I used to love Bob Nightengale's human interest stories in Baseball Weekly.

It seems like Beinfest has done a really nice job down there. Things didn't go well this year but that kind of stuff happens with regularity in baseball.

Would you drop your GM if you could pick up Beinfest? Thanks, good try but goodbye Mr. Amaro for me.

I'm not sure if I'd trade Mozeliak for him, but I'd sure like to have him in the organization.

Is Hill so inconsequential that he just stays in his job and gets bypassed for the top spot?

I'd absolutely talk to Beinfest.

Not really sure what they expected to happen this season. Heath Bell was bad, but the other big acquisitions (Reyes and Buehrle) quietly put up pretty typical seasons for them. Zambrano was bad but Volstad was worse. Maybe if the guy upon whom the owner was bestowing diamonds two years ago had done anything they would have had a better season.

And the game of musical chairs is on. Tangential report has Ozzie Guillen's old nemesis getting kicked upstairs and Rick Hahn taking over as White Sox GM.

Beane for Beinfest? I don't know. Beane seems to run a tighter ship, but Beinfest may be hamstrung by Loria there. Beinfest seems to be a better top end talent evaluator. I say yes, but only because I'm ready to move on from Beane's low upside ways.

I expected them to win the NL East, but admittedly that was largely because they're the Marlins.

Terry Ryan tried to retire once. I'll take Beinfest.

Beinfest seems to be a better top end talent evaluator. I say yes, but only because I'm ready to move on from Beane's low upside ways.

Yea, the coups of drafting Beckett, Adrian Gonzalez and signing Miggy as an amateur 3 years before Beinfest joined the organization were key. Add in the fantastic first round picks of Jeremy Hermidia, Taylor Tankersly, Jeff Allison, Chris Volstead, Chris Coghlan, and Kyle Skipworth, and who wouldn't want that resume?

Edit: That sounded a little pissier than intended. I have no doubt Beinfest is a pretty good GM, but he inherited a lot of cheap talent. Unlike many who found themselves in similar situations, he didn't screw it up, in fact he did well with it. But his first round picks have been underwhelming, maybe in part because he's suffered the same winner's curse that Beane has, drafting mostly mid to late round for going on a decade.

Yikes, that's pretty bad. 1st rounders from 2002-2007 and Chris Volstad with 2.4 WAR leads the pack -- and he sucks! Nobody drafted first round after 2007 has done anything yet.

Mark Kotsay is the 3rd best #9 pick of all-time.

I don't know whether Beinfest or Hill was behind the Miguel Cabrera trade (it was made in Hill's first offseason as the GM) but whichever it was deserves to be fired. I don't think nearly enough attention has been given to what a complete and utter failure that trade was. Some fungible relief pitching (mostly by pitchers who are already gone from the organization) is the entire legacy of dealing one of the top hitters in baseball at the age of 25.

Yea, the coups of drafting Beckett, Adrian Gonzalez and signing Miggy as an amateur 3 years before Beinfest joined the organization were key. Add in the fantastic first round picks of Jeremy Hermidia, Taylor Tankersly, Jeff Allison, Chris Volstead, Chris Coghlan, and Kyle Skipworth, and who wouldn't want that resume?

Wow. I stand corrected. I'll keep Beane. To elaborate, I had given Beinfest credit for Hanley Ramirez and Giancarlo Stanton, but I hadn't realized he had failed so miserably in drafting.

I think I might reconsider too. Who had the bright idea to hire Guillen?

Wow. I stand corrected. I'll keep Beane. To elaborate, I had given Beinfest credit for Hanley Ramirez and Giancarlo Stanton, but I hadn't realized he had failed so miserably in drafting.

Again, I'll step back and say you can nitpick any of the many aspects of a GMs job, but a full measure is very difficult to make given the unpredictable variance in assets inherited, in every players performance, and every seasons opportunity. But over long enough periods luck/variance evens out and you can roughly measure by inputs and outputs. Measured that way, it appears Bienfest mostly succeeded over a long tenure despite some crippling budgets.

I think what you guys are missing is that this is, quite obviously, simply a move to reduce staff payroll.

To make no kind of contribution to this thread - every time I see Beinfest's name, I think his name is Bein but he presents himself as a sort of travelling festival permanently surrounded by streamers and confetti.

If Guillen is sacked, that means the Marlins will have been through four managers since Fredi Gonzalez left in 2010 (excluding Brandon Hyde's one-game interlude).

If you add in Loria's Montréal years, that means teams he has owned have gone through eight managers in thirteen years.

That strikes me as a high turnover.

Also, Beinfest was given the keys to Scrooge McLoria's Money Bin this past off-season, and the team ended up being quite a disappointment. And this isn't the first time this has happened. See the 2005 Marlins for the predecessor of this debacle, although that was not managed by a new hire.

It's hard to blame Loria for firing Beinfest, especially if he thinks he's found a good alternative. But kicking Guillen out as well would create too much instability for my comfort. One or the other, fine, but not both. Otherwise, one would end up with the same problem next season, with a bunch of new players and a manager having to learn each other's ways all over again.