Is Ozzie Guillen's time in Miami over? It's hard to imagine a more disastrous season for a manager. Not only did the man manage to piss off half of his fan base by declaring his "love" for Fidel Castro, but he also sunk a promising start into a prolonged team meltdown that saw the Fish end up at the bottom of their division.
Now, ESPN reporter Buster Olney reports the team is "aggressively seeking" a replacement.
Guillen came to Miami with a four-year contract worth $10 million, his notoriously outspoken personality and a promise to repeat his previous World Series win with the White Sox. Though, just a few games into the season he managed to erase all goodwill with his Castro gaffe.
After a mediocre first month, Guillen managed to guide the team to the best record in baseball during the month of May and the Marlins appeared to be real contenders. Then, somehow, the team squandered that promise and ended up with a 69-93 mark.
Now Oley has this to report:
Marlins are aggressively seeking a replacement for Ozzie Guillen. Will they wait to find someone before firing him? We'll see.
-- Buster Olney (@Buster_ESPN) October 4, 2012
Marlins owner Jeffrey Loria has reportedly hightailed it out of the country for a vacation (oh, much needed and deserved, we're sure) so we may not see any movement on the front until he gets back.
Just yesterday however, Guillen declared that he wants to stay with the team.
"I will be the manager here," he said. "I expect to be the manager here. I want to be the manager here. Am I going to be? I don't make that decision."
Guillen says he's going to enjoy the offseason, but added, "Because in my job, what I did this year, do you think I deserve to be back here? Of course not."
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