Instead, both players will become free agents. Click more here.

Around the League

- John Farrell was introduced as the new manager of the Boston Red Sox. He received a three year deal to become the 46th manager in Red Sox history.

- Dave Magadan has been names as the new hitting coach for the Texas Rangers. He replaces a Triple A hitting coach that joined the team mid-season.

- Alex Rios has something in common with Hank Aaron? What in the world! Click here to read more.

At Fish Stripes

- Giancarlo Stanton's season is reviewed this week by our fearless leader. There is very little negative about a man who hit 37 home runs while only getting 500 plate appearances. Incredible stuff.

- Mr. Jong also reviews the breakout season that Justin Ruggiano had this year. Did I tell you he and I sat next to each other in a downtown eatery late in the season? We exchanged hola's. Incredible this guy might be the Marlins forth or fifth best player this year, and he joined the team mid-season.

- We look at the season Bryan Petersen, Gorkys Hernandez, and the other Marlins outfielders had. It wasn't good. In fact, they might have even lost games for the team. Which is shocking considering a few of these players had their chance to shine with plenty of playing time.

- The Marlins bullpen should be fine on the back end next season with Steve Cishek closing games. But the rest of the 'pen needs to be upgraded because other than Cishek and Randy Choate before he was traded, there were no success stories there in 2012.