Mike Redmond's firing once again shows impulsiveness of Marlins ownership

In case you thought the Miami Marlins had finally found a course they could believe in, could build on, could sustain, we bring you Sunday. Minutes after nearly being no-hit, which resulted in their 10th loss in 14 games anyway, they fired their manager and his bench coach. Presumably owner Jeffrey Loria could not help himself, as it had been months since the Marlins had skittered off in a panic over something or other.

The club announced it would name a replacement for manager Mike Redmond on Monday, at which point the Marlins will have their eighth manager in a decade, including Jack McKeon twice and one-and-dones Joe Girardi and Ozzie Guillen. In fact, come that news conference, Loria will be paying three managers (Guillen, Redmond and the new guy) and a former general manager (Larry Beinfest), with little to show for it but a reputation for overreaction.

Speculation out of Miami pegged third-base coach Brett Butler as the possible next man up, at minimum on an interim basis, but a source with the team denied it.

"I think we're just looking for some consistency," baseball operations president Michael Hill said, presumably with little thought to the irony.

For 38 games, the Marlins had not been very good. They had lost six times in seven games, they'd scored more than three runs once in a week, on Sunday they were two-hit by Shelby Miller of the Atlanta Braves, and not 20 minutes later Redmond was packing up his things. When the topic of Redmond's job security arose recently, Loria spat that he was tired of the "palace intrigue." Then the manager was fired.

"This is something that, as you watch our club play, there's still supreme confidence in the men in that clubhouse," Hill told reporters in Miami. "We haven't played to our capabilities. We're hopeful that a new voice will spark and motivate our guys."

You wouldn't have to tell Hill that of the Marlins' many shortcomings over the years, new voices have not been among them. But, here they are again, having just laid the largest contract in history on right fielder Giancarlo Stanton, adding a second baseman (Dee Gordon), a first baseman (Mike Morse), a third baseman (Martin Prado), a few new starting pitchers (Dan Haren, Mat Latos, David Phelps) and still losing ballgames in bunches. So, Redmond, a quite decent man who'd earned a lot of love for dragging 77 wins out of last year's Marlins, paid for eight blown saves by the bullpen and various other core mediocrities with his job.

It's part of the gig, of course, to live amid the impulses of the owner. Loria leads the league in impulsiveness. So, Marlins players left the ballpark Sunday without a manager, they'll return for a game Monday to learn who their next boss will be, and they'll understand nothing really has changed.

They play for an organization that reeks of chaos, and that has never set a course that could not be redrawn or entirely ignored or, as likely, overruled. Maybe the next manager will be, like Redmond, a good man who has paid his minor-league dues and has long deserved a big-league shot. The new man could be very good at this, and the Marlins might very well win some ballgames under him, and the course will resume.

But if you think it'll change anything, well, we bring you Sunday.

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