Florida Marlins manager Edwin Rodriguez, in his first full year with the team, has resigned Sunday morning, according to Miami Herald Marlins beat writer Clark Spencer, via Twitter. Bench coach Brandon Hyde will run the team on Sunday, then a search will begin for another interim manager, according to MLB.com.
The Marlins, expected to contend this year and a game out of first place as recently as May 26 with a 29-19 record, fell off a cliff once June began. They are 1-17 this month and now stand 12.5 games out of first place in the NL East; yesterday, their loss to their cross-state rivals, the Tampa Bay Rays, was their ninth in a row.
Rodriguez was named interim manager of the Marlins last year after Fredi Gonzalez was fired. Rodriguez guided them to a .500 mark (46-46 in 92 games) and was named fulltime manager for 2011. His 32-39 record this year gives him an overall mark of 78-85 as a major league manager.
Brandon Hyde, who takes over today, never played in the major leagues; he played five seasons in the minor leagues in the White Sox organization as a catcher/first baseman and then managed in the minors for five seasons from 2005-2009 in the Marlins' organization. In 2010 he was the Marlins' minor league infield coordinator before being named bench coach. Hyde, who turned 37 last October, will become the youngest manager in the major leagues, for a day, at least.