6/23/10

Fredi Gonzalez, Cliff Lee, Darryl Strawberry, Jason Vargas... and Dumping Maine

Fredi Gonzalez:



The Florida Marlins today announced they have dismissed manager Fredi Gonzalez, bench coach Carlos Tosca and hitting coach Jim Presley and named Edwin Rodriguez interim manager, Brandon Hyde interim bench coach and John Mallee interim hitting coach. The announcement was made by President of Baseball Operations Larry Beinfest. Rodriguez, in his eighth season in the Marlins organization, has spent the past year-and-a-half as manager for Triple-A New Orleans. He previously spent two years as manager of Single-A Greensboro (2007-08) and two seasons as manager of the GCL Marlins (2005-06). He served the 2003 and 2004 seasons as hitting coach for the Double-A Carolina Mudcats. Prior to joining the Marlins, Rodriguez was in the Tampa Bay organization, where he managed the rookie-league Princeton Devil Rays for three seasons (2000-02) and the low-A Hudson Valley Renegades (1999). Rodriguez played parts of three seasons with the Yankees and Padres from 1982-1985. - link

Cliff Lee:


"The Mets are willing to trade for Cliff Lee without requiring a negotiating window to sign him to an extension, a source with knowledge of the team's thinking told The Post. Lee, the Seattle left-hander who potentially is the top prize of the pre-July 31 trade-deadline period, is a free agent after this season. So if the Mets acquire him without getting a 48- or 72-hour window to sign him, they would be taking a sizeable risk, considering they would be parting with prospects and/or players in order to have him for perhaps only two months. - link







Darryl Strawberry:


Darryl Strawberry is a step closer to raising a toast at his new Queens restaurant. The community board in Douglaston is backing the former Met and Yankee slugger’s state liquor-license application. Board chair Jerry Iannece said Straw’s well-documented past drug arrests weren’t an issue. “It’s well beyond 10 years ago,” Iannece noted. “He’s been to rehab, he’s turned his life around. If he was the type to draw trouble, that would give us pause. But that’s not the case. It’s going to be a nice addition to the neighborhood.” - link


Jason Vargas:


Jason Vargas shutout the Cubs for seven innings Tuesday night, walking one and striking out seven. That lowered his ERA to 2.66. The top for starters on the Mairners own ERAs of 2.45, 2.55, 2.66 and 3.39. How is this team 29-41? Those four pitchers are 19-13 in 49 starts. The number five starters, Rowland-Smith and Snell are 1-11, wiping out any benefit from the front line pitchers. - link





Dumping Maine:


With John Maine lacking a role in the starting rotation or in the bullpen, as Jerry Manuel intimated Saturday, the Mets might attempt to pass the righthander through waivers for the purpose of outrighting him to the minors. Maine cannot refuse the assignment, as Oliver Perez did, without forfeiting the remainder of his $3.3 million salary because the righty hasn’t yet accrued five years of major-league service time.- link

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