Fact or Fishin: Miami Marlins Front Office Hires Mike Redmond For Puppet Regime

Editor's Note: Everyone, please welcome Jon Melton to the Fish Stripes crew! He will working on Fish Bites every Friday, but due to some time constraints and editing difficulties regarding Fish Bites this week, his first piece will be published today. Sorry to Jon and Scott G for publishing both of your Fish Bites on the same day, we'll be back to your regularly scheduled program starting tomorrow with Brian.

As the great Yogi Bera once said, "It's deja-vu all over again." Another failed season in the books, another Miami Marlins manager cast away like stale Cuban bread. Marlins owner Jeffrey Loria found his man - again - early Thursday morning, making Mike Redmond the seventh man to manage the team since the start of the 2006 season.

Redmond, 41, was on the Marlins' short list of managerial candidates, having brought in Tigers hitting coach Lloyd McClendon two days prior to interview for the same position. With the Marlins ridding itself of nearly every bench coach to go along with Ozzie, it will be interesting to see who else is brought in to round out the rest of the coaching staff.

It's hard to determine if this hiring is a legitimate opportunity for Redmond to be groomed over the long haul or if this is just another loyal puppet that David Samson won't have to feel threatened by. The firing of Ozzie Guillen left a bad taste in the mouths of fans and many players, and it also didn't do much to make the Marlins an attractive landing spot for any respectable, proven managers.

Gone are the docile Fredi Gonzalez and Edwin Rodriguez, former Manager of the Year Joe Girardi, the legendary Jack McKeon and the powder keg Ozzie Guillen. Enter Mike Redmond. For what it's worth, Redmond was signed to a three-year deal, though history has proved that doesn't mean much with this organization. And while his tenure likely will span longer than those of Cookie Rojas and Brandon Hyde, it's hard to believe that this front office will give Redmond what it takes to become the next McKeon or Leyland.

-Redmond joins the club with only two years of managerial experience in A-ball, and though he may not be a "sexy" hire, he shouldn't be dismissed or overlooked. After all, as a former big-league catcher, often times he acted as more of a game manager than an actual manager would.

-Redmond will be officially introduced as the new manager on Friday, hopefully fully clothed. Though he takes the job with the bare essentials, the naked truth remains that he may once again be able to help the Marlins break free from a season-long slump.

-Redmond has garnered plenty of praise from his former manager Jack McKeon, with McKeon expressing his approval on the Marlins' latest move. The kind words are surely welcome, but a decent lineup is worth a thousand words.

-Logan Morrison is busy rehabbing his injured knee and also trying to raise money for the American Lung Association. The move is an apparent homage to his father who died of lung cancer in 2010.

-Mark Buehrle continued to prove to Marlins' management and fans that his signing was a good one, as Buehrle won his fourth Gold Glove award on Wednesday.

Around the League

-MLB and the Yankees are reaching out to victims of Superstorm Sandy in the New York area. The MLB and MLBPA are donating $1 million to the relief fund, and the Yankees have chipped in another half-million. The Yankees are also sponsoring a blood drive in the wake of the New York Blood Center reporting a sizable loss in usable blood due to the storm.

-The Oakland A's have come to terms with pitcher Bartolo Colon, agreeing on a one-year, $3 million deal. First Manny, now Colon. If the A's manage to land Melky Cabrera in free agency, they'll be one stop closer to landing a stadium sponsorship deal with Andro. The Andro Coliseum at Brian McNamee field. Has a nice ring to it.

At Fish Stripes

-Michael Jong talks in-depth about the Mike Redmond hiring here, and what the hiring means to the seemingly endless parade of Marlins' managers.

-A detailed look at Mark Buehrle's Gold Glove Award announcement, along with some dynamite video of Mark flashing the glove on the "Buehrle Meter."

-For all you true baseball geeks that yearn for winter league baseball, a look inside one of the more promising of prospects inside the Marlins' system, Marcell Ozuna.

-Fish Stripes takes an in-depth look at one of the better trades in recent Marlins memory, the deal with Detroit that brought in Jacob Turner and Rob Brantly.

-Fish Stripes author Conor Dorney examines the Marlins and their definition of "underachieving.'