There was a lot of speculation that Gonzalez’s job was in jeopardy after team executives Larry Beinfest and David Samson deemed the Marlins season as “disappointing.” There were also plenty of rumors that team owner Jeffrey Loria was unhappy with the team not making the playoffs.
In case you missed it, the Marlins finished in second place in the National League East with an 87-75 record. They did this despite having the lowest payroll in the majors at around $36 million.
I still haven’t figured out what was “disappointing” about the Marlins season. Their Pythagorean record* was 82-80, so this team finishing at 87 wins actually exceeded the production they put on the field.
It’s also hard to win 90-plus games when you put one of the worst defensive teams in baseball on the field night in and night out. I watched a lot of Marlins games this year and this team was brutal defensively.
And I still haven’t figured out why Gonzalez isn’t the right man for the job.
Despite being one game under .500 in three seasons as the Marlins manager (242-243), the team has improved every year under Gonzalez’s leadership.
In 2006, the team won 71 games. In 2008, they won 84 games. And this year, they won 87 games.
So the Marlins were thinking about firing a guy who has won more games each year since he started managing the club? That makes no sense.
I am really glad Marlin executives came to their senses and decided to retain Gonzalez. Firing him would have been a massive mistake.
*Pythagorean winning percentage is an estimate of a team’s winning percentage given their runs scored and runs allowed. Developed by Bill James, it can tell you when teams were a bit lucky or unlucky. It is calculated by:
(Runs Scored)^1.83
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(Runs Scored)^1.83 + (Runs Allowed)^1.83
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