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Oh Yeah, So Does Jeffrey Loria

Florida Marlins owner Jeffrey Loria offered a curt assessment of his strained relationship with manager Joe Girardi, which may mean the two will soon part company.

“Everything is, you know, it’s fine,” Loria said Saturday — before the Marlins beat the Brewers 7-2. “But I don’t want to talk about it.”

Addressing his rift with Girardi for the first time since it became public three weeks ago, Loria repeatedly tried to steer the conversation away from the subject. He declined to endorse the job Girardi has done in his first year as manager, even though baseball’s youngest team has far exceeded expectations.

“Managers obviously have some input during the course of the season,” Loria said. “But what’s important is the product that’s put on the field by the baseball department as well. An amazing job was done by our organization before we started this season.”

After the Marlins game, Girardi declined to comment.

“I just talk about the guys on the field,” he said.

When told his comments might fuel the perception Girardi won’t return next season, Loria told reporters: “If you guys want to come to those conclusions, OK. As far as I’m concerned, the only focus for me and the fans should be what’s on the field, personalities aside.”

The rift erupted at a game Aug. 6, when Loria berated an umpire while sitting behind the plate. From the dugout, Girardi told or asked the owner to stop, witnesses said. Loria angrily left his seat and confronted Girardi after the game during a 90-minute clubhouse meeting.

Loria has declined to comment on the episode or respond to published reports that he fired Girardi, then changed his mind.

“I don’t want to talk about ancient history,” Loria said shortly before Saturday’s game against Milwaukee. “These kids deserve the opportunity to finish out the season unencumbered by peripheral issues like who said what or who did what.”

Girardi, under contract through 2008, has repeatedly declined to discuss the matter or his future. With baseball’s lowest payroll, the Marlins were widely projected to lose more than 100 games, but instead they remain on the fringe of the NL wild-card race.

[ESPN]

There is no doubt about it. Girardi will be gone after this season and Loria will be hated even more for firing a manager of the year. Good thing is Girardi will find a job the second he hits the open market. I feel badly for the way Girardi was treated by our piss poor owner this season. Let’s take a look at potential replacements shall we?

• Lou Piniella – There’s no telling what Piniella, who’s out of uniform at the moment, might do if Loria offered in-game dugout criticism of him. But a good guess is that it would make Girardi’s reaction look like a nursery rhyme.

• Ozzie Guillen – The guy who took the Chicago White Sox to a World Series title just last autumn is a mess. So what if he’s a former Marlins coach? He can’t keep his mouth shut. He hurls insensitive comments, complains about almost everything and his ego is showing.

• Jim Leyland – The man who led the Marlins to their first World Series triumph in 1997 was looking for a job last year, but wanted it to be “in the right situation.” Maybe he knew something. He found it in Detroit, of all places, where he has the Tigers in favorable position for the top-seeded spot in the American League playoffs.

• Larry Bowa – The Marlins wanted Bowa as their bench coach under McKeon last season, but didn’t get him (or he didn’t want them). He’s the third-base coach for Torre. But he has a reputation for volatility to rival Piniella’s, which means he’d turn the clubhouse air in the Marlins clubhouse from teal to blue on the first hint of Loria interference.

So, it’ll likely be Fredi Gonzalez, who is on Bobby Cox’s staff in Atlanta and has a pedigree as a Marlins coach and was in the Florida mix last year.

[MORE COMMENTARY @ PALMBEACH POST WITH GREG STODA]