Marlins Bringing Back Fredi Gonzalez? How Rare Is That?

History 101: How Rare Is It For Teams To Bring Back Ex-Skippers? 

Not as rare as you’d think, at least based on the fact that Gonzalez’s next job after leaving the Marlins was to replace a repeat manager. Yep, at one point, someone thought Bobby Bleeping Cox wasn’t good enough at the whole coaching thing. Cox coached the Braves for four years, spent four years managing in Toronto, came back to Atlanta as GM, and then after doing that for four years, fired the sitting manager and gave himself the job. He proceeded to do ok- for the next twenty years.

Billy Martin of the Yankees was repeatedly fired and rehired from his post of skipper, if you want another big name example.

A better comp for this situation might be Larry Bowa’s tenure with the Philadelphia Phillies. Bowa was fired as manager in 2004, and one decade later, came back to fill the supporting role.

Going beyond baseball, there’s the fact that Bill Belichick technically worked for the New York Jets and the New England Patriots twice apiece, before settling comfortably into the role of sucking all the joy and happiness out of my Sundays for the past sixteen years.

So it can happen, the encore.

Do The Marlins Have A History Of Doing This? 

Kind of.

When you look at the list of former Marlins managers, you actually get two repeat performances. And if you want to be cute, and count Mike Redmond’s playing career, we can bump it up to three.

Jack Mckeon is the obvious name here. After the most successful three year stretch ever put up by a Marlins manager, Trader Jack retired. Six years later, he returned to finish out the year after Fredi Gonzalez’s replacement Edwin Rodriguez quit just over two months into the 2011 season.

The more obscure reference would be John Boles, who took over for original manager Rene Lacheman on an interim basis in 1996, and then went back to his scouting position. He reclaimed the manager job in 1999, only to be fired in 2001 after another nasty exchange between an obnoxious player and management. Boles’ situation was actually a pretty eerie parallel for Redmond’s: fired because of unreasonably elevated expectations after an awesome boost in performance the prior season.

Ozzie Guillen was McKeon’s third base coach in 2003. Perry Hill had two stints with the club. Two of the three coaches that were just fired previously played for the team, although counting playing time is a bit ludicrous as many teams bring back former players to coach. But the Marlins do have a history of hiring their own, particularly since Jeffrey Loria took over as owner in 2002.

But of all of those names, none of them were fired prior to that second hiring. That would be a unique to Fredi milestone.

Any Cross-Coach Players Left On Roster? 

Only the face of the franchise.

If winning bar bets against your fellow Fish fans is your thing, Giancarlo Stanton can help you out. Technically, the superstar slugger has played for a staggering eight managers in the majors.

Sure, I’m counting Brandon Hyde’s one game cameo between the Rodriguez and McKeon tenures. But seven doesn’t make it better. Plus, it lets Stanton claim the franchise record, avoiding a tie with Ricky Nolasco.

The home run artist formerly known as Mike Stanton made his Marlins debut on June 8, 2010. Two weeks land one home run later, Gonzalez was fired. Stanton did go on a bit of tear right after, hitting 8 HR and 21 RBI over the next five weeks. In any event though, he’s the one constant Gonzalez would fine just where he left him.

For those wondering about Perry Hill, the two did overlap briefly in 2007. But Hill would spend the next two years retired, and wouldn’t return to the Marlins until 2011, meaning he missed the bulk of the Gonzalez era.

And for the really nitpicky, Mike Kozak and Juice the Barber. There- done.

Hunter Cervenka, Jeff Francoeur, and Chris Johnson would all make the list of players with past Gonzalez experience should any of them end up being retained.

Gonzalez or Mattingly? 

One of the most interesting parts of this move to me would be just how much more coaching experience Fredi Gonzalez has. There’s about a four year gap just in MLB managerial experience alone, but the divide goes much deeper. Gonzalez has been coaching since 1990, and has done so at just about level; more to the point, he’s done so at just about every level with this organization.

However, in terms of win-loss percentage, Mattingly edges him out .550 to .506. Moreover, this is in no uncertain terms Mattingly’s team. So there should be no problem, provided Mattingly himself is on board with this hire.

Next: Fish Flash Tidbits

Maybe Fredi even has some advice on how to get Nick Markakis out.

Personally, I’d like to see the move. As noted in Friday’s Fish Flash, if he was good enough at coaching third base to do it for Bobby Cox, he’s probably an upgrade over Lenny Harris.