BALTIMORE — Fredi Gonzalez was fired as manager of the Florida Marlins on Wednesday, with the team owner saying “we can do better and be better.”
The Marlins are 34-36 following a win over Baltimore on Tuesday night. Florida began the day in fourth place in the NL East, 7½ games behind first-place Atlanta.
Edwin Rodriguez, who has spent the past 1½ seasons as manager of Triple-A New Orleans, takes over as manager on an interim basis.
Also fired were bench coach Carlos Tosca and hitting coach Jim Presley. They were replaced on an interim basis by Brandon Hyde and John Mallee.
“We owe it to our fans to put this team in the best possible position to win,” owner Jeffrey Loria said in a statement. “Everyone knows how I feel about winning. That’s the reason we’re making this change.”
In three-plus seasons as the Marlins’ manager, Gonzalez was 276-279.
Gonzalez is the third manager to lose his job this season. The others are Dave Trembley at Baltimore and Trey Hillman at Kansas City.
Rodriguez is in his eighth season with the Marlins’ organization. Before his stay in New Orleans, he spent two years as manager of Single-A Greensboro and two seasons as manager of the GCL Marlins. He also was the hitting coach for the Double-A Carolina Mudcats.
While the Marlins seemed upbeat following their first two-game winning streak since June 10-11, second baseman Dan Uggla said the team is still coming together.
“We’re not necessarily concerned with the .500 mark because once we do get back to it we need to keep going,” Uggla said after Tuesday night’s game. “Right now we’re all about winning and coming together as a team. We can’t waste any more time. We have to make a move.”
The move came Wednesday, with Loria optimistic his Marlins, who missed the playoffs last year after finishing 12 games over .500 with the league’s smallest payroll, can make a run at the postseason.
“We still have a very long season in front of us, and plenty of time to turn things around,” Loria said. “Everyone — our fans, our team, our organization, and myself — wants us to win. That continues to be, and will always be, the goal.”
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