Miami Marlins Owner Jeffrey Loria Pressured By Team Executives About Ozzie Guillen Firing

Yesterday, here at Fish Stripes, we were saying that Miami Marlins owner Jeffrey Loria, in his typical lust for managerial changes, might switch out Ozzie Guillen despite it likely not improving the 2013 team. But according to this latest report by Joe Capozzi of the Palm Beach Post, Loria may actually be leaning towards retaining Guillen, but various Marlins team executives are pressuring him to fire the embattled manager instead.

Owner Jeffrey Loria is getting pressure from his top baseball executives to fire Guillen because they believe he has brought an unprofessional culture to the Marlins, according to two people who have spoken with the front office.

One person was under the impression that Loria might be the last member of the team hierarchy supporting Guillen, even though the manager angered him with a recent comment.

Loria was not happy when Guillen on Saturday implied that he cared more about going on vacation than whether he would be retained as manager: "The only thing I worry about, make sure that American Airlines plane is ready for Madrid on Thursday.’’

It is surprising to hear that Loria may actually be on Guillen's side in this battle for the Marlins' managerial future. Guillen has twice said things that apparently angered Loria, including taking a direct shot at the owner by telling him to "look in the mirror" with regards to why so many managers have come and gone in south Florida. But these team executives seem to be the ones that are not interested in retaining Guillen due to a so-called "unprofessional" culture.

Well, I had not heard of any of this. Have you?

Several members of the Marlins have complained to top team officials that Guillen is not the right man to manage the club because he does not do it with "integrity and professionalism,’’ a source said.

Among their complaints: the constant clubhouse presence of Guillen’s three adult sons; Guillen’s frequent references to not being worried about anything because "I got my money;" and his constant cursing.

I think bringing in Guillen's sons into the fray is probably not appropriate, especially since none of them are on the team's payroll in any capacity. But the other two complaints? The only I am surprised about is that these team executives were surprised by any of this! Guillen was a well-known loudmouth with the Chicago White Sox! How could they not be aware of his constant cursing? In the premiere episode of The Franchise, Guillen's cursing was so familiar that David Samson had a ticker for how many times Guillen dropped a curse word! For these officials to complain now is just hypocritical.

As for references to him not being worried, what is Guillen supposed to say? Is he supposed to express his frightened attitude with regards to being fired by Loria? Guillen has said multiple times that he thinks he will return and that he wants to return to the Marlins next season. It is not as though he does not care, so much as he is passing off the comments in front of the media, as any manager might in a situation that is sensitive to the team.

These are more rumors, and we have yet to get any substantiated word, though I suspect if we did, it would be clear that either Guillen would be fired or he would stay for at least another season. Whatever the case may be, word will not be coming this weekend, as Guillen will be traveling to Spain with his family and Loria himself is going on vacation to Europe on Sunday. Unless a decision is made today or tomorrow, expect no clear word.

One final note to consider with the Marlins' attempts to replace Guillen is the possibility that the team may fire one his coaches.

One possible scenario has the Marlins firing bench coach Joey Cora, Guillen’s long-time confidant. Several players have complained about working with Cora, a team source said.

Guillen told the front office in spring training, the source said, that he would quit if the team ever tried to fire any of his coaches over his objections. Guillen is owed $7.5 million over the next three years of his contract, but he would not be paid if he quit.

On the one hand, if there have been complaints about Cora, the players' preferences should be taken into account. Despite the hugs that Cora seems to get every time players reach the dugout, if he has been an issue, Then again, this play seems like an almost underhanded ploy to get Guillen to leave without being owed his $7.5 million remaining in his contract. Either way, it would not surprise me.

Stay tuned to Fish Stripes as we have more updates on the developing Guillen / Marlins saga.