Marlins Fire John Mallee, Hire Eduardo Perez As New Hitting Coach

[Ramp]

You should just be happy they were talking about the Fish on ESPN on the first place.

Because they are clearly out to get us

[Chewford]

It's about time they got rid of Steve Addazio.

[Mainge]

This is stupid.
--------------------

If you're going to have a segment to mention stuff that a casual fan already knows, you might as well not have a segment, at all.

Have you never watched ESPN before?

[emkayseven]

4 pages and no Bill Robinson references? I'm disappointed in you guys.

don't talk ill of the dead

[FishFF]

Just caught up on this thread..Erick is making it very entertaining.

/mor

[MiamiHomer]

I lol'd about the BBTN stuff.

[AdamRavs]

ESPN is a joke nowadays. Love how people think they are gonna have some earth shattering things to say about us. lol

[emkayseven]

The Florida Marlins have lost seven straight games with six of those losses coming by one run. The Elias Sports Bureau reports the Marlins and Diamondbacks (last month) were the first teams to suffer six one-run losses in a seven-game span since the 1988 Braves. Florida manager Edwin Rodriguez insists his team has been just one hit away from winning every one of those games -- and now it's the job of Eduardo Perez to find that one hit.

Perez has left ESPN, where he worked as a Baseball Tonight analyst, to replace John Mallee has the Marlins' hitting coach. Mallee was reportedly a popular figure among the Marlins' core group of promising young hitters, many of whom worked with Mallee in the minor leagues. Now Perez arrives with the entire group in an offensive free-fall. "Right now, it's a trust factor," Perez said. "I've got to gain their trust. I have to communicate with them and listen to them and each one is an individual, they're not all the same and I'm the one that has to make adjustments towards them. What you have to do is trust them, so they in the long run can trust you. Right now I'm going to go in there and respect them as players and just listen to what they have to say."

The Marlins' seven-game losing streak is their longest in more than two years. They have yet to win in June. Through the first six games of their current 11-game homestand, Florida is averaging only 2.7 runs per game and has hit .148 (8-for-54) with runners in scoring position while stranding 57 baserunners. In fact, over their last 12 games, the Marlins have hit just .171 (19-for-111) with runners in scoring position. "This is a game of numbers and you're going to hit your lows," said Perez, who played 13 years in the major leagues and has managed and coached in the Puerto Rican Winter League and World Baseball Classic. "The question is, how can you control your lows and right now we have to go out there and just stop pressing, stop trying to do too much."

Mike Stanton's two-run, two-out single in the ninth inning Wednesday night tied the game at 2 before the Marlins lost 3-2 to the Braves 10 innings. But Stanton is only 3-for-19 on the homestand with three RBIs and is hitting just .184 over his last 12 games with 13 strikeouts. "You have to swing at strikes," Perez said. "Mike knows that. He chases a lot of balls out of the zone but when they're in the zone, he makes people hurt 'em."

Perez's biggest test may be star shortstop Hanley Ramirez, currently on the DL with a left back sprain. Ramirez's nagging back has been a problem for much of this season; a reason why he's off to the worst start of his career at .210/.306/.309. Perez will approach Ramirez with patience. "He's had a bad season for his standards but right now he's an individual that we have to focus on differently," said Perez, whose Hall of Fame father Tony has previously counseled Ramirez as part of his position as Marlins' special assistant to the president. "We're going to work with him to get healthy, that's the first thing. Right now, we're looking at June 15 against Philadelphia as the first game to get him back. If he's able to get back, then from there we'll see his approach and we'll just take our time with him and at least give him two weeks to get settled in."

Even with Ramirez and pitcher Josh Johnson on the DL, and a winless June, the Marlins are just five games back of the NL East-leading Phillies. Perez will be in uniform for Thursday's game. "I've been hired right now by Jeffrey Loria and the Florida Marlins to go out there and do a job," Perez said. "We're a team that can contend. We have very good pitching and when we get JJ back we'll even be better. We're a team that can run, a team that can play defense, a team that has to play with passion and right now when you don't score runs you play with no passion."

http://espn.go.com/blog/sweetspot/po...tanton-ramirez

[THE_REAL_MIBS]

Before the Marlins fired hitting coach John Mallee after Wednesday's seventh loss in a row, I had a chance to speak with him on Sunday about the team's struggles at the plate in situational hitting.


Mallee, who spent 10 years with the Marlins and had coached Gaby Sanchez, Logan Morrison, Chris Coghlan and Mike Stanton through the system, said he thought the recent struggles were just a part of the growth process of a young team.

"My job is to help them with an approach and a plan. If the approach and the plan are correct and the execution is off, then it's on them. When the approach and plan isn't correct, it's on me.

"To be a good team you have to take productive outs and manufacture runs, going first to third, moving the running over, infield back/corners in, hit the ball up the middle to get the RBI.

"We do it everyday in batting practice. The first two rounds everybody hits the ball middle, the other way, to bring home the runner on second and nobody out. We rehearse it everyday. We do infield back, corners in, hit the ball to the middle of the field. Third round of batting practice is gap to gap, where you drive the ball in the middle of the field. Basically the whole day revolves around situational hitting. Right now, it's not a physical thing, it's a mental thing, an approach oriented thing.

"[Manager] Edwin [Rodriguez] said this spring he wanted us to master the obvious and the ability to execute with runners in scoring position is the key to baseball. When I came here it was a big emphasis. A lot of the guys were with me in the minor leagues and all we did was emphasize that. That's the way you win games. I think it's a part of the team, the way we think, the way we rehearse. They've been doing this for years and they know what they're supposed to be doing. There's no more trying here. We can't say we're trying. We need results and we need to execute."

The Marlins, who got off to a 29-19 start, rank 10th in the National League in runs (241), ninth in batting average (.248) and slugging (.383), and with runners in scoring position (.237). But over the losing streak they've hit just .175 (11-for-63) with runners in scoring position, including 1-for-8 Wednesday.

The Marlins hired former major leaguer and ESPN baseball analyst Eduardo Perez, the son of special assistant Tony Perez, to replace Mallee. The younger Perez has never coached in the majors, but has managed in winter ball.

“He’s a baseball man, and everybody knows him," Marlins manager Edwin Rodriguez said of Perez Thursday morning on the radio show "First Pitch" on the MLB Network. "He’s been around. Although he doesn’t have much experience at teaching, as a coach, but he played in the big leagues for 13 years, so I think that’s good enough. You know better than anybody that experience, when you’ve played that long in the big leagues, I think you know what you’re doing. I think having Eduardo, he’s fully bi-lingual, he’s very smart, intelligent, so I think he’s going to be able to relay the right message.”

That right message begins with Hanley Ramirez, who before being sidelined with a back injury showed no signs of breaking out of his worst season in the big leagues. One can only wonder how much Ramirez's struggles in the end had to do with the Marlins firing Mallee, because the guys Mallee coached for most of their careers -- with the exception Coghlan -- have been carrying the team offensively this season.

Now, Perez will get his turn with Hanley. Let's see if he has the magic touch.

Mallee said Marlins practiced situational hitting everyday

[Todd]

Because they are clearly out to get us

I was more going for "they just dont talk about the Fish much", which is understandable, than "ESPN hates the Fish".

[MiamiHomer]

clarkspencer clarkspencer
#Marlins having a players only, closed door clubhouse meeting

This is what makes or breaks a season.

[emkayseven]

we gon score 12 runs tonight

and still lose

[THE_REAL_MIBS]

joecapMARLINS: LoMo says players still v angry about Mallee dismissal. Says was ownership's decision, not necessarily front office bb ops #Marlins

joecapMARLINS: LoMo says mallee is crushed. #Marlins

/Twitter

[emkayseven]

I don't really give a shit if they're angry. Hit better. Hope it lights a fire under their ass

[Namaste]

Twitter is starting to get annoying