Miami Fires Ozzie Guillen

By Chuck Sudo in News on Oct 23, 2012 8:15PM

Well that didn't last long. Ozzie Guillen was fired as manager of the Miami Marlins today after a season with high expectations ended with the team holding down the bottom of the NL East standings.

Guillen was the highest profile offseason signing for a Miami club that spent money like a drunken sailor on shore leave that was entering a gaudy new ballpark. Yet Guillen pissed away what little tolerance Marlins owner Jeffrey Loria and President of Baseball Operations Larry Beinfest had for his schtick a week into the season, when comments he made praising the ability of Cuban leader Fidel Castro to stay in power as long as he has pissed off Miami's sizable and influential Cuban population. Guillen was suspended, but the Marlins never rallied around Guillen the way his White Sox teams used to do whenever he would run his mouth. A 69-93 record didn't help matters, nor did Guillen's postseason pronouncements that the Marlins should fire him if they feel they have to make a change.

Beinfest, in a statement, said the search for a new manager begins immediately and they're looking for one who, "along with roster improvements, will restore a winning culture.”

And there lies the other main reason Guillen is now collecting the balance of his contract at home. The Marlins were a seriously flawed team, despite such high-profile additions as Carlos Zambrano, Mark Buehrle, Jose Reyes and Heath Bell. Guillen and Bell had a feud that became public late in the season; Bell was sent packing from Miami in a three-team trade at the end of the season.

Looks like that feud between Guillen and Williams looks even more lopsided in favor of Williams.